April 29, 2025 • 21 mins
Delve into what’s behind recent economic development wins in Arkansas with Hugh McDonald, Secretary of Commerce with the State of Arkansas. We chat with Hugh about the state's competitive advantages and how it’s attracting investment, supporting its communities and positioning itself for continued growth.
Resources Mentioned:
At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-sized cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs.
Be sure to subscribe so you’re alerted when we release new episodes. Learn more about us at LivabilityMedia.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email host Amanda Ellis at aellis@livability.com.
Inside America’s Best Cities is produced by SpeakEasy Productions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hugh McDonald [00:00:10]:
You've got to have consistency, perseverance, the right leaders driving it in your community. Beautification issues, Main Street, quality of life issues are also certainly important. But you've got to have… what's your plan? If you don't have a plan, you don't know where you're going to go. (00:00):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:00:33]: That's the voice of Hugh McDonald, Secretary of Commerce with the State of Arkansas. He joins us to talk about recent wins in the state, including in some of their smaller communities. Get takeaways you can apply in your own area. Plus great reminders of what to have in place to be attractive for industry and for talent. Learn more about this podcast at livabilitymedia.com and with that, let's jump in. Thank you, Hugh, so much for joining us on Inside America's Best Cities. We are super excited to chat with you today. I was going to say you might be our inaugural Arkansas guest… We had someone who was right on the line kind of between Tennessee and Arkansas and talked about both, but close enough. (00:01):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:01:18]: Great, great. Good to be here, Amanda. (00:02):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:01:20]: Awesome. Well, we will jump right in here and I'd love to have I know you guys have had a lot of successes throughout the state with announcements recently. So any case studies or examples you can pull in from those, that's great. But yeah, a lot of wins, impressive growth, investment, especially in your smaller towns. Talk us through some of the key factors you feel like are driving this success for you all. (00:03):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:01:45]: Yeah, we have had a good stretch of successful wins the last year or two. You know, I'd say first and foremost, you know, the ease of doing business, the low cost of living, the low cost to do business in the state of Arkansas, within the last two years, the governor and legislature have passed three tax cuts, corporate and personal income tax cuts. That obviously helps. But also, you know, I'd say that there, you know, Arkansas is a fairly small state. You know, it's always a team effort and we are aligned always, whether it's from the governor's office down to the local communities and local economic developers. And you know, obviously having a strong workforce too is critical, which we do. We've got great work ethic with our people and a rising labor force participation rate over the past couple years, too, which is exciting. (00:04):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:02:51]: Yeah. What do you think that's attributed to? That percentage growing that you mentioned. (00:05):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:02:57]: Well, I think it's a combination of things. The economy coming back, companies willing to invest. You know, we've got, it's not quite 2 to 1 but a little less than 2 to 1. Two job openings for every unemployed person actually looking for work. So the environment, you know, capital goes to where it wants to be deployed most efficiently. And businesses recognize, they see and they understand, they want to understand where policymakers are from how they're going to invest their capital. And Arkansas is a place where we welcome the capital, we want it to be invested, we want to grow our GDP and we're a place where we're trying to cut the red tape instead of adding more regulatory barriers for businesses. So all of that matters when it comes to people deciding where do they want to locate. There's a quality of life too that we, we can talk about later. But that's also very important. (00:06):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:04:11]: Yes. So I saw that you all recently named a top state for doing business. I'm sure contribute, you know, attributed to a lot of the things that we've already spoken about. But competitive incentives are a big part of that too. Can you elaborate on some of those at all? And what's been most effective there with attraction? (00:07):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:04:29]: Yeah, we have like many states, we've got a, a number of incentives. We were ranked 12th in the country for doing business by area development. (00:08):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:04:39]: Pretty good. (00:09):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:04:40]: Yeah. Yeah. Almost in the top 10. We're striving to get there. Site selection group ranked as 8th for the most meaningful job incentives, job creation incentives. And a couple of them, Create Rebate is an incentive that is discretionary and it provides annual cash payments or cash rebates back to the company based on their level of payroll. And that's been a very successful incentive that we have. Also we've got a… The governor has a quick action closing fund that is performance based that has also been very, very. We use strategically to tie it to infrastructure and performance for the company. So those. That's a couple of examples of some incentives that are used pretty routinely. (00:10):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:05:38]: Cool. So you just talked about, kind of jumped into talking about the quality of life piece a little bit. But I know another ranking you all have gotten is more family friendly, more families choosing to be there. How are you all leveraging quality of life and that community appeal piece and how important do you feel like those intangibles really are in these processes? Because you always do hear that, you know it is part of it. But I don't think it's the frontline thing. So I would love to hear your perspective on how that fits together. (00:11):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:06:08]: Yeah, I mean you've got to be in the economic ballpark for sure. If the economics don't work, it doesn't matter the quality of life. It always has been important. But it, it's very important today. Millennial generation, younger generation, work life, entertainment, outdoor space. Critically important. And our governor has really placed a, a huge priority. In fact, she's established, when she got into office, the what's called the Natural State Initiative that looks to promote our tourism activity, promote our outdoor activity. We have 52 state parks, one of the most state parks of any state in the country. And we really promote our outdoor recreation economy. We're also, we were in 2024 by Atlas Fan Lines. They ranked US number one in the country for inbound movers, number one for affordability on US News and World's Report. We're doing a, like many states there, we're all trying to recruit for talent. It's so important. And we've got our own talent attraction campaign called Live Here. And you know, we're, we've just kind of started rolling it out. Focus on the veteran cohort, Arkansas veterans and veterans who have a connection to Arkansas. And within that, of course, we promote heavily the quality of life space in our recruiting efforts to recruit talent here. You know, it's, it's, it's a, it is a top consideration for a company. Like I said earlier, you gotta, you gotta be in the competitive space. From a, from a economic perspective, of course. (00:12):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:08:14]: Yeah, people don't want to go somewhere they don't think they'd like living. (00:13):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:08:17]: Exactly. (00:14):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:08:19]: What would you say might be, again, thinking about those smaller communities looking to, you know, really get in the pool for these types of decisions? What are some, like, quick wins or actionable steps that they could take, you know, pretty soon in that arena? (00:15):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:08:36]: Well, first of all, you know, community development is a process. And number one, it should go without saying it, but I'm going to say it again. Leadership. If you're not, if you don't have the right people focused and leading the effort, you know, it's, it's going to die off. And so you've got to have consistency, perseverance, the right leaders driving it in your community. Beautification issues, Main street quality of life issues are also certainly important. But you've got to have, what's your plan? You know, if you don't have a plan, you don't know where you're going to go. You know, the old saying, any, any road will take you there, but you really don't want to do that from a community development, economic development standpoint. So, you know, we focus on getting your plan, getting your economic development organizations aligned within your communities. Find your funding from an economic development perspective. What's your workforce narrative of your state or of your community? Do you have real estate sites, product available that you want to market? And you know, kind of depends on your focus. If you know, real small communities, you know, some may have a different target target audience, maybe they want to focus more on retail, you know, getting, getting the right retail establishment in their small town. Others may want to have a strategy that's more industrial focused and you know, you look for where are our strengths and weaknesses going through that, that process to make sure you're focusing on the right areas where you can maximize your effectiveness and success. (00:16):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:10:40]: Yeah, that makes sense in terms of showcasing those, you know, your strengths that you have. I'd love to hear you speak to the marketing piece of this a little bit and I think you touched on it when you mention mentioned the talent attraction part because so much talent attraction we always like to say at Livability is really marketing, you know, how you position yourself, how people view you and how you can, you know, impact that and you know, put out that perception that you're somewhere people want to be. So could you speak to the importance of that and what are the important marketing things to keep in mind? (00:17):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:11:12]: Well, if you're not telling your story, nobody's going to be telling it for you. So you need to be out there on social media, email marketing, whatever avenues make sense for you. But obviously social media is, you've just got to be there. If you're not there, you're not doing your job. Highlighting available sites and buildings also important for your community. We do have a Arkansas site selection website that anybody can get on anytime and look at available properties, available sites out there that are for new industrial manufacturer, really any, any type of facility. (00:18):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:11:58]: Mhm. Many of our listeners talk about site readiness and how important it is to invest in that, you know, ahead of time. Then when the right prospect is there, you're ready to go and it can really boost your competitive advantage there, so that makes so much sense. So another workforce question. I know we touched on this some in terms of number of people and that that is solid, sometimes more than groups expect on the front end. But what about, you know, those people may or may not be skilled and ready to go in the things that those companies need. Right. So. Or maybe they are! What does that part look like? (00:19):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:12:36]: Yeah, our governor has made it a huge priority in her administration to really have a workforce development strategy that's aligned From K-12 to 2 year colleges to 4 year colleges, whether they're public institutions, whether they're private training institutions. And I would say a critical strategy is that it's got to be market driven. In other words, we shouldn't be training people in the state of Arkansas that don't have a place to go to work for in the state of Arkansas. (00:20):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:13:16]: Yeah. (00:21):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:13:17]: You know, in some instances there's, you know, developing industries, developing technologies where those jobs may not exist, but we're trying to build those industries. But first and foremost, you know that 60% of Americans who go into the workforce are not going to have a four year college degree. And you know, we've policymakers and, and others for the past probably four or five decades have had a mantra that everybody's got to go and get a four year college degree because the economics for them over their lifetime, it makes, it makes economic sense. Well, you fast forward 40, 50 years later and we've got a real supply and demand problem with regard to skilled trades all across the country. And so what we've been telling kids for 40 years is and parents and we've really convinced parents that they don't want their kids to be a plumber, be a, you know, a trade technician. (00:22):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:14:35]: And now it's biting us. (00:23):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:14:36]: That's been false. Yeah, absolutely false. And so we really are trying to emphasize in our workforce development strategy… kids in high school, exposing them very early, even before high school, “Here's all the different options you have.” So that's, that is a workforce strategy that we're really trying to focus on, have it market driven. State chamber of commerce for example, has got a very successful program called Be Pro Be Proud that is now being sold and copied in I think maybe seven or eight different states across the country that they've got those big semi trailers that go around to high schools and you walk inside the semi trailer and kids can learn how to run a CNC machine, learn how to, how to run heavy equipment, be a welder, be a technician and a developer in the IT world. Exposing the kids early on to all the different options they have. (00:24):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:15:41]: I love that. And making it fun. (00:25):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:15:44]: It's really cool. And they're expanding. It's been very successful. They now have two trucks in Arkansas that are going across the state. They're constantly on the road and there's also a, they've sponsored a process within major communities across the state called Draft Day where kids who have not chosen the four year college route want to go a different route. We've got companies in the room where we where the kids in the companies based on the company's needs and the students aptitude and Interest. They actually have interviews and it's just, it's really fun to see seniors in high school sitting down in a room having an, having an interview with Caterpillar tractor or a steel fabricator and, or, or a railroad, Union Pacific Railroad and getting job offers that they had no idea that was in the cards for them. So it's pretty exciting to, to see that. And, but again it's, it is the integration of all this market K through 12 to your colleges, private institutions, job seekers and employers who are looking for work. So connecting that all with frankly, the state has just rolled out a online portal called Launch that really tries to marry the job seekers with all sorts of, with job seekers and employers with all sorts of job requirements, certification requirements, skill sets. We're tying that in with our unemployment insurance, the unemployed that are looking for work as well. So it's an integrated online portal that we just launched last month. (00:26):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:18:01]: Cool. So we always, as we head toward wrapping up, we always close with kind of a fun question. So where are you? What city are you based in? (00:27):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:18:09]: Little Rock. (00:28):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:18:10]: Okay, so if someone were visiting for the first time, what would be a bucket list item you should say like they should be sure to do. (00:29):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:18:18]: There's a, there's a lot, you know, if you're outdoorsy. There is, within a 10 minute drive from the city center, there's some great natural areas. Pinnacle Mountain, you can climb that. There's a Rattlesnake Ridge, Blue Mountain Wilderness Area. You can hike or, or bike. There's a vibrant downtown on the north Little Rock side as well as, as well as Little Rock proper on this which is on the south side of the river. But great restaurants, you know, the Clinton Library, Presidential Library is in downtown Little Rock. You should see that. The Central High Museum. The 1957 Central High Crisis that happened, you know, is in Central High is, is a prominent high school today in, in Little Rock. They have a, there's a great museum there, a national museum that really walks a person and it's right across the street from, from Central High today. So great thing to visit, lots of good shopping again, lots of good outdoor activity. You get all the amenities of, of a big city frankly without a lot of the hassle and the traffic and the stress and the challenges of a big city. So we enjoy it. (00:30):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:19:54]: Yeah, that's so true. You know, we focus on promoting small and mid sized cities specifically at livability and that's one of the things we talk about so much is nowadays. Yeah, a lot of these smaller cities have most of what you would want, but a lot less of the hassle. So very cool. Well, thank you so much for spending some time with us. (00:31):
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Hugh McDonald [00:20:13]: Thank you Amanda. It's good to be with you. (00:32):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:20:20]: Thanks for listening to the Livability podcast, where we take you Inside America's Best Cities. At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-sized cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and review this show. Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also learn more about us at livabilitymedia.com. Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email me at aellis@livability.com. Until next time, from Livability, I'm Amanda Ellis, sharing the stories of America's most promising places. (00:33):
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Amanda Ellis [00:00:33]: That's the voice of Hugh McDonald, Secretary of Commerce with the State of Arkansas. He joins us to talk about recent wins in the state, including in some of their smaller communities. Get takeaways you can apply in your own area. Plus great reminders of what to have in place to be attractive for industry and for talent. Learn more about this podcast at livabilitymedia.com and with that, let's jump in. Thank you, Hugh, so much for joining us on Inside America's Best Cities. We are super excited to chat with you today. I was going to say you might be our inaugural Arkansas guest… We had someone who was right on the line kind of between Tennessee and Arkansas and talked about both, but close enough. (00:01):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:01:18]: Great, great. Good to be here, Amanda. (00:02):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:01:20]: Awesome. Well, we will jump right in here and I'd love to have I know you guys have had a lot of successes throughout the state with announcements recently. So any case studies or examples you can pull in from those, that's great. But yeah, a lot of wins, impressive growth, investment, especially in your smaller towns. Talk us through some of the key factors you feel like are driving this success for you all. (00:03):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:01:45]: Yeah, we have had a good stretch of successful wins the last year or two. You know, I'd say first and foremost, you know, the ease of doing business, the low cost of living, the low cost to do business in the state of Arkansas, within the last two years, the governor and legislature have passed three tax cuts, corporate and personal income tax cuts. That obviously helps. But also, you know, I'd say that there, you know, Arkansas is a fairly small state. You know, it's always a team effort and we are aligned always, whether it's from the governor's office down to the local communities and local economic developers. And you know, obviously having a strong workforce too is critical, which we do. We've got great work ethic with our people and a rising labor force participation rate over the past couple years, too, which is exciting. (00:04):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:02:51]: Yeah. What do you think that's attributed to? That percentage growing that you mentioned. (00:05):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:02:57]: Well, I think it's a combination of things. The economy coming back, companies willing to invest. You know, we've got, it's not quite 2 to 1 but a little less than 2 to 1. Two job openings for every unemployed person actually looking for work. So the environment, you know, capital goes to where it wants to be deployed most efficiently. And businesses recognize, they see and they understand, they want to understand where policymakers are from how they're going to invest their capital. And Arkansas is a place where we welcome the capital, we want it to be invested, we want to grow our GDP and we're a place where we're trying to cut the red tape instead of adding more regulatory barriers for businesses. So all of that matters when it comes to people deciding where do they want to locate. There's a quality of life too that we, we can talk about later. But that's also very important. (00:06):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:04:11]: Yes. So I saw that you all recently named a top state for doing business. I'm sure contribute, you know, attributed to a lot of the things that we've already spoken about. But competitive incentives are a big part of that too. Can you elaborate on some of those at all? And what's been most effective there with attraction? (00:07):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:04:29]: Yeah, we have like many states, we've got a, a number of incentives. We were ranked 12th in the country for doing business by area development. (00:08):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:04:39]: Pretty good. (00:09):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:04:40]: Yeah. Yeah. Almost in the top 10. We're striving to get there. Site selection group ranked as 8th for the most meaningful job incentives, job creation incentives. And a couple of them, Create Rebate is an incentive that is discretionary and it provides annual cash payments or cash rebates back to the company based on their level of payroll. And that's been a very successful incentive that we have. Also we've got a… The governor has a quick action closing fund that is performance based that has also been very, very. We use strategically to tie it to infrastructure and performance for the company. So those. That's a couple of examples of some incentives that are used pretty routinely. (00:10):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:05:38]: Cool. So you just talked about, kind of jumped into talking about the quality of life piece a little bit. But I know another ranking you all have gotten is more family friendly, more families choosing to be there. How are you all leveraging quality of life and that community appeal piece and how important do you feel like those intangibles really are in these processes? Because you always do hear that, you know it is part of it. But I don't think it's the frontline thing. So I would love to hear your perspective on how that fits together. (00:11):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:06:08]: Yeah, I mean you've got to be in the economic ballpark for sure. If the economics don't work, it doesn't matter the quality of life. It always has been important. But it, it's very important today. Millennial generation, younger generation, work life, entertainment, outdoor space. Critically important. And our governor has really placed a, a huge priority. In fact, she's established, when she got into office, the what's called the Natural State Initiative that looks to promote our tourism activity, promote our outdoor activity. We have 52 state parks, one of the most state parks of any state in the country. And we really promote our outdoor recreation economy. We're also, we were in 2024 by Atlas Fan Lines. They ranked US number one in the country for inbound movers, number one for affordability on US News and World's Report. We're doing a, like many states there, we're all trying to recruit for talent. It's so important. And we've got our own talent attraction campaign called Live Here. And you know, we're, we've just kind of started rolling it out. Focus on the veteran cohort, Arkansas veterans and veterans who have a connection to Arkansas. And within that, of course, we promote heavily the quality of life space in our recruiting efforts to recruit talent here. You know, it's, it's, it's a, it is a top consideration for a company. Like I said earlier, you gotta, you gotta be in the competitive space. From a, from a economic perspective, of course. (00:12):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:08:14]: Yeah, people don't want to go somewhere they don't think they'd like living. (00:13):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:08:17]: Exactly. (00:14):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:08:19]: What would you say might be, again, thinking about those smaller communities looking to, you know, really get in the pool for these types of decisions? What are some, like, quick wins or actionable steps that they could take, you know, pretty soon in that arena? (00:15):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:08:36]: Well, first of all, you know, community development is a process. And number one, it should go without saying it, but I'm going to say it again. Leadership. If you're not, if you don't have the right people focused and leading the effort, you know, it's, it's going to die off. And so you've got to have consistency, perseverance, the right leaders driving it in your community. Beautification issues, Main street quality of life issues are also certainly important. But you've got to have, what's your plan? You know, if you don't have a plan, you don't know where you're going to go. You know, the old saying, any, any road will take you there, but you really don't want to do that from a community development, economic development standpoint. So, you know, we focus on getting your plan, getting your economic development organizations aligned within your communities. Find your funding from an economic development perspective. What's your workforce narrative of your state or of your community? Do you have real estate sites, product available that you want to market? And you know, kind of depends on your focus. If you know, real small communities, you know, some may have a different target target audience, maybe they want to focus more on retail, you know, getting, getting the right retail establishment in their small town. Others may want to have a strategy that's more industrial focused and you know, you look for where are our strengths and weaknesses going through that, that process to make sure you're focusing on the right areas where you can maximize your effectiveness and success. (00:16):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:10:40]: Yeah, that makes sense in terms of showcasing those, you know, your strengths that you have. I'd love to hear you speak to the marketing piece of this a little bit and I think you touched on it when you mention mentioned the talent attraction part because so much talent attraction we always like to say at Livability is really marketing, you know, how you position yourself, how people view you and how you can, you know, impact that and you know, put out that perception that you're somewhere people want to be. So could you speak to the importance of that and what are the important marketing things to keep in mind? (00:17):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:11:12]: Well, if you're not telling your story, nobody's going to be telling it for you. So you need to be out there on social media, email marketing, whatever avenues make sense for you. But obviously social media is, you've just got to be there. If you're not there, you're not doing your job. Highlighting available sites and buildings also important for your community. We do have a Arkansas site selection website that anybody can get on anytime and look at available properties, available sites out there that are for new industrial manufacturer, really any, any type of facility. (00:18):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:11:58]: Mhm. Many of our listeners talk about site readiness and how important it is to invest in that, you know, ahead of time. Then when the right prospect is there, you're ready to go and it can really boost your competitive advantage there, so that makes so much sense. So another workforce question. I know we touched on this some in terms of number of people and that that is solid, sometimes more than groups expect on the front end. But what about, you know, those people may or may not be skilled and ready to go in the things that those companies need. Right. So. Or maybe they are! What does that part look like? (00:19):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:12:36]: Yeah, our governor has made it a huge priority in her administration to really have a workforce development strategy that's aligned From K-12 to 2 year colleges to 4 year colleges, whether they're public institutions, whether they're private training institutions. And I would say a critical strategy is that it's got to be market driven. In other words, we shouldn't be training people in the state of Arkansas that don't have a place to go to work for in the state of Arkansas. (00:20):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:13:16]: Yeah. (00:21):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:13:17]: You know, in some instances there's, you know, developing industries, developing technologies where those jobs may not exist, but we're trying to build those industries. But first and foremost, you know that 60% of Americans who go into the workforce are not going to have a four year college degree. And you know, we've policymakers and, and others for the past probably four or five decades have had a mantra that everybody's got to go and get a four year college degree because the economics for them over their lifetime, it makes, it makes economic sense. Well, you fast forward 40, 50 years later and we've got a real supply and demand problem with regard to skilled trades all across the country. And so what we've been telling kids for 40 years is and parents and we've really convinced parents that they don't want their kids to be a plumber, be a, you know, a trade technician. (00:22):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:14:35]: And now it's biting us. (00:23):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:14:36]: That's been false. Yeah, absolutely false. And so we really are trying to emphasize in our workforce development strategy… kids in high school, exposing them very early, even before high school, “Here's all the different options you have.” So that's, that is a workforce strategy that we're really trying to focus on, have it market driven. State chamber of commerce for example, has got a very successful program called Be Pro Be Proud that is now being sold and copied in I think maybe seven or eight different states across the country that they've got those big semi trailers that go around to high schools and you walk inside the semi trailer and kids can learn how to run a CNC machine, learn how to, how to run heavy equipment, be a welder, be a technician and a developer in the IT world. Exposing the kids early on to all the different options they have. (00:24):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:15:41]: I love that. And making it fun. (00:25):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:15:44]: It's really cool. And they're expanding. It's been very successful. They now have two trucks in Arkansas that are going across the state. They're constantly on the road and there's also a, they've sponsored a process within major communities across the state called Draft Day where kids who have not chosen the four year college route want to go a different route. We've got companies in the room where we where the kids in the companies based on the company's needs and the students aptitude and Interest. They actually have interviews and it's just, it's really fun to see seniors in high school sitting down in a room having an, having an interview with Caterpillar tractor or a steel fabricator and, or, or a railroad, Union Pacific Railroad and getting job offers that they had no idea that was in the cards for them. So it's pretty exciting to, to see that. And, but again it's, it is the integration of all this market K through 12 to your colleges, private institutions, job seekers and employers who are looking for work. So connecting that all with frankly, the state has just rolled out a online portal called Launch that really tries to marry the job seekers with all sorts of, with job seekers and employers with all sorts of job requirements, certification requirements, skill sets. We're tying that in with our unemployment insurance, the unemployed that are looking for work as well. So it's an integrated online portal that we just launched last month. (00:26):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:18:01]: Cool. So we always, as we head toward wrapping up, we always close with kind of a fun question. So where are you? What city are you based in? (00:27):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:18:09]: Little Rock. (00:28):
undefined
Amanda Ellis [00:18:10]: Okay, so if someone were visiting for the first time, what would be a bucket list item you should say like they should be sure to do. (00:29):
undefined
Hugh McDonald [00:18:18]: There's a, there's a lot, you know, if you're outdoorsy. There is, within a 10 minute drive from the city center, there's some great natural areas. Pinnacle Mountain, you can climb that. There's a Rattlesnake Ridge, Blue Mountain Wilderness Area. You can hike or, or bike. There's a vibrant downtown on the north Little Rock side as well as, as well as Little Rock proper on this which is on the south side of the river. But great restaurants, you know, the Clinton Library, Presidential Library is in downtown Little Rock. You should see that. The Central High Museum. The 1957 Central High Crisis that happened, you know, is in Central High is, is a prominent high school today in, in Little Rock. They have a, there's a great museum there, a national museum that really walks a person and it's right across the street from, from Central High today. So great thing to visit, lots of good shopping again, lots of good outdoor activity. You get all the amenities of, of a big city frankly without a lot of the hassle and the traffic and the stress and the challenges of a big city. So we enjoy it. (00:30):
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Amanda Ellis [00:19:54]: Yeah, that's so true. You know, we focus on promoting small and mid sized cities specifically at livability and that's one of the things we talk about so much is nowadays. Yeah, a lot of these smaller cities have most of what you would want, but a lot less of the hassle. So very cool. Well, thank you so much for spending some time with us. (00:31):
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Hugh McDonald [00:20:13]: Thank you Amanda. It's good to be with you. (00:32):
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Amanda Ellis [00:20:20]: Thanks for listening to the Livability podcast, where we take you Inside America's Best Cities. At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-sized cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and review this show. Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also learn more about us at livabilitymedia.com. Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email me at aellis@livability.com. Until next time, from Livability, I'm Amanda Ellis, sharing the stories of America's most promising places. (00:33):
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