CROSSROADS COALITION MAILING LIST:

If you are not on the Crossroads Coalition Electronic Mailing list and wish to be, please let me know (ojl@uark.edu). This mailing list sends out meeting notices on Crossroads activities perhaps twice per month. Likewise, the meeting schedule, past minutes of meetings, and related information about the Crossroads Coalition may be found at:

http://CrossroadsCoalition.org (with a revision of the website now underway to reflect the activities and progress over the last year).

CROSSROADS COALITION MEETINGS AND OPPORTUNITIES:

In a future UAEDI mailing, I will provide you with a more comprehensive view of the tremendous progress that the Crossroads Coalition has made in the past year. However, please note that anyone, regardless of geographical location, who is interested in the mission and vision of the Crossroads Coalition is encouraged to become part of the Crossroads efforts at any time as long as that person is willing to work respectfully with others in the various groups.

As most of you know, UAEDI, among others, has been very active in helping create and develop the Crossroads. Let me now briefly mention some new opportunities and invite you to participate.

For starters, the Crossroads Coalition is build around the four pillars of broad-based development: economic, education, community and leadership. Each of the pillars has an active group of participants.

The next meetings of the respective pillar groups are set for Thursday, August 17, 2006 at the Technology Center for the Delta in Wynne. The meeting schedule is as follows:

9:00 - 10:20 AM Leadership Development Pillar Group

10:30 - 11:50 AM Community Development Pillar Group

1:30 - 2:50 PM Economic Development Pillar Group

3:00 - 4:20 PM Education Development Pillar Group

Of special note to many of you, especially those with an interest in small business or science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education is that:

1. The Economic Development Pillar Group will be focused on creating a "small-business sub-pillar group" within the Crossroads. Ines Polonius (alt.Consulting) will be leading this discussion.

2. The Education Development Pillar Group will be focused on creating a "STEM sub-pillar group" within the Crossroads. John Ahlen (ASTA) will be there to help explore some special opportunities in this area.

Furthermore:

1. The Community Development Pillar Group will be addressing the data needs for marketing the region as well as how best to participate in the upcoming Project Management opportunity (sponsored in part by Entergy Corporation).

2. The Leadership Development Pillar Group will focus mainly on creating a regional leadership program to compliment existing local ones. This has great potential in providing critical linkages throughout the Crossroads and its pillar groups.

The Crossroads Board of Directors will be meeting on Monday, August 7. The official Crossroads By-laws are nearing completion for final approval. Creation of the Crossroads Foundation is in the planning stage.

UAEDI SEED PROGRAM:

In the last three years, SEED (Students Engaged in Economic Development) has proven to be an outstanding program for linking faculty having the need for "real world" student projects to communities that have the need for relatively inexpensive creative ideas.

SEED is really service learning but with long-term "real world" and "real need" focus.

To date, SEED by design has been a relatively small scale experimental operation. However, because of its tremendous success and potential, and because of the progress being made on a number of fronts including the Crossroads Coalition, the time is now right to greatly expand this program. Accordingly, I will be sending you information in the future how you may wish to become involved in this exciting concept.

UA CAPABILITIES DATABASE:

For a number of years, UAEDI has maintained a voluntary database for those individuals, departments, centers and programs that which to make their presence better known to the public at large. We are currently in the process of updating and adding to this database. Contact me for more information about how to be included in this database.

IN SUMMARY:

There are a lot of exciting things happening in which UAEDI is involved. As always, we welcome your ongoing participation and appreciate your past efforts in helping create more prosperity and wellbeing for the people of Arkansas .

Best regards.