CFO awards $50K to nonprofits

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks today will award $50,000 to nonprofit organizations supporting early childhood programs.

The grants are tied to red flags related to early childhood issues marked in the 2011 Community Focus Report for Springfield-Greene County.

“So many of the red-flag issues identified throughout the Community Focus report could be improved by giving our kids the best possible start in life and preparing them as well as possible to succeed in school,” CFO President Brian Fogle said in a news release. “We wanted to emphasize this with a specific grant round this year focused on early childhood development.”

Grant recipients are:

• Community Partnership of the Ozarks, $10,500 to implement a class assessment tool to increase positive interactions between children and teachers;
• Lighthouse Child and Family Development Center, $8,750 to launch a project to improve social and emotional support for families with children ages 5 and younger;
• SafeHaven of the Ozarks, $8,750 to purchase materials and space in order to provide counseling to children in foster care due to neglect or abuse;
• United Way of the Ozarks, $8,500 to support the Downtown Family Circuit program;
• Foundation for Springfield Public Schools, $8,500 to support a partnership between the Parents as Teachers program and the Springfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and
• Friends of Operation Us, $5,000 to provide expectant mothers with foundational skills for childrearing.

[[In-content Ad]]