June 7, 2023
Total grant awards for all three programs could ultimately exceed $1.8 million
Representatives from 17 agencies funded by the Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants gathered at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday, June 6, to receive the grants and share information about their projects. The Community Foundation of the Ozarks partnered with the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation and U.S. Bank Wealth Management on the three programs, which could ultimately total $1.8 million in grant funding to benefit student civility, children and foster families.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, in partnership with the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation and U.S. Bank Wealth Management, presented grants totaling nearly $650,000 on Tuesday, June 6. These grants comprise three high-impact, multi-year grant programs focused on increasing civic participation for K-12 students and improving the lives of children and foster families in the Springfield metro area.
The Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants target specific areas of the late Mrs. Musgrave’s core philanthropic interests through high-impact grantmaking. The Musgrave distribution committee identified “Student Citizenship” as its area of focus for the third set of multi-year grants.
The grant recipients and first-year amounts for the “Student Citizenship” program are:
- History Museum on the Square: $72,500 to connect K-12 students with the past and present through experiential learning. The project’s goals are to help students become informed voters and participatory citizens; comprehend current social issues and challenges; and engage in their civic responsibilities as adults with civility and passion.
- Leadership Springfield: $62,000 to support the Civic Leadership Access Program in partnership with Parkview High School, which will include a multi-step civics education program culminating in a participatory learning experience in Washington, D.C.
- OTC Foundation: $35,975 to expand Ozarks Technical Community College’s student-run, nonpartisan Politically Active program, which prepares students to be well-informed voters.
- Springfield Daily Citizen: $80,000 to increase civic engagement among young people by fostering engaged and thoughtful consumption of media from diversified media outlets.
If all agencies meet annual grant renewal guidelines, the total grant awards will exceed $539,000 over the three-year period.
The grant recipients and second-year amounts for the “Foster Families” program are:
- CASA of Southwest Missouri: $13,046 to support the addition of an advocate supervisor, who will train and supervise new CASA volunteers.
- The Connecting Grounds: $39,800 to support the addition of a Family Connection coordinator and trauma-informed training for additional Family Connection site locations.
- Council of Churches of the Ozarks: $50,000 to develop a new case-management program for biological parents whose children are currently in state custody.
- FosterAdopt Connect: $50,000 to provide advocacy and support for biological parents, and mental health support for biological parents, foster families and children in foster care through the YouthConnect Center, Fostering Prevention and Community Connections Youth Project programs.
- KVC Missouri (formerly Great Circle): $50,000 to expand the Therapeutic Foster Care program, which provides family support and training for the physical, emotional and social needs of children and youth in a supportive foster care situation.
If all agencies meet annual grant renewal guidelines, the total grant awards will exceed $680,000 when the final grants are presented next year.
The CFO and the Musgrave Foundation also presented the final year of grants for the “Change for Children” program:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield: $30,000 for its student Workforce Development Program.
- OTC Foundation: $50,000 for the Ozarks Technical Community College Study Nursery Partnership to support a full-time staff leader for its early childhood program.
- Ozarks Food Harvest: $25,000 for its Weekend Backpack food program for eligible Springfield Public Schools students.
- Springfield Greene County Park Board – SPARC: $15,000 for staff training on mental and social-emotional behavioral needs of youth in its before- and after-school programs.
- Springfield Regional Arts Council: $22,250 for the Springfield Growing Up in the Arts program.
- The Kitchen Inc.: $41,097 to support an additional case manager at the Rare Breed drop-in center for pregnant and parenting youth.
- Ujima Language and Literacy: $12,294 to support both the Empowering Young Readers: A Family Literacy Model and Ujima’s five-year development sustainability plan.
Care to Learn also is part of the “Change for Children” cohort, having received $20,000 in 2021 to establish a chapter for Strafford schools.
The grants were announced at the Historic Fox Theatre, part of the History Museum on the Square’s complex in downtown Springfield. Total grant awards for all three programs could ultimately exceed $1.8 million. The Musgrave distribution committee is chaired by Rob Baird and includes Emily Bowen-Marler, Ferba Lofton, Danny Perches, Peggy Riggs and Thomas Slaight, with support from CFO staff members Bridget Dierks and Ashley Fleming. Thomas J. Carlson also serves on the committee, but abstained from selection process.
The Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation is a private charitable foundation managed by U.S. Bank Wealth Management and administered by the CFO. Since its inception, the Musgrave Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $18 million in Springfield and southwest Missouri.
