Care to Learn director battles poverty statewide

Linda Ramey-Greiwe brings a business-minded approach to her role as executive director of Springfield nonprofit Care to Learn. Statistics drive her passion.

Now a year into her position, the former longtime executive of newspaper publisher Gannett Co. Inc. was the featured guest this morning for Springfield Business Journal’s 12 People You Need to Know live interview series.

To Ramey-Greiwe, the health of the greater Springfield and Missouri economies starts with children.

Data indicate 25 percent of Springfield’s population lives in poverty and 21 percent of children in Missouri are in poverty, she said.

To address those issues, Ramey-Greiwe said such stakeholders as Community Foundation of the Ozarks President and CEO Brian Fogle are advocating for investments in early childhood education. They’re specifically making sure children are ready to learn, which she defined as being able to take two directions at a time.

“If children aren’t ready to learn when they get to school, we spend more time and resources, which is money, to get them ready,” she said. “All research shows that the best money we can spend as a community is on early childhood education.”

Ramey-Greiwe said - depending on what research is cited - the return on investment for early childhood education investments is 17 to 20 times the cost.

“You can spend it on early childhood education or you can spend it later on things like social services, jails, other costly services to your community,” she said.

Once children are established in school, Care to Learn works to make sure they finish. The nonprofit fills health, hunger and hygiene requests for such items as clothes, shampoo, hearing aids and backpacks loaded with food. The majority of the nonprofit’s budget - $1.4 million in 2015 - is spent on the latter, Ramey-Greiwe said.

Keeping kids in school has a direct economic impact, she said.

“A high school graduate makes about $10,000 more per year than someone who doesn’t graduate high school,” she said. “The more money they make, the more taxes we get; the more taxes we have, the more we can do as a society. There really is a connection to all those things.”

Since joining Care to Learn in October 2015, Ramey-Greiwe and a staff of six have grown the organization to support 32 chapters at school districts statewide, up from 23.

Through its business model, Care to Learn facilitates the delivery of supplies to schools, but the money raised and spent is all local. She said schools can expect a 10-to-1 return on every dollar invested with the nonprofit.

Earlier this year, the organization established an 18-month strategic plan to add 10 chapters. Care to Learn has since added eight and is acclimating those school districts to its model. The nonprofit also is considering adding an administrative fee assessed per student.

“We’re primarily focused on southwest Missouri and greater St. Louis,” Ramey-Greiwe said, noting the nonprofit is focusing on the Show-Me State for now but wouldn’t rule out other states and even a national focus in the future.

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