Community Foundation of the Ozarks

More scholarships, technology improvements, and dual-credit tuition assistance will be available to students and educators in Hermann, West Plains, and Willard as the three latest school districts to celebrate their successful efforts in the Cooper Challenge grants for educational endowments.

The CFO awarded $15,000 to Hermann Schools and the Community Foundation of the Hermann Area, Inc., for the CF Dual Credit Scholarship Fund endowment, which offers tuition assistance for students taking college-level classes that count for both high-school and college credit.

The Hermann area raised $43,071 for a total of $58,071 to complete the Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign Phase II Challenge for members of the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership during 2010.

“We are so pleased to receive the Cooper Challenge Grant,” said Dr. Chris Neale, Hermann Superintendent and President of the Community Foundation of the Hermann Area, Inc.

The Willard community celebrated its $11,000 Cooper Challenge Grant on center court during the halftime of the Willard vs. Republic basketball game on Feb. 15.

The Willard Children’s Charitable Foundation and Willard schools raised $22,314 for a total of $33,314 applied to the Willard Educational Endowment Fund, which is designated for scholarships for Willard graduates and grants to the Willard School District for technology infrastructure to enhance educational performance.

“The WCCF Board of Trustees would like to thank the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for their continuing assistance, the Cooper family for their tremendous generosity, and our fantastic community for your remarkable support in the establishment of this new $33,000 endowed fund to support the children of our community,” WCCF President Danette Proctor said.

The $5,000 Cooper Challenge Grant for West Plains, along with $10,000 raised by the West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation, will go into the endowment fund and board members are still determining their distribution plans.

“We certainly appreciate the Cooper family for this match,” said John Richards, president of the West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation. “The school has a lot of needs and we’re going to use it to the best of our ability to help as many students as possible.”

A total of 26 southern Missouri rural schools participated in the year-long challenge grant opportunity, which raised nearly $1 million from generous donors and the Harry Cooper Supply Company to build long-term sustainability for these districts. The districts are: Alton, Aurora, Ava, Bolivar, Bradleyville, Cassville, Dallas County, Dora, Eminence, Fair Grove, Fairview, Gainesville, Hermann, Hollister, Houston, Lockwood, Logan-Rogersville, Monett, Nixa, Reeds Spring, Seymour, Valle, Warsaw, Weaubleau, Willard and West Plains.

During the first six months of the  fiscal year, a total of 139 new funds have been established at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. That’s quite a pace, considering a record number of 231 new funds were established during the full 2010 fiscal year.

The largest number of new funds were established by agency partners, the schools and non-profit groups the CFO works with to build endowments and assist with capacity building and other services. We welcomed 81 new agency partner funds during that six-month period, bringing the total number associated with the CFO to 378. A number of those new funds are for members of our Rural Schools Partnership.

We’re also continuing to see growth in our scholarship programs, with 20 new scholarship funds established from July through December. We’ll be posting more information in early February on the new scholarship opportunities available for Ozarks students through the generosity of these donors who put a priority on making higher education accessible for all students.

The new funds also include seven Giving Circles to support interests ranging from heart health in West Plains to helping neighbors in need through the Finley River Community Foundation. Giving Circles are a new type of fund the CFO is emphasizing to encourage groups of people bonded by shared interests to support their charitable passions.

For more information about our CFO funds, please contact Winter Skelton, Director of Donor Services, (417) 864-6199.

Nearly $7,000 in  Conco Community Arts Program grant awards have been made to five schools for projects aimed at connecting schools to their communities through visual and performing arts.

The competitive grants, awarded by the Rural Schools Partnership, are made possible by Conco Companies.

This year’s grants were awarded to:

• Ozark East Elementary School: $1,500 to create a visual and performing arts event for the school’s 2010-11 cultural focus on Australia and New Zealand.
• Fordland R-III Photography Club: $1,000 for equipment and supplies to expand the elementary and middle-school students’ community exhibits in area galleries, libraries and businesses.
• Norwood High School Youth Empowerment Project: $1,500 to create murals in the multi-purpose gym and school hallways and do a community service project painting the basement of the Wright County Children’s Home.
• Richards R-V School in West Plains: $1,500 to support the band of sixth- through eighth-grade students with instruments, music, supplies and clothing.
• Clinton High School: $1,432 for a project to add “CHS” in school colors using painted rocks along the drive outside of the new high school building.

“This is a strong group of projects that take student-produced art into their communities,” CFO Executive Vice President Julie Leeth said. “We’re eager to see the results.”