Growing Roots

Major funding for this program was probided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation uses its resources to build and sustain strong communities for all Arkansans by supporting and strengthening the organizations that serve them.

 

In the 1990's Arkansas's native born population grew 12 percent. The state's immigrant population almost tripled--rising from 25,000 to 75,000, a growth rate exceeded by only three other states." (Source: A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas) The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation commissioned a study on the growh and impact of immigration in Arkansas. The study was conducted by the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.

In Growing Roots: Immigration in the Land of Opportunity, Narrator Steve Barnes takes a look at the demography, economics, and cultural impact of immigration in Arkansas. In part two of Growing Roots: Immigration in the Land of Opportunity, Narrator Steve Barnes takes a look at education, global economics, and household demographics within Arkansas immigrant communities.

Also included in the program are community profiles that feature immigrants of Latino, Laotian, and Marshallese descent. The pieces, produced by Matt Bradley, were filmed in DeQueen, Hensley and Springdale.