Passion & Progress: Spring 2026
A Message from Winter
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is an organization rooted in place. This means we are committed to embracing and enhancing the assets — natural, human and civic — that make the communities we serve unique. Thankfully, southern Missouri has a great many unique features, which makes this mission not only attainable, but fun.
One of the most visible such features is Route 66, the famed U.S. highway that once ran uninterrupted from Chicago to Santa Monica. For years the highway served as not only a major national transportation artery but developed a mythology all its own thanks to the rise of the automobile, westward migration and pop culture staples like the song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” — and, for my fellow Lightning McQueen moms out there — Pixar’s “Cars.”
Route 66 is perhaps even more relevant right here at home. The name for the highway was requested from Springfield in 1926, just a block north of today’s downtown CFO headquarters, an occasion that will be honored (with NBC’s “Today” show!) April 30–May 2 when Springfield hosts the national Route 66 centennial celebration. If Route 66 is America’s main artery, Springfield must be its heart.
But as a Mount Vernon girl whose first two childhood homes were located on old Route 66, which skirts just north of my hometown, I’d argue Route 66’s lasting charm exists in the smaller places along the way. The highway — and its four-lane successor, Interstate 44 — is a connector of many small- to mid-sized cities that flourished in the last century thanks to transportation. Many of these communities are home to CFO affiliate foundations, and our staff knows them well.
All of our communities are unique, but it’s safe to say there’s just something that hits differently when you drive by the Boots Court in Carthage at twilight or take a stroll beneath the beautiful Route 66 murals in Cuba. We are proud to say that the CFO’s affiliates had a hand in helping preserve both of these landmarks and more, which you can read about beginning on page 3 of this newsletter. Also in this issue:
- I have attended a number of out-of-town meetings and conferences over the past year, and one of the hottest topics nationally is “impact investing,” which the CFO has long called mission-related investing. For more than 15 years, we provided alternative funding for worthy nonprofit and civic projects, supplementing the work already conducted by local banks and other institutions. You can read more about our Mission-Related Investment program on page 6.
- In what is quickly becoming one of my favorite quarterly features, on page 7 we highlight three fresh faces from across the Ozarks who are making their communities better.
I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter as much as I did. And no matter how you choose to get your kicks, on behalf of the CFO, I hope you have a safe and happy spring.
