CFO contributes $500K to $1.3M poverty initiative

Community Foundation of the Ozarks yesterday hosted a ceremony announcing its $500,000 grant toward a five-year, $1.3 million initiative designed to address poverty in northwest Springfield.

Dubbed the Northwest Project, the partnership aims to help families living in Zone 1 become more self-sustainable and overcome poverty. Announced at The Fairbanks - a community center in the Grant Beach neighborhood at a former elementary school renovated by the Drew Lewis Foundation -  the partnership is led by the Drew Lewis Foundation, as well as Missouri State and Drury universities.

Many northwest Springfield residents are said to exceed the city’s overall 25.6 percent poverty rate.

Leading contributions also came from the Stanley and Elaine Ball Foundation, at $500,000, and the Musgrave Foundation, at $250,000.

“Folks in this room are part of that change they want to see in the world,” CFO President Brian Fogle said, asking partners and volunteers to stand at the 1126 N. Broadway Ave. Fairbanks center.

Amy Blansit, who leads the Drew Lewis Foundation named after her deceased husband, said the Northwest Project would first focus on an 18-month pilot at Fairbanks. The group plans to recruit families and provide programming over a two-year period.

MSU will serve as fiscal agent and project administrator for the project, while Drury provides volunteers.  

The initiative is modeled after a Jacksonville, Fla., project called 1,000 in 1,000, which provides families access to classes related to financial literacy and parenting skills, as well as transportation, affordable housing and child care. Blansit, who’s also an MSU kinesiology instructor, said the Northwest Project would add health care to the equation via the MSU Care Clinic and the Jordan Valley Community Health Center.