Community Collaboratives
For questions about any of the Collaboratives listed below, including meeting times, please reach out to Megan Garrett, Director of Community Collaboratives, at mgarrett@cpozarks.org.
Council of Collaboratives
Doug Neidigh, Chair
The Council of Collaboratives is comprised of leadership of each Collaborative and works to provide paths for cross-collaboration over a broad range of community issues. The Collaboratives had 241 separate organizations engaged and volunteers gave 3,008 hours of their time this year.
Child Abuse and Neglect Collaborative
Katiina Dull, Chair; Amanda Ingle, Vice-Chair
The Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) Collaborative is working to prevent, intervene, and heal families impacted by child abuse and neglect. Currently, there are approximately 650 children in foster care in Greene County.
The CAN Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the third Thursday at 9:00 a.m.
Disability Empowerment Collaborative
The Disability Empowerment Collaborative is working to create a community where anyone living with a disability are empowered through universal design, mutual respect, and provided equal opportunities to flourish.
The Disability Empowerment Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the first Monday at 9:30 a.m.
Early Care and Education Collaborative
Carol Bell, Chair
The Early Care & Education Collaborative advocates to identify, prioritize, and develop strategies to address the quality, affordability, and availability of early care and education.
Bringing together a network of child advocates—such as childcare providers, early childhood educators, employers, community organizations, families, policymakers, funders, and more—the Collaborative focuses on addressing the most pressing early care and education needs in our community.
The Early Care & Education Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the third Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
Environmental Sustainability Collaborative
Environmental Collaborative – Angie Snyder, Chair; Tracey Coronado, Vice-Chair
OCAA Committee – Barbara Lucks, Chair
The Environmental Collaborative and its subcommittee, the Ozarks Clean Air Alliance, raise community awareness and encourage practices and values that support a healthy natural environment. OCAA meets monthly and has held an electric vehicle rally promoting the benefits of driving electric cars and is working on a Clean Cities initiative among other projects. The Environmental Collaborative hosts monthly meetings bringing in speakers to talk about environmental topics.
Food Collaborative
Jordan Mize, Chair
The Food Collaborative seeks to take the community to where we have a healthy, local food system and has continued to support food security and other food system-related projects.
The Food Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the fourth Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.
Have Faith Initiative
Deanna Carpenter, Chair
The Have Faith Initiative brings together faith leaders from Springfield and Greene County to discuss and work together on matters of faith within our community.
For more information, visit https://havefaithinitiative.org.
Health Equity Collaborative
Courtney Pinkham, Chair; Nicole Massey, Co-Chair
The mission of the Health Equity Collaborative is to advance health equity in the greater Springfield community by supporting and equipping staff and community partners to identify and work to reduce health disparities in our community.
The Health Equity Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the fourth Monday at 1:15 p.m.
Housing Collaborative
Chair: Dr. Alan Tinkler, Missouri State University; Vice-Chair: Stacey Velez, Preferred Family Health
Working from a newly created Strategic Plan, Housing Collaboratives will focus on Blighted Properties, Policy and Advocacy, Landlord Tenant Education, and Housing Equity through the HOME Team. Although increasing safe, decent, affordable, and accessible housing is what drives this collaboration, their priority projects include supporting a City rental inspection process, Legislative panels and education, expanding Social Serve (affordable housing locator), and increasing Universal Design into new construction.
The Housing Collaborative meets monthly at the O’Reilly Center for Hope’s Burris Room on the fourth Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Let’s Go Smart: Transportation Collaborative
Grady Porter, Chair; David Knaut, Vice-Chair
Let’s Go Smart: Transportation Collaborative is a community partnership designed to encourage the people of Springfield, Missouri to make wiser transportation choices. Whether it’s walking, biking, riding the bus, driving, using Uber/Lyft, or any other way of getting around, “going smart” means thinking ahead and deciding which option will make the most of our resources, health, environment, and quality of life.
The Let’s Go Smart: Transportation Collaborative meets monthly at Community Partnership of the Ozarks on the first Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.