Seventeen Springfield-area agencies are splitting almost $650,000 in funding for work over the next year tied to programs that benefit student civility, children and foster families.
The Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants were announced June 6 at the Fox Theatre in downtown Springfield. All told, the recipients could share in over $1.8 million in grants over the course of three funding cycles dedicated to three areas of programming: student citizenship, foster families and change for children.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, along with the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation and U.S. Bank Wealth Management, partnered on the Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants project. The impact grants “target specific areas of the late Mrs. Musgrave’s core philanthropic interests through high-impact grantmaking,” according to a news release. A committee identified student citizenship as the latest area of focus that will be funded with a set of multi-year grants, and the Hauxeda is one of four nonprofits selected to address the issue.
The Daily Citizen's grant will fund an outreach effort, through social media and other networking, to provide high school and college students with news in a form that is relevant and useful to them and helps them gain knowledge about civic affairs, including elections and voting.
“Today's young people are tomorrow's community leaders,” said David Stoeffler, chief executive officer of the Daily Citizen. “We know young people consume news and that they are concerned about the future. This grant will allow us to try to meet them where they are — and help us learn the most effective ways to reach them and engage them in their community.”
Student citizenship grant recipients
The four proposals selected for the multi-year grant program will collectively receive over $250,000 in year one to kickstart efforts to address student citizenship. If the four agencies meet annual grant renewal guidelines, the total funding awarded will exceed $539,000 over a three-year period.
The agencies are:
- History Museum on the Square, which was awarded $72,500 “to connect K-12 students with the past and present through experiential learning” 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,” according to a news release.
- Leadership Springfield, which was awarded $62,000 to support the Civic Leadership Access Program through a partnership with Parkview High School. The partnership includes “a multi-step civics education program culminating in a participatory learning experience in Washington, D.C.”
- OTC Foundation, which was awarded $35,975 to expand Ozarks Technical Community College’s student-run, nonpartisan Politically Active program.
- Hauxeda, which was awarded $80,000 “to increase civic engagement among young people by fostering engaged and thoughtful consumption of media from diversified media outlets.”
Second-year amounts for foster families programs
Programs designed to help foster families received their second wave of Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants funding. They include:
- CASA of Southwest Missouri, which received $13,046 “to support the addition of an advocate supervisor, who will train and supervise new CASA volunteers.”
- The Connecting Grounds, which was awarded $39,800 to add a Family Connection coordinator position and develop trauma-informed training for additional Family Connection site locations.
- Council of Churches of the Ozarks, which received $50,000 “to develop a new case-management program for biological parents whose children are currently in state custody.”
- FosterAdopt Connect, which will get $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,” according to the release.
- KVC Missouri (formerly Great Circle), which gets $50,000 to expand its Therapeutic Foster Care program. The program offers “family support and training for the physical, emotional and social needs of children and youth in a supportive foster care situation,” according to the release.
Seven recipients receive final-year funding for ‘change for children’ programs
Seven agencies received the last wave of grant funding for programs tied to improving children’s lives in Springfield. They include:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield, which received $30,000 for its Workforce Development Program for students.
- OTC Foundation, which will get $50,000 for OTC’s Study Nursery Partnership that will help fund a full-time early childhood program staff leader position.
- Ozarks Food Harvest, which gets $25,000 for the Weekend Backpack food program.
- Springfield Greene County Park Board – SPARC, which received $15,000 that will be used to host “staff training on mental and social-emotional behavioral needs of youth in its before- and after-school programs,” according to the release.
- Springfield Regional Arts Council, which gets $22,250 for the Springfield Growing Up in the Arts program.
- The Kitchen Inc., which will receive $41,097 to fund an additional case manager position at the Rare Breed drop-in center for pregnant and parenting youth.
- Ujima Language and Literacy will get $12,294 to support two programs — Empowering Young Readers: A Family Literacy Model and Ujima’s five-year development sustainability plan.
Care to Learn, a nonprofit that partners with school districts to address emergent needs for students, received $20,000 in grant funding in 2021 as part of this cohort. The funds were used to expand efforts to include Strafford schools.
The Musgrave Multi-Year Impact Grants distribution committee is chaired by Rob Baird. Members include Emily Bowen-Marler, Ferba Lofton, Danny Perches, Peggy Riggs and Thomas Slaight. Daily Citizen publisher Thomas J. Carlson serves on the committee as well, but abstained from the selection process this year.
