‘Action’ Groups Celebrate 10th Year of Kickstart Cleveland County

RISON - “Action” groups from across Cleveland County gathered at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds last Thursday night to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Kickstart Cleveland County, a collaborative effort to make their respective communities and the county a better place.Dr. Mark Peterson, retired professor of community and economic development with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, served as the keynote speaker as each group that makes up Kickstart Cleveland County  recognized its “Volunteers of the Year.” Kickstart Cleveland County serves as an umbrella organization to coordinate community development efforts by individual action groups throughout the county. Those action groups include the Cleveland County Community Theater, Cleveland County Fair Board, Kickstart Kingsland, the Pioneer Village at Rison, Re-New-ing Edinburg and Rison Shine Community Development.The organization was formed in 2015 through Peterson’s  award-winning community development program called Breakthrough Solutions. The program helped communities identify assets and then develop those assets in ways to improve quality of life, attract new residents, bolster the workforce, and strengthen marketing and branding.Peterson told an audience of about 100 people Thursday night that Kickstart Cleveland County is unique in among the community development efforts he has worked. He said what makes it different is that it focuses on developing a county as a whole rather than on one particular community. He also said  it allows each action group to work independently of one another without any constraints dictated by the umbrella organization.Peterson said Kickstart Cleveland County became a community development model for other rural communities and counties across Arkansas.In a throwback to his original meetings with the early organizers of Kickstart Cleveland County, Peterson ...