The funding awarded Monday will help fill gaps in services, increase local food availability, improve facilities, hire staff and provide support to children and families.
The event saw the Ozark Regional Community Foundation partnering with the Janet L. Musgrave Foundation and U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management to distribute approximately $1.17 million in grants to organizations and nonprofits in the Springfield metropolitan area.
The announced awards reflect support for three multi-year grant programs and nonprofit capital projects.
According to a news release, Musgrave’s distribution committee will define “Opportunities to Thrive” as a focus area to support the agency’s long-term sustainability to continue serving low- and no-income residents of all ages post-pandemic.
If expectations are met, the grant will be renewed for three years.
Ozarks Food Harvest − $131,122 to improve structure and safety at Full Circle Garden and expand program capacity. Boys & Girls Club of Springfield − $70,000 to support organizational restructuring, workforce investments, and development strategies. GLO Center − $55,000 to support the salary of a community services specialist, a new role that will create programs and partnerships to close gaps in services for LGBTQIA+ people. Ozarks Literacy Council − $36,432 to hire a part-time social media manager and update the website, donor software, and email platform. Springfield Community Garden − $19,924 to hire a strategic planning consultant, purchase food hub management software, and provide agricultural training to farmers.
The three-year grants, totaling $59,772, will help with online learning, food hub software and strategic planning, Springfield Community Garden said in a separate news release.
“We are honored to receive funding from such an impactful organization,” Founding Executive Director Maile Auterson said in a statement. “We appreciate the foundation’s commitment to supporting the long-term sustainability of institutions that serve low-income communities, which is a tenet of what SCG does.”
Student Citizenship
The grant recipients for the Student Citizenship program and their amounts for the second year are as follows:
History Museum on the Square – $70,000 to connect K-12 students to the past and present through experiential learning. Leadership Springfield – $62,000 to support the Civic Leadership Access Program in partnership with Parkview High School. The program includes a multi-phase civic education program culminating in a participatory learning experience in Washington, D.C. Springfield Daily Citizen – $25,000 to promote youth civic engagement by encouraging active and thoughtful consumption of media. The OTC Foundation is also part of the “Student Citizen” cohort, receiving $35,975 in 2023 to expand its student-run, nonpartisan political activism program at Ozarks Technical Community College.
If all institutions meet the annual grant renewal guidelines, the total grant amount will exceed $539,000 when the final grants are awarded next year.
Foster family
The grant recipients and final year amounts for the Foster Families program are as follows:
• Ozark Council of Churches − $50,000 to develop a new case management program for birth parents with children currently in state custody.• FosterAdopt Connect − $50,000 to provide birth parent advocacy and support and mental health support for birth parents, foster parents and children in foster care.KVC Missouri (formerly Great Circle) − $50,000 to expand its therapeutic foster care program to provide family support and training for the physical, emotional and social needs of children and youth in foster care situations.St. John’s Chapel United Church of Christ − $39,800 to support the addition of Family Connection coordinators formerly managed by Connecting Ground and trauma-informed training for additional Family Connection site locations. CASA of Southwest Missouri is also part of the “Foster Families” cohort and has received $108,805 to support the addition of an Advocate Supervisor over the first two years of the program.
Capital Projects for Nonprofit Organizations
The CFO and the Musgrave Foundation also announced grants from an invitation-only program that will support nonprofits’ capital projects that align with funding priorities of improving the quality of life for health and mental health, low-income communities, children and infants, and unhoused people.
Children’s Advocacy Center – $188,000 for strategic planning and consulting fees for future facilities and a staff site visit to Project Harmony in Omaha. Ozark Council of Churches – $100,000 to support the Level Up capital campaign for a new facility on East Division Street. Dickerson Park Zoo – $97,000 to reroof and renovate the Janet L. Musgrave Zoo Educational Facility and purchase a cargo van for outreach programs. Ozark Food Harvest – $67,145 to purchase a cargo van to transport produce from donors to delivery sites. Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services – $54,500 to renovate and upgrade plumbing at Ashley House, a transitional living facility for youth in the foster care system.
The Musgrave Foundation Distribution Committee is chaired by Rob Baird and includes Emily Bowen Mahler, Ferba Lofton, Danny Perches, Peggy Riggs and Thomas Slate, and is supported by CFO staff Bridget Dierks and Ashley Fleming. Tom Carlson is also a member of the committee but was not involved in the selection process.
The Janet L. Musgrave Foundation is a private charitable foundation managed by U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management and operated by the CFO. Since 1983, the Musgrave Foundation has awarded more than $21 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in Springfield and southwest Missouri.
CFO is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving donors, nonprofit partners and more than 50 local affiliate foundations, with total assets of $427 million as of June 2023.
