Community Foundation of the Ozarks is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to award hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to three Missouri cities.
Marshfield, Salem and Sarcoxie were selected as the first participants in the Growth in the Rural Ozarks program, a three-year project designed to promote job growth, entrepreneurship and workforce development, according to a news release.
CFO pledged $55,000 per year toward the project, with a USDA rural development match of $50,000. CFO is applying for USDA assistance over the full three-year period, and each community was required to pledge at least $5,000 to be considered for the grant program, said CFO spokesman Matt Lemmon. Ohio-based economic development and entrepreneurship firm JumpStart Inc. signed on to help the communities best spend the funding to reach the Growth in the Rural Ozarks goals. It’s also supported by three CFO affiliate community foundations, municipal and city governments, and school districts.
If the USDA signs on for the entire three years, the three cities would split more than $300,000.
“As we’ve traveled our highways and visited towns throughout the Ozarks, we have realized that we need to rethink our traditional grantmaking and support for our smaller communities,” CFO President Brian Fogle said in the release. “We can help build strong schools and develop nonprofit capacity, but without economic opportunity, our smaller communities cannot grow and prosper.”
The three cities were selected by a CFO volunteer committee via a competitive grant process.
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