CFO awards $50K in grants to nonprofits

Community Foundation of the Ozarks awarded $50,000 in grants to six local nonprofits.

Part of CFO’s 2014-15 Metro Springfield Grantmaking Program, the funding is earmarked for organizations providing early childhood services, according to a news release.

The six grant recipients, narrowed from nearly $120,000 in requests, seek to address red-flag issues identified in the Community Focus Report for Springfield-Greene County.

By grant amount, the awards were:

• $12,000, Community Partnership of the Ozarks to conduct two-day preschool training programs for 10 to 15 early childhood workers;
• $12,000, Foundation for Springfield Public Schools to buy 18 iPads and software for 18 preschool classrooms at Shady Dell Early Childhood Center;
• $9,000, Council of Churches of the Ozarks’ Child Care Aware of Southern Missouri to implement its Early Childhood One Stop Shop for families to receive assistance finding childcare and other services;
• $7,200, Burrell Behavioral Health to perform child and parent psychotherapy workshop training for professionals who work with preschool age children who have experienced trauma;
• $5,000, Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation’s Saving Sight to partially fund its KidSight program, which provides vision screening for children ages 6 months to preschool; and
• $4,800, Victory Trade School to help purchase childcare meal preparation supplies - such as a cooler, freezer, pantry and dishes - for the Washington Avenue/Every Child Promise preschool.