Seven groups representing underserved and underrepresented people received about $120,000 in grants to further fund their missions.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks presented the awards Dec. 6 at The Fairbanks, a community center in the Grant Beach neighborhood. The awards were funded through the foundation’s diversity, equity and inclusion grant program.
Awards included:
- $25,000 for Imagine Technical Institute to support vocational training for individuals with disabilities.
- $24,000 for Ujima Language and Literacy to support a joint effort with the Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Center dealing with parental and community advocacy training.
- $21,000 for the American Indian Center of Springfield to support a full-time staff position, as well as develop in-depth, Native American-friendly curriculum.
- $20,000 for Missouri State University’s Newcomer Family Welcome Program, which offers English language instruction and cultural advocacy that supports refugees and other newcomers.
- $16,000 for renovating the historic Lincoln School, a segregation-era, one-room schoolhouse in West Plains.
- $8,000 for Unity of Springfield to support its inclusive cold weather shelter.
- $6,000 for Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence to partially fund diversity, equity and inclusion instruction training for staff, board members, volunteers and community partners.
Rachel Tripp, program coordinator for the foundation, said the demand for DEI-related programs is growing.
About 26 applicants made requests for about $450,000 in funding, Tripp said. The selection committee landed on programs that put an emphasis on training, and on serving the Springfield metro area.
“That was quite a lot of work, getting that number of applicants narrowed down,” Tripp said. “The committee really came together and focused on supporting some of our agencies in our region.”
Money for the grants comes from the foundation’s unrestricted assets and field-of-interest funds.
About $34,000 remains in an “Inclusion and Belonging” grant program, which supports smaller requests capped at $3,000. Projects for those funds should encourage diverse representation in a community, as well as engagement and leadership across the southwest Missouri, according to a press release from the foundation.
