Northwest Personal Space

Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson, outreach coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, likes a spot in the road on her daily run where she says the city turns rural.
Jen Carlson, outreach coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, likes a spot in the road on her daily run where she says the city turns rural.

Where I live: We live in Fayetteville. We’ve been here for six years, but just bought our first home near Wedington Drive. It’s in a great neighborhood, and it had everything we were looking for. The backyard is great. It has great northwestern exposure, all sky — no power lines, no houses, no buildings.

Occupation: Director of outreach for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter. Part of what that job entails is recruiting and organizing our volunteer base. We have a 70-person volunteer team that keeps our shelter and thrift store running. They are the heart of the agency. I also take care of in-kind donations, and let the community know if we need anything specific like art supplies for our children’s program. I do most of our professional training as well. I’m law enforcement-certified, so I train law enforcement, local medical professionals and other victim-service providers.

My favorite space: There’s a road that leads up to our subdivision. It’s this great windy road that goes in between two wooded areas.

Why? You go from Wedington, which is all businesses, and, in just a couple hundred yards, it turns to woods. You come out of the city, and it’s almost like you’re in the country. It’s my favorite little spot because you can pretend you’re somewhere else and just relax for a little bit.

If I could do one thing to improve this space I would: Make it a little more accessible.

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