Throughout the semester, the interviews conducted by the students in Advanced Reporting and Data Analysis revealed a varying level of economic insecurity in Northwest Arkansas. Although the faces, roles, and backgrounds were different, there were a number of connecting factors that remained constant across the spectrum.
One evident aspect throughout the majority of those interviewed was that they were positive about their respective situations, and they seemed to be happy about what they had and were optimistic about their futures. In Ann Claire Johnson’s report on Chris Pfaff, a homeless gas station worker, it became evident that even those who live in the most-extreme versions of poverty in Northwest Arkansas seem to have an innate sense of purpose. “I come in every day with my head held high,” Pfaff said, according to the report.
Still, when one thinks of extreme poverty, he or she often is under the impression that a person in that category struggles to meet their basic necessities of life. In the interviews conducted for class, it becomes quite apparent that many of these individuals can afford the things that keep them alive as well as other commodities that indicate some level of spendable income. In one of Mary Kerr Winters’ pieces, Nicholas Pando, a game shop worker and assistant for Lindsey Real Estate, is in a well-enough-off financial situation to where he doesn’t have to pay his own rent. Jenny Ridyard, a former homeless individual who now works at 7Hills Homeless Center, is completely out of poverty and now has the opportunity to buy a house within the next year.
While these interviewed individuals would not fit into the typical thought of extreme poverty, they still struggle with attaining the financial security many people in Northwest Arkansas enjoy. In Katie Serrano’s piece on Wendy’s worker Dana Ralpho, the reader is introduced to a student who might otherwise be able to go to college like many of the people in the area, but she instead has to support her family while attending Fayetteville High. When she graduates, she will join the Navy to earn a better paycheck than what she earns part time at Wendy’s. In the same way, custodian Tonney Gazaway wants to attend college and upgrade a few parts of his life, but after he was laid off by the Fayetteville Public Library, he resorted to eating peanut butter sandwiches for every meal and doing odd jobs to earn enough to make ends meet.
The interviews conducted for class are people of all ages, races, and genders. They reveal that a lack of financial security can permeate all types of groups and demographics throughout Northwest Arkansas. While the bottom line for these people isn’t as low as it could be in other places, the fact that a number of individuals can struggle with money in an area loaded with Fortune 500 companies and high-paying jobs is revealing to the nature of economic groups in the area. Readers of the final project will get a sense of the types of people who are often forgotten amongst the cash-green shadows of Walmart, Tyson, and JB Hunt.
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