What is the Community Catalyst program?
Vilonia was selected to be a part of the Community Catalyst program, which assists Arkansas communities in Entergy Arkansas’ service territory with grassroots citizen engagement and technical assistance training to develop small, actionable community and economic development goals and to serve as a catalyst for longer-term economic development priorities.

This program was facilitated by the UCA Center for Community and Economic Development in partnership with Entergy Arkansas. The Stennis Institute at Mississippi State University was also a key partner in the program.

This program involved engaging with citizens and leaders to understand the needs and goals of the community, and defines a path to achieve those goals through citizen-led community development efforts. The first step in the process was to complete a community survey. Vilonia completed its community survey with 1,249 residents participating (results below). The next step in the process was hosting a workshop utilizing the Strategic Doing process to put the priorities lined out in the survey into action. Strategic Doing enables people to form collaborations quickly, guide them toward measurable outcomes and make adjustments along the way. The process is focused on “doing.”