Across Arkansas, expanding access to capital and education is essential for building long-term economic opportunities. During the 2025-26 academic year, a team of first-year Clinton School of Public Service students partnered with the ACC Capital Foundation (ACCFF) to strengthen support systems for current and aspiring entrepreneurs statewide.
Under the supervision of Tiffany Henry, Executive Director of the ACCCF, and Clinton School faculty advisors Dr. Nichola Driver and Rachel Norris, team members Luke Cantrell (Shawnee, Oklahoma), Reagan Davis (Oxford, Mississippi), and Nugget Settles (North Little Rock, Arkansas) conducted a comprehensive needs assessment of entrepreneurship education and support services within local organizations and higher education institutions.
Adapting to Community Needs
The team’s primary objective was to identify gaps in training, knowledge, and available resources across Arkansas. However, early field research quickly reshaped their approach.
“The view we held of the challenge was initially very broad, leading us toward an asset map deliverable that just wasn’t feasible within an academic year,” Settles said. “Through the support of our partner, Tiffany Henry, and our professors, we narrowed our scope to focus where our research could make the greatest practical impact.”
A key moment in the project’s evolution came during an early site visit to Fayetteville, where the team toured facilities and met directly with local stakeholders.
“We had to pivot and remain flexible in deciding what our final deliverable would be,” Davis said. “Being in those entrepreneurial spaces was vital to understanding the overall challenge. After interacting with the community, we realized that our approach to the challenge needed to shift so that we were focusing on where communities and spaces lacked entrepreneurial support and resources.”
Delivering Strategic Solutions
The culmination of the team’s year-long effort is a strategic roadmap designed to help ACCF bolster entrepreneurial resources across Arkansas universities and colleges. By evaluating the current state of higher education entrepreneurship programs, the team provided actionable recommendations for ACCF to build long-term institutional capacity.
Along the way, the students developed critical skills in stakeholder engagement, data collection, and qualitative analysis, tools that are essential for effective public service leadership.
“During our interviews, one response from a local leader really reaffirmed why this work matters,” said Luke Cantrell. “When asked about gaps in local resources, they noted: ‘I think the resources are everywhere. It’s not about the resources there, the question is, are you seeing pathways to integrate it?’ That insight stuck with us, and we designed our recommendations to create clearer pathways for integrating ACCF’s resources into university programs statewide.”
The findings from the student team offer fresh momentum for ACCF’s ongoing statewide initiatives.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Clinton School students for the thoughtfulness, curiosity, and critical feedback they brought to this project,” Henry said. “Their research provided an important outside perspective at a pivotal time for our organization and helped us better understand where we could have the greatest impact. Their recommendations directly informed the Foundation’s new five-year strategic plan, which commits more than $6 million to entrepreneurship education programs across Arkansas.
As a result of the Practicum Team’s work, we are expanding our investment in educator development and launching both a high school business plan competition and a statewide community venture development competition. The impact of their work will continue to shape our organization and the entrepreneurs we serve for years to come.”
With the strategic roadmap complete, the ACC Capital Foundation is well-positioned to expand its outreach, ensuring that innovation and economic opportunity continue to thrive across Arkansas communities.