Fourteen nonprofits in Missouri – many of them in the Ozarks – have been awarded grants to address the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, which handed out the grants on Tuesday, said the projects that were chosen provide meaningful ways to connect people with their communities.
For example, one recipient of the Coover Regional Vibrant Communities grant, is the City of Cassville, which will use its $20,000 award to resurface and repurpose the city park’s tennis courts into four pickleball courts. The Heart of the Ozarks United Way will use its more than $14,000 grant to support the Conversation Starters Program, a collaboration of West Plains’ art and therapy communities to provide mental health workshops and public art events at the Yellow House.
Other recipients are:
- Aurora Youth Empowerment Project: $14,000 to host workshops that encourage growth in literacy and purchase outdoor recreational equipment.
- Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks: $13,017 to partner with Burrell Behavioral Health’s Be Well Initiatives to provide wellness events for breast cancer survivors and their caregivers in the Branson and Joplin areas.
- Code 1 Wellness: $20,000 to create the Rural Unity Initiative, a collaboration with Bates County Memorial Hospital that will close the gap in mental health services for rural communities in Cass, Bates and Henry counties.
- The Community Betterment Foundation Inc.: $20,000 to expand the classroom used by students completing the Hi-Set and accessing after-school mentoring and to create a new community meeting space in Hartville.
- Community Senior Citizens Inc.: $17,236 to purchase a dishwasher and ice machine at the Qulin Nutrition Center to continue serving seniors in the Butler County.
- Elkland Lions Club: $15,000 to purchase new, safe bleachers and lights for its arena.
- Glenwood Elementary: $20,000 to support an early childhood preschool playground at the school near West Plains.
- Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau: $10,000 to support community engagement and connection through live music performances on historic porches and other accessible venues.
- It Takes a Village – SEMO: $15,000 to connect mothers across southeast Missouri through monthly classes, online support and in-person social events.
- Ozarks Regional YMCA: $10,000 to support the Dallas County Senior Connection Program and the Senior Formal project.
- Sarcoxie R-II School District: $20,000 to purchase a sound system for the archery/multi-purpose building.
- SingerHill Music & Arts Inc.: $11,640 to expand the Miracle of Music home concert series to provide monthly concerts local nursing homes and public schools in Dade and Barton counties.
Julia Dorothy Coover, a 30-year Commerce Bank employee, founded the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. The private foundation, managed by Commerce Trust, has funded about $8 million in grants to benefit rural communities across the CFO’s service area since the partnership began in 2001.
