Making a Difference

Ginger Ramirez was going through tough times, a few years ago. The 33 year old and her children live in Northwest Springfield, Zone 1, which has the city’s highest rate of poverty: “Oh absolutely, there was no hope.  I felt like I was deteriorating, that I was falling apart, and my whole world was crashing. I wasn’t able to work anymore because of child care expenses.  I was living off donating plasma every week, making $70.00 a week.  That was my income to raise children and make a living.”

"In a rural community, the hospital takes on a bigger role, than it does, I think, in larger cities. The hospital is kind of all encompassing, and is there to provide whatever help you need."

The Every Child Promise:  Our Community Promises to Empower Families, So That Every Child, Age Birth-Six, Has the Opportunity to Enter Schools, Ready to Learn. 

This story has been updated to include the full 2017 CFR, which was made public Tuesday morning. 

In May of 2016, The Community Foundation of the Ozarks announced Marshfield, Salem, and Sarcoxie, as the first 3 Missouri communities to receive CFO’s first ever Economic Development Grants, through the Growth in the Rural Ozarks, grand program.  GRO, as it is known, is designed to promote job creation, entrepreneurship, and economic and workforce development in rural communities.  Growth in the Rural Ozarks is Co-Funded by CFO and USDA Rural Development, and ov