News & Updates
CFO grants $150,000 to support Collective Impact projects in Springfield
The grant-funded projects address Blue Ribbons and Red Flags identified in the Community Focus Report for Springfield-Greene County.
March 7, 2023
Grants fund four collaborations involving two dozen organizations
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks has granted a total of $150,000 to four collaborative projects in the annual Jewell Schweitzer Collective Impact Grant Program. Named in honor of the late Springfield philanthropist, the program funds innovative solutions to address Blue Ribbons and Red Flags identified in the Community Focus Report for Springfield and Greene County.
The grants, presented during an event on Tuesday, March 7, at the O’Reilly Center for Hope, support the following collaborations:
- Community Partnership of the Ozarks: $40,000 for the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter Initiative, a partnership with the City of Springfield, Springfield Fire Department, City Utilities of Springfield Transit, Grace United Methodist Church, East Sunshine Church of Christ, Unity of Springfield, Asbury United Methodist, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, YouthConnect, Revive 66 and The Gathering Tree–Eden Village, the Connecting Grounds, Venues 425, the Salvation Army Harbor House, Gathering Friends, and No Reservations Food Truck/Catering. This grant supports a part-time Crisis Cold Weather Shelter organizer to plan and implement the work of the CCWS committee and stakeholders, and an expansion of CCWS sites.
- Great Circle: $35,000 for brain-science-based education assessments and Intervention, a partnership with CASA of Southwest Missouri and Missouri Alliance for Children and Families. This project will expand a collaboration providing a holistic approach to healing trauma through training and assessment services based on the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics for children in the foster care system.
- Jordan Valley Community Health Center: $40,000 for MO Family Connects, a partnership with the Mayor’s Commission for Children, CoxHealth, Mercy Hospital and Springfield-Greene County Health Department. This program will address Community Focus Report red flag issues of health care access among children and child abuse/neglect at birth through a universal-delivery, in-home visitation program based on the proven Family Connects model.
- Springfield Center for Dyslexia and Learning: $35,000 for the recruitment and training of tutors and scholarships for students with dyslexia, a partnership with CoxHealth and Springfield Public Schools. The goal of the project is to help more area children gain access to evidence-based dyslexia-intervention programs.
In the spirit of Springfield-Greene County’s collaborative problem solving — a perennial “Blue Ribbon” in the Community Focus Report — projects funded by the Jewell Schweitzer Collective Impact Grant Program must include at least three organizations. The lead agencies of the collaborations must be 501(c)3 nonprofits or organizations with similar tax-exempt status. The program was renamed this year in memory of Jewell Schweitzer, whose estate gifts have significantly bolstered the CFO’s unrestricted grantmaking.
“We’re so grateful to carry on Jewell’s philanthropic legacy in the Springfield community,” said Brian Fogle, president and CEO of the CFO. “The projects by these agencies leverage one of our community’s greatest strengths — working together to make Springfield and Greene County a better place.”
The Collective Impact grant selection committee is chaired by CFO board member Roy Hardy Jr. and includes fellow board members Emily Kembell and Lynn Meyerkord as well as Travis Liles, Chase Snider and Margo Spilde.
