With a focus on post-secondary credential attainment, the Lumina Foundation this past month added Springfield to its now 75-city network.
Springfield is the third cohort of cities to join the network, and will receive a $120,000 two-year planning grant and five years of technical assistance to connect and enhance existing developmental programs that help link students to careers.
Francine Pratt is the executive director of Missouri State University’s Multicultural Programs and the project director for the Lumina Foundation’s grant.
“I think it sends a serious message about access,” Pratt said. “What this does, it allows dollars to actually be used for activities or programs that we’re already doing, but we’re able to enhance what we are doing so that we can help more students.”
Projects already in place under the Community Foundation of the Ozarks include the Rural Schools Partnership and CFO Scholarships, which provide funding for eligible high school students to attend college.
One of the initiatives outlined in the grant is that area college students persistently progress from year to year.
“Minority students take six to eight years to graduate from college with a degree,” Pratt said. “If we can get them to graduate on time, which is four to five years, that saves them money on student loans that gets them into the employer market sooner.”
The Lumina Foundation is a private foundation that seeks to increase the number of Americans with post-secondary credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
The current focus in the Springfield area is on juniors and seniors in Springfield Public Schools, students enrolled in one of the area colleges and adults with college credits that stopped attending.
To learn more visit the Community Foundation of the Ozarks website at cfozarks.org.