Nonprofit of the Year | Midsize: Springfield Dream Center

For the Springfield Dream Center, red flags are opportunities for future blue ribbons, as defined in the Community Focus Report.

Jody Dow, executive director of the Springfield Dream Center, says the Community Focus Report helps shape the nonprofit’s goals.

“We want to use that Community Focus Report and data as a starting point for knowing where can we focus that’s aligned with what we’re doing,” she says. “Every red flag could eventually become a blue ribbon, but it really takes a concerted effort from everybody in the community, from individuals, businesses, faith communities, to be able to piece together maybe what’s missing for families.”

Dow says the Springfield Dream Center’s approach is termed the help-to-hope continuum. The goal is to move families from immediate crisis support to long-term stability. Help programs include diaper distribution, community nights with meals, a community fridge and block parties. Hope initiatives include free after-school programs and personal development.

“We really like to meet families where they’re at, and then we wrap around this holistic view of how we can support families as they’re making their own steps and progress toward stability,” Dow says.

A recent example of the Springfield Dream Center’s work is a $1 million renovation project. Dow says was it completed with zero debt. The Dream Center operates in space donated by Hamlin Memorial Baptist Church in the Woodland Heights neighborhood at 829 W. Atlantic St.
In that renovated space, which opened in February, upwards of 40 mothers started gathering to share resources and create social capital within their neighborhoods.

“The whole team worked on that project in one way or another,” Dow says. “This is exactly why we created this space.”

That work is part of a larger mission identified by the Springfield Dream Center: “We take away the isolation of having to solve all your problems yourselves,” Dow says.

She adds, “In turn, we’ll see a healthier city.”