Twenty-six years ago, Morrilton, Arkansas, took a gut punch.

In 1999, two of the city’s largest employers, Arrow Automotive and Levi Strauss & Co., shuttered their local operations within the same period, erasing roughly 2,000 jobs from a town of 7,000 people. For many small cities, that kind of loss is a death sentence. Morrilton didn’t disappear. But it didn’t forget, either.

In June 2025, Green Bay Packaging announced a $1 billion expansion of its Morrilton mill, the largest single economic project in central Arkansas history. New jobs are coming. People are moving in. Mayor Allen Lipsmeyer says the city’s sales tax collections now rank among the highest in the state.

And yet, in the middle of all that momentum, what the community decided to tackle first was a pocket park, a small, neighborhood-scale green space tucked into the heart of downtown.

It started with a conversation at the right moment. At a Rural Ideas Conference hosted by the Town Square Collaborative at the University of the Ozarks in nearby Clarksville, Chantel Poor, a Facilitator with Communities Unlimited (CU) from the Sustainability Team, met Johnny Everette, a lifelong Morrilton resident, city councilman, discipleship pastor at Union Baptist Church, and President of the CommUNITY Hearts in Action Leadership Team.

The Town Square Collaborative, a CU partner, works with rural congregations and their leaders to address community needs, rooted in the idea that local churches are often the most trusted, most connected institutions in a small town, and that lasting change tends to run through them.

“I just kept being drawn back to Communities Unlimited,” Everette said.

CU and Morrilton connected and are now collaborating. As the first step in the process, Poor guided local residents through a structured, community-driven effort designed to surface priorities from the ground up.

What came back was the pocket park.

Downtown Morrilton has several small parks scattered across its core, but they’ve sat largely unused for years, lacking adequate seating, lighting, and the features that invite people to stick around. The community zeroed in on a space at Broadway as the right place to start.

Through CU’s connection to the Trust for Civic Life, a philanthropic partner that funds local, community-driven initiatives, Morrilton secured $12,000 to bring new life to the space. The renovation will unfold in four phases, with community members driving each decision along the way.

Phase 1 kicks off May 30 with a major cleanup day. It’s the kind of work that shows what a community can do when it decides to move, and it’s also a moment to gather, assess, and plan what comes next. Phase 2 focuses on the grounds, with new landscaping and fresh sod to anchor the park’s foundation.

Phase 3 brings the centerpiece: a reconstructed gazebo and new lighting that will make the space usable well into the evening. Phase 4 stretches whatever’s left to go further, with additions like a bike rack and a baby changing station in the restroom, along with other improvements the community identifies as the project takes shape.

Mayor Lipsmeyer, who has served Morrilton for 12 years and sits on the CommUNITY Hearts in Action Team alongside faith leaders, residents, and business owners, didn’t miss what the quick win meant beyond the dollars.

“That gives people the hope that this is really real,” he said. “Not just talk and talk and talk. We have some tangible results already.”

For Poor, that’s exactly the point.

“I wish that every community could just come in and sit down and see how Morrilton works,” she said. “They have a wonderful mayor. They’ve created a leadership team that plans on continuing this work even after Communities Unlimited leaves, and I think that’s huge.”

The Sustainability Team is not the only CU team already involved in Morrilton.

In early 2026, Allen Spradling, Management Advisor for CU’s Community Infrastructure Team, began working alongside the city to pursue funding for a wastewater sewer levee rehabilitation project.

On May 5, CU hosted a Community Connection meeting in Morrilton, bringing together community members and staff from across the organization.

Lending and Economic Development Loan Officer Candence Brooks, Entrepreneurship Area Director Dale Rutherford, Healthy Foods Coordinator Brenda Williams, Broadband team members Ali Milligan and Rick Hales, and GIS Coordinator Trent Neathery each introduced their work, then connected directly with residents. Arkansas State Coordinator Tonya Kendrix and Spradling represented the Community Infrastructure Team. Poor facilitated the event.

Everette, who was born in Morrilton, graduated from the high school in 1988, and has never really left, sees the pocket park as a symbol of something harder to measure.

The renovation is expected to be complete by early summer, with CU continuing to work alongside Morrilton in the future.

“Communities Unlimited has so many arms that can reach out and help,” Mayor Lipsmeyer said. “That’s huge for a town of our size.”

“It’s been a game changer,” Everette said. “Communities Unlimited streamlined the process and connected us with resources we never knew existed. We all want to work together because when you combine resources, you get way more done, and now people are excited.”

Communities Unlimited’s work in Morrilton is made possible in partnership with Town Square Collaborative.