Community Collaborative Board Report - April 2015
Council of Collaboratives:
The group reflected on the cluster mapping activity from March and has decided to create an annual report for
the Collaborative Initiative. The purpose of this document would be to educate the community on the social
issues while also helping to recruit individuals to move the initiatives forward.
Child Abuse and Neglect Collaborative:
The CAN Collaborative has several projects in process:
1. In response to the January Press Conference, there were 22 inquiries for information on becoming a
foster parent. Many of those individuals are currently going through the STARS training with local
agencies. The final number of successful recruits will be tallied at the end of the process. Cherish Kids
continues to actively recruit. They have sought funds from Musgrave for a foster parent campaign to
maintain the efforts to recruit 100 new foster homes in 2015 and 500 new homes by 2020.
2. A concept letter to implement Triple P, a population level parenting program, has been submitted to
MFH. If granted funds, we would be training between 100 and 120 individuals in the five-level system.
3. The State Office of Children’s Division has given approval to pilot the use of the MPOWR case
management system.
Environmental Collaborative:
The Fifteenth Annual Springfield/Greene County Choose Environmental Excellence awards were presented
Friday, April 17, 2015, at a luncheon held at the White River Conference Center as a part of Springfield’s Earth
Day/Earth Month festivities. Twelve organizations presented a total of 20 awards. The Environmental
Collaborative recognized Randy Lyman for his 40+ years of dedicated service. During his time with the city, he
played an important role in maintaining the quality of our local water systems. The Ozarks Clean Air Alliance
recognized David Fraley, PhD, for his many years of service at City Utilities. During his tenure, he had a major
impact on the reduction of harmful airborne particulates.
Housing Collaborative:
The Housing Collaborative has approved the creation of a sub-committee that will work on the development of
the True North Springfield Initiative. The goal of this program is to improve the perception of the north
Springfield. Work has begun on TrueNorthSpringfield.org. This website will provide a hub for information on
alternative housing models, local resources, community events, and success stories.
Healthy Living Alliance:
The leadership retreat for the Healthy Living Alliance will be on May 1st. During this event, the group will develop
goals and objectives under the four areas of physical health, nutrition, tobacco use and access to preventative
services. These goals and objectives will be provided to sub-committees to develop and implement interventions.
Impacting Poverty Collaborative:
The Impacting Poverty Collaborative continued the cluster mapping activity that was started at the Council of
Collaboratives. The group was divided into 5 sub-groups to focus on each of the five priorities. The group will
continue to work through this process with the goal of creating a collective impact model to deal with poverty in
the community. This information will be shared with the Impacting Poverty Commission for feedback. Central
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Assembly and Single Momz Rock started their first week of the Empowered for Life Program that was developed
through conversations in the Empowerment Sub-Committee. The pilot program is taking 12 single mothers
through Ruby Payne’s Getting Ahead Curriculum. Upon graduation the single mothers will be paired with
mentors to help them reach the individualized goals that they establish in their “My Life Now” portfolios.
Safe and Sanitary Homes:
The Collaborative continues to receive referrals for assistance. Currently, the Collaborative has 12 open cases.
Sixteen cases have been closed, referred to other resources or did not fall within the Collaborative scope of
work/service area. The Collaborative continues its partnership with Moore’s Trash Service for the donation of
dumpsters for clean-up efforts. Moore’s has donated over $2,000 worth of services, since February 2015. The
Collaborative also continues to search for funding sources in order to be able to maintain its services to the
community.
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