2026 40 Under 40: Jody Dow

As the founder and executive director of the Springfield Dream Center, Jody Dow, 38, sees her role as a gap filler. “Growth is more lasting when it happens in relationships rather than in isolation,” she says.

When Dow launched the Dream Center in 2017, it was a startup functioning with a team of six. Now, the nonprofit comprises 24 employees, has an annual operating budget of $1.3 million, and offers programming five days a week for a service population ranging from birth to adulthood.

“I have dedicated my career to identifying gaps in our community and building sustainable pathways of hope for families experiencing poverty,” Dow says.

That focus has carried through past and current leadership roles at North Point Church, in addition to her supporting role in Borrow My Angel, an organization founded by her husband, Chuck Dow.