In 2012, while serving as Executive Director of Downtown Bentonville, Daniel Hintz helped launch a regional conversation about the importance of vibrant downtowns as economic, cultural, and community anchors. Recognizing the opportunity to strengthen Northwest Arkansas through coordinated downtown investment, the Northwest Arkansas Council engaged the newly formed Velocity Group in 2013–2014 to facilitate a strategic planning initiative bringing together downtown stakeholders, civic leaders, elected officials, business owners, and community visionaries from Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Siloam Springs, and Johnson.
The objective was to identify how the Council could effectively support downtown development as part of a broader regional strategy while honoring the distinct identity of each community.
Through a collaborative visioning and engagement process, Velocity Group developed a framework of actionable recommendations designed to accelerate downtown revitalization throughout the region. The strategy called for every community to:
- Establish a Downtown Economic Baseline to measure performance, benchmark investment, and evaluate the long-term impact of downtown initiatives.
- Develop or Update a Downtown Master Plan to guide redevelopment, infrastructure improvements, placemaking, and economic growth while reinforcing each community’s unique character.
- Create a Professional Downtown Organization to champion implementation and build partnerships among municipalities, businesses, civic organizations, property owners, and community leaders.
- Strengthen Volunteer Leadership and Community Engagement to cultivate local ownership, encourage collaboration, and sustain long-term momentum.
The initiative became a catalyst for many of Northwest Arkansas’ most transformative downtown efforts. It laid the foundation for downtown master planning initiatives in Rogers, Springdale, and Siloam Springs; established regional economic dashboards measuring downtown performance along the I-49 corridor; led to the creation of the Downtown Springdale Alliance; and helped pave the way for the dedicated downtown leadership position at Visit Fayetteville.
More than a decade later, the work continues to influence how Northwest Arkansas invests in its downtowns, strengthens its communities, and enhances its national reputation as one of America’s premier regions for placemaking, entrepreneurship, arts, culture, and talent attraction.
