If you’ve been around Springfield the past two decades, it’s likely you’ve heard of the Community Focus Report. It’s a joint effort started by a handful of notable area nonprofits to take an honest, comprehensive look at Springfield’s strengths and challenges.

During its biannual release last fall, Community Focus Transition Consultant Traci Nash took the stage to announce Missouri State University’s Ozarks Public Health Institute is taking on data collection and production as the report moves into a new era.

Last month, OPHI announced a more than $500,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to shift from a single report to a robust program. Nash says the move takes the report from one of reflection to a holistic data-driven approach to action.

“Previously, the Community Focus Report would highlight the issues and strengths of the past two years,” she said. “This takes our Community Focus into our present and to our future.

“We are building a data library that describes what our issues and strengths have been over the past several years. What want to serve as a place to build consensus about where we need to go next.”

To read the most recent report, visit Springfield Community Focus.

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