SLS Community and its impact partners have launched a project called South Cato Springs in south Fayetteville. This is in collaboration with South Cato Springs Holdings, LLC, the holder of +230-acres along South Cato Springs Road in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

South Cato Springs is a future mixed-use development that is for everyone. It will also be the future site of SLS Community’s scaled operations.

 The land is near the University of Arkansas campus, Kessler Mountain Regional Park, downtown Fayetteville, and Interstate 49—the main thoroughfare in northwest Arkansas.  The master plan for the project includes commercial, vocational, residential, recreational, and clinical resources to improve the quality of life of the entire community of Northwest Arkansas while promoting meaningful interaction between neurodiverse adults and the broader community along “live, work and play” themes that are interwoven in this mixed-use development.

The City of Fayetteville was an early impact partner on the project, collaborating with the private landowner South Cato Springs Holdings, LLC (another impact partner), to craft a land plan that was grounded in the SLS Community mission and the City of Fayetteville’s vision for the future.

The land plan intentionally integrates commercial, residential, cultural, institutional and entertainment components that promote a healthy lifestyle and meaningful interaction between the neurodiverse and broader community.  True inclusion of neurodiverse individuals within the broader community is more likely to succeed if neurodiverse individuals are seen as assets rather than burdens.

To incorporate these elements, the land plan has adopted landscape urbanism principles that integrate the surrounding landscape, mountain ridges, open spaces, and forested areas; while at the same time, promote walkable and bikeable mixed-use neighborhoods and sustainable communities.

A cornerstone of the South Cato Springs project will be an outpatient multi-specialty medical facility which will be constructed by the Psychiatric Research Institute of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with input from national experts focused on neurodiverse adults assembled by SLS Community.  Specialty medical services and allied therapeutic services will be provided to all consumers, with special adaptations and accommodations for the special needs of the neurodiverse population. This center of excellence will attract world-class talent to Northwest Arkansas focused on the health and well-being of neurodiverse adults.  The planned center will align critical care with the university’s research capabilities to establish destination-based resources akin to leading medical facilities such as the Kennedy Krieger Institute of Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, Maryland.  The leaders of SLS Community already have relationships with, and have solicited guidance from, these institutions. Other benefits of the UAMS medical facility include:

• Provide access to primary and specialty care for neurodiverse adults;
• A place for advancing science allowing these adults to live richer, meaningful lives;
• A home to academic programs for educating the next generation of health professionals, caregivers, and researchers.

Where SLS Community integrates with South Cato Springs:

“Live, Work, Play”