Making a Difference

Next on KSMU, as part of our ongoing series Making A Difference, produced in cooperation with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, we present another Conversation on Collaboration. And today, the importance of working well with others when it comes to Placemaking, which Wikipedia defines as a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces, capitalizing on a local community's, assets, inspiration and potential, with the intention of promoting people’s health, happiness and well-being... Placemaking.

In 2018, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks teamed up with the Missouri Foundation for Health to provide funding for the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative, or ROHI.(pronounced Roh-Hee) It's a three year, $750,000 grant program to address priority health issues, and communities or regions served by C.F.O. Rural affiliate foundations.

Last month in Springfield, representatives of philanthropic, charitable, technological and governmental groups from around the country and here at home, gathered to share stories and ideas of how collaborative philanthropy has and can, transform communities.

“I would say collaboration means, bringing people together to achieve forward thinking, common good, and measureable outcomes,” says Jenna Manders, from The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque.

Since the first Community Focus Report For Springfield/Greene County in 2004 and every edition since, Blue Ribbons have been awarded to the community for Continued Collaboration, and on this edition of KSMU’s Making a Difference, two former city officials and the head of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, share  memories and insights of Springfield Missouri as a collaborative community. 

“If people have seen the movie Thelma and Louise, and at the end of the movie, they drive their car right off the cliff.  That’s what it’s like for me at times”, says Carolyn Crawford.  “When I know I’m going into a manic state, I have to stop and say ‘Wait a Minute’, and pull back from the cliff.  That’s how it affects me.  But I really didn’t know what it was”, Crawford said.   

“I hear the comments,” said KGBX Morning Host Liz Delany. “You know, 'She’s a little crazy.  Oop, don’t make her mad, she’s on medication.' Or, 'Sometimes she’s a little imbalanced, she might be having one of those days.'   I guess if I was a 'normal' person, if you will, I might say something like that,” Delany said.  

“PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, that’s basically the wound of Iraq and Afghanistan.  The signature wound, if you will, is the TBI," said Anthony Norris, a graduate of Nixa High School.

On this edition of "Let’s Talk About It! Normalizing Mental Health Conversations," from the ongoing KSMU series Making a Difference, we hear about the mental health journey Norris finds himself on.

In 2006 during his senior year at Drury University, Norris chose to delay graduation and pharmacy school, to join the U.S. Army. 

You're listening to KSMU, and this is Making a Difference.

The Springfield Greene County Health Department, with funding support from the Missouri Foundation for Health, is leading a major mental health needs assessment in partnership with Burrell Behavioral Health, Cox Health, Mercy Springfield, and Jordan Valley Community Health Center. 

On this edition of Making a Difference; Normalizing Mental Health Conversations, we meet Kendall Swanson, a Springfield Glendale High School graduate, who at 16, was prescribed opiates after a trip to the dentist.  By age 18, she was addicted to the drugs.

You're listening to KSMU, and this is Making a Difference.

The Springfield Greene County Health Department, with funding support from the Missouri Foundation for Health, is leading a major mental health needs assessment in partnership with Burrell Behavorial Health, Cox Health, Mercy Springfield, and Jordan Valley Community Health Center. 

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