Metroplan Taps The Design Group to Lead Outreach Efforts for Underserved Communities

LITTLE ROCK, AR, September 08, 2012

The Design Group, Arkansas's leader in multicultural communications, announced today it will develop and lead strategies for Metroplan as it works to engage underserved communities in the organization's Imagine Central Arkansas, a long-range strategic plan for central Arkansas. The contract extends through 2014.

"We are thrilled to support Metroplan as it works to include central Arkansans from all walks of life during this key period of planning for the region," Myron Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of The Design Group, said.

As central Arkansas's Metropolitan Planning Organization, Metroplan works with city and county governments, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and local transit providers to determine transportation needs and funding priorities for federal transportation investments. Metroplan serves the core of central Arkansas, with an emphasis on four counties: Pulaski, Faulkner, Saline and Lonoke.

During the Imagine Central Arkansas stakeholder engagement period, The Design Group will facilitate engagement of Black, Hispanic and disabled communities and encourage these groups to provide their feedback on what they love about Central Arkansas, but also ideas and suggestions regarding needed improvements to their neighborhoods and cities. These suggestions will ultimately become a part of Metroplan's strategic plan to meet transportation, housing, economic development, health, environmental and energy needs through the year 2040.

This effort was made possible with funding from a 2011 HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant, which aims to guide the planning process, its framework and the completion and implementation of a regional plan for sustainable development.
"We are very excited to have The Design Group on board to expand our public outreach efforts. It is important that everyone feel like they have a voice in the Imagine Central Arkansas campaign, and the ideas that their team has already brought to our group are exceptional," says Jasmin Moore, Metroplan Community Planner and Outreach Coordinator.
"Through our efforts, Blacks, Hispanics and those in the disabled community will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in this planning stage, and in turn feel more responsibility for the long-term vision for central Arkansas," Jackson said.

For more information about The Design Group, call Stephanie Jackson at 501.492.4900 or email at stephanie@designgroupmarketing.com.

The Design Group is a full-service, multicultural, marketing communications firm that offers companies expertise in sourcing the wealth of opportunities available within Latino, African American, Urban, and Youth consumer segments. The Design Group was built on the ideology that to achieve positive market momentum and to experience sustainable growth, brands must exist in and outside of traditional communication channels.

The firm operates under the mantra that any growth brand must source volume from all viable segments in the marketplace. Each day, its team of culture-based planners develop and implement integrated strategies that extend across multiple communication functions, and often ethnic boundaries.

If you would like further information about our company, pleas call us at 501.492.4900, or visit our website at http://www.designgroupmarketing.com.