YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. on Thursday awarded $120,000 in diversity, equity and inclusion grants.
CFO's 2023 DEI grant awards went to eight recipients, according to a news release.
At $25,000, Better Together Playground received the largest amount.
The grant recipients are:
• Better Together Playground, $25,000 to support an inclusive playground to serve children in and around the Willard community;
• Heart of the Ozarks United Way, $22,000 for the Sadie Brown Cemetery Preservation Project to locate and add markers to more than 100 unmarked graves in the African American cemetery near West Plains;
• History Museum on the Square, $20,000 to showcase the history of African American schools and Black educators in Springfield during segregation;
• Springfield Little Theatre, $20,000 to support equitable access to programming for diverse individuals through a partnership with the Mosaic Arts Collective;
• Ozarks New Hope, $13,000 to provide DEI training for employees at 11 clinics in southwest Missouri;
• Unity of Springfield, $10,000 to support operational expenses for an inclusive cold weather shelter;
• Community Partnership of the Ozarks, $5,000 for the Inclusive Springfield project and the Tough Talks program; and
• Empower: abilities, $3,000 to support meal costs for volunteer surveyors who will dine at Springfield-area restaurants to gauge accessibility responsiveness.
CFO's amount of DEI grants rose to eight from five last year with a 20% increase in the organization’s fiscal 2023 grantmaking budget for the program, according to the release.
Springfield Business Journal’s 2023 Trusted Advisers event honors 20 businesspeople.
This is a wonderful endeavor by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks! And as a board member at the History Museum on the Square, I'm delighted that the museum has received a grant to showcase the history of African American schools and Black educators in Springfield during segregation.