$80K in grants awarded to rural school districts

Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. has partnered with the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation and Commerce Trust to present more than $80,000 in grants to rural school districts.

Seventeen school districts were selected for a total of $80,078 to support career exploration programs, according to a news release.

“Preparing students for success after graduation extends well beyond reading, writing and arithmetic,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust and chair of the Coover Charitable Foundation grant selection committee, in the release. "We’re grateful to help these rural school districts provide immersive professional experiences to their students."

The grant recipients, in alphabetical order, are as follows:
• Aurora High School YEP/Alumni Outreach Center, $4,500
• Billings R-IV School District, $5,000
• Cape Girardeau Public Schools, $5,000
• Cassville R-IV Schools, $4,000
• Cole Camp R-1 School District, $3,000
• Fairview School District, $5,000
• Glenwood R-8 School District, $4,898
• Houston R-1 School District, $5,000
• Lutie R-VI School District, $5,000
• Mansfield R-IV School District, $4,850
• Marionville R-IX School District, $5,000
• Niangua TLC, $3,893
• Nixa R-II School District, $5,000
• Ozark R-VI School District, $5,000
• Pleasant Hope R-VI Schools, $5,000
• Steelville R-3 School District, $4,937
• Strafford R-VI School District, $5,000

The grants are made possible by the late Julia Dorothy Coover, who worked for Commerce Bank for 30 years. She established the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. The foundation has since presented more than $8.6 million in grants.