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Regional events celebrate the life of Dr. MLK Jr. and honor local leaders

The life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was celebrated and honored throughout the NWA region with virtual and in person events.

The Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Council “Salute to Greatness” Awards 2022 Recipients will be recognized at the 26th Annual Recommitment event on Jan. 22. Honorees include: Dr. Jeffrey Murdock (Lifetime Achievement Award), Nate Walls, Jr. (Ernestine White-Gibson Individual Achievement Award), GeJuan Jordan (Rodney Momon Youth Award), Brig Caldwell (Rev. J.A. Hawkins Posthumous Award) and Clothes to Children, Emmily Leavy, Founder & CEO (Organization of Year Award).

Springdale’s 5th Annual MLK Celebration started with a march from Luther George Park and ended at the Jones Center with a unity celebration of musical performances, a presentation of awards, and lunch for the community. Event organizer Alice Gachuzo presented awards of recognition to: Nate Walls, Jr. (Service of King Award), Derek Van Voast (True Leadership Award), New Beginnings (True Love Award), Mayor Doug Sprouse (Courage Award) and Superintendent Jared Cleveland (Courage Award).

Upskill NWA Launching First Cohort with 100 Participants

Upskill NWA is bringing a successful upskilling model to our region to provide a lasting positive impact to its participants and their families. The organization recently announced the successful launch of its first skills training cohort and is accepting applications for the next round.

Upskill NWA is currently connecting participants to career opportunities in the healthcare field and taking care of things like tuition, books, fees, childcare costs, and other historical barriers. Upskill NWA participants are partnered with a Career Navigator to ensure participants’ success throughout the program.

The Excellerate Foundation and Walton Family Foundation joined leaders from local academic institutions and major employers in Northwest Arkansas to connect the region’s untapped workforce to skilled positions in high-demand industries.

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Northwest Arkansas Black-Owned Business Expo hosted by Black-Owned NWA

In celebration of August being National Black Business Month, Black-Owned NWA is excited to bring to you another Black-Owned Business Expo! The upcoming event is scheduled for Saturday, August 28, 2021, from 4 to 9 PM in Downtown Bentonville.

You can expect a day of live and local music artists, entertainment, local food caterers and trucks, giveaways, a youth art zone and pure fun in the evening sun.

This event is free and open for the public to attend.

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Recognizing a culture of service in NWA

On January 13, 2022, EngageNWA hosted a virtual discussion on “Recognizing a Culture of Service in the Workplace.” Session leaders Monica Kumar and Dustin McGowan explored how companies show their true culture and character by their attitude toward honoring MLK Day of Service and why it’s important that companies engage, encourage, and support their employees to get involved in volunteering opportunities in our community.

If you missed the event, you can access the event recording and additional resources here.

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What We’re Reading: 

‘Latinx’ dropped from LULAC official usage, deemed ‘very unliked’ by Latinos

The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, has announced it will stop using the controversial gender-neutral term “Latinx” in its official communications.

LULAC president Domingo García earlier this month directed the group to cease the term’s usage, NBC News reports. García explained the term is “very unliked” by nearly all Latinos. The term is not being banned from usage within LULAC, however.

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Pew Research Center: About One-in-Four U.S. Hispanics Have Heard of Latinx, but Just 3% Use It 

The emergence of Latinx coincides with a global movement to introduce gender-neutral nouns and pronouns into many languages whose grammar has traditionally used male or female constructions. In the United States, the first uses of Latinx appeared more than a decade ago. It was added to a widely used English dictionary in 2018, reflecting its greater use. However, for the population it is meant to describe, only 23% of U.S. adults who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino have heard of the term Latinx, and just 3% say they use it to describe themselves, according to a nationally representative, bilingual survey of U.S. Hispanic adults conducted in December 2019.

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Thank you for your continued commitment to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Northwest Arkansas!

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