The Blog

What If Malvern Marketed Itself as a Place to Live? When communities talk about growth, the conversation usually begins with jobs. How do we bring more employers to town? How do we create better-paying jobs? How do we keep young people from leaving? Those are important questions, and Malvern certainly needs to continue working to attract employers. But maybe there is another question we should be asking: What if we also started marketing Malvern to people who already have goo

Occasionally, when the children of our church participate in Sunday services, the minister calls them the “future leaders of our church.” The truth is, many of them probably won’t become leaders of our church—or any church in Malvern. They will grow up, attend college or technical school elsewhere, find good-paying jobs somewhere else, and never return to live here. Every spring, young people from Malvern earn bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees, and professional credential

What would a cleaner, more welcoming Malvern mean to you? It could mean stronger property values, safer neighborhoods, more pride in where we live, and a better first impression on visitors who may decide to shop, invest, start a business, or make their home here. A successful small town does not have to become a big city. It needs to become the best version of itself—clean, welcoming, economically healthy, and proud of the qualities that make it distinctive. Malvern already

Why Speaking Positively About Our Community Matters The Power of Everyday Words The way we talk about the place we live matters more than we often realize. In a county of about 33,000 people, words travel fast. Casual conversations at the grocery store, comments on social media, or stories shared with visitors all help shape how our community is seen—both by outsiders and by ourselves. When we consistently speak positively, we reinforce pride, confidence, and a shared belief

Hot Spring County Now & Then is not only history, but events and people too. Most of us spend time with the same people every day, yet we rarely know much about the fantastic things they have done. Friends, neighbors, and coworkers often carry stories from earlier in life that never come up in regular conversation. These stories can show us a side of someone we never noticed before. I believe that we miss a lot of good simply because we never slow down long enough to ask. Sur

What is happening in the way we view our past? Seventy-five years ago, the stories of explorers, inventors, and reformers whose courage and mistakes shaped our paths were part of our educational system. Our teachers asked us to look backward to understand how to move forward. Now, history often competes for time and attention against subjects deemed more “practical.” However, history is not just a collection of past events, but a guide for the future. It teaches us about huma