June 18, 2021
‘Change for Children’ program targets lasting change for youth
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks awarded $250,641 to eight nonprofits for the first year of three-year proposals selected for the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation’s Change for Children high-impact grantmaking program for spring 2021.
If all agencies meet annual grant renewal guidelines, the total grant awards will exceed $650,000 over the three-year period.
This is the second round of grants awarded since the CFO began administering the Musgrave Foundation grantmaking program in July 2020 in partnership with U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which provides financial management services for the Foundation.
The late Jeannette L. Musgrave established a private foundation in 1983, which has made more than $15 million in grants. One of her primary areas of interest was services for children. That’s why the Musgrave grantmaking committee based its first round of multi-year, high-impact grants on programs that will produce positive changes for Springfield-Greene County children.
The grants were announced today at The Creamery Arts Center in downtown Springfield, home to the Springfield Regional Arts Council and a number of other arts and culture organizations. The grant recipients and first-year amounts awarded are:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield: $30,000 to support its Workforce Development Program for students at the Clubs.
- Care to Learn: $20,000 to establish a chapter for Strafford schools.
- OTC Foundation: $50,000 to support the Ozarks Technical Community College Study Nursery Partnership. This program will support a full-time staff leader at the Study High School nursery, which is part of OTC’s early childhood program.
- Ozarks Food Harvest: $25,000 to support the Weekend Backpack Program, which provides shelf-stable food weekly to eligible children in the Springfield Public Schools system.
- Springfield Greene County Park Board – SPARC: $50,000 to provide high-quality staff training to address the mental and social-emotional behavioral needs of youth in Springfield through before- and after-school programs.
- Springfield Regional Arts Council: $22,250 to support 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 the pregnant and parenting youth who participate in its programming.
- Ujima Language and Literacy: $12,294 for the Empowering Young Readers: A Family Literacy Model and to support Ujima in achieving its five-year development sustainability plan.
The Musgrave grantmaking committee is chaired by Rob Baird and includes Thomas J. Carlson, Ferba Lofton, Peggy Riggs and Thomas Slaight, with support from CFO staff members Bridget Dierks and Krista Moncado.
“We are proud to carry out Mrs. Musgrave’s intentions, which included focusing on better lives for children in Springfield-Greene County,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “These projects, especially looking over a three-year time horizon, address a wide spectrum of needs and enhancements that will benefit our kids.”
