Southern Financial Partners

Southern Financial Partners is in the middle of many good things happening in Phillips County.

The affiliate of Southern Bancorp of Arkadelphia worked with residents to establish a battle plan of priorities for making life better in the Helena-West Helena area. That effort resulted in the Phillips County Strategic Community Plan, with 46 goals and more than 190 actions directed at achieving those goals. The plan already is yielding results that include:

Funding a $30,000 study that culminated in the construction of a $25 million biodiesel plant that will employ more than 40 and a $40,000 study that could lead to a supporting oil seed-crushing plant with more new investment and jobs.
Giving technical, financial and grant support for the Knowledge Is Power Program Delta College Preparatory School, which helped improve standardized test scores from an average of the 20th percentile to the 82nd percentile in four years.
Providing permanent financing for the new $4.5 million Helena Health Foundation/Delta AHEC Wellness Center, which attracted more than 1,500 Phillips County members.
Helping improve neighborhoods by doing away with more than 175 derelict houses and buildings.

Supplying a $30,000 grant to consolidate and improve the Helena-West Helena accounting and financial systems.

Delivering a $240,000 grant to support a new Boys & Girls Club.

The good works of Southern Financial Partners won’t end in Phillips County. The nonprofit group began working to replicate the effort in Clark County during 2007 and in Sunflower County in Mississippi in 2008. All told, Southern Financial Partners has helped leverage $52 million in grants, loans and public and private capital to improve Phillips County.

Ben Steinberg, SFP president, describes the role of the organization as helping connect community priorities with the resources to make things happen.