Event to address housing, food needs
The community is invited to the Jefferson County 100 Families Alliance Meeting, featuring a panel discussion on “Feeding the Rent, Starving the Table: Tackling the Double Crisis of Food and Housing Insecurity.”
The event will be held at 11 a.m. July 29 at The Generator, 435 S. Main St., according to a news release from LaTisha Brunson, Ward 1 city council member and coordinator of 100 Families Alliance in Jefferson County.
Local leaders and experts will discuss solutions and strategies for overcoming the challenges of hunger and housing instability.
Panelists will include:
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Lori Walker (director of Economic and Community Development, city of Pine Bluff)
Angela White Smith (executive director, Habitat for Humanity –Jefferson County)
Damali Wilson (World Won Development, Tulsa, Okla.)
Charles Harper (World Won Development, Tulsa)
Josh Harris (executive director and founder, Well Fed)
Participants should attend to connect with people committed to making a difference in Jefferson County; gain insight into resources, initiatives and collaborative efforts addressing these urgent issues; take action — discover ways you can be part of positive change for families in our community; and make your voice heard and help shape solutions for Jefferson County.
“Join the Conversation: Addressing Food and Housing Insecurity in Jefferson County,” according to the release. “You don’t want to miss this! We are talking about the grocery store, housing and how it all works together! We will have our Tulsa partners Charles LaMont and Damali Wilson here talk about how they built a new grocery store in the Black Wall Street/Greenwood District.”
Education board to meet
The state Board of Education meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Aug. 1 in the auditorium of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education at Little Rock.
The board will continue to receive written public comment via email and postal mail. To ensure state board members have sufficient time to review the comments, public comments should be received by July 31, according to a news release.
Comments can be emailed to ade.commissioner@ade.arkansas.gov or mailed to the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, Four Capitol Mall, Room 304-A, Little Rock, AR 72201.
The agenda for the is available at https://dese.link/agendas. The meeting will be available via live stream at https://bit.ly/3NOwUTH.
3 rice workshops set
Agents, consultants and others in the agriculture industry can earn continuing education units, or CEUs, as they walk through new rice weed management demonstrations during three workshops in Colt, Keiser and Stuttgart.
“The three workshops will highlight tools that may be available in 2026,” said Jason Norsworthy, Distinguished Professor and Elms farming chair of weed science for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Specifically, the workshops will focus on Viludo, a new UPL seed treatment that aids weed control in rice, and FMC’s new herbicide, Keenali Complete.”
Norsworthy said participants can receive two hours of pest management CEUs, according to a Division of Agriculture news release.
There is no cost to attend. Each workshop starts at 9:15 a.m., with lunch served following the workshop.
The workshop schedule:
Aug. 5 — COLT — Pine Tree Research Station, 7337 Highway 306 West.
Aug. 6 — KEISER — Northeast Research and Extension Center, 1241 W. County Road 780.
Aug. 8 — STUTTGART — Rice Research and Extension Center, 2900 Highway 130 East.
Mention of brand names does not imply endorsement by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.