The last year has been life changing for Kathy Lutz.
“I went from hopeless to beyond hopeful,” said Lutz, who lives in the Grant Beach neighborhood.
Lutz and her husband Bruce found hope in The Northwest Project, which aims to give families on the northwest side of Springfield the tools they need to elevate themselves out of poverty.
The Northwest Project (NWP) is a five-year $1.3 million grant funded by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
“I was a naysayer. I could not see what they could possibly do to help us. We had a car title loan and four payday loans,” the 61-year-old said.
In 2014, Lutz endured open heart surgery and a month later was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The mounting medical bills caused Kathy and her husband Bruce to take out a car title loan which carried a 155.13 percent interest rate. They borrowed $900 and paid $1,500 in interest.
Through The Northwest Project, they qualified for a debt-consolidation loan from CU Community Credit Union. Also, the Lutz family opened checking and saving accounts, and were later approved for a credit card.
The banking system is intimidating and an obstacle for many families, said Amy Blansit, project manager.
At the heart of The Northwest Project are families who participate in an intensive 16-week Circles® program, and work toward 10 goals, such as budgeting and reliable transportation. The concept was inspired by a program in Florida, which found that participants who achieved at least seven similar goals had significant success in emerging from poverty.
The weekly classes start out with a community dinner. Child care is provided and children learn age-appropriate versions of some of the same lessons as their parents, such as budgeting.
Following that initial 16-week period, participants are paired with a mentor for 18 months.
“We call it an ally. They create a purposeful relationship with a family and help them one step at a time,” Blansit said.
Allies like Nancy Evans are community volunteers. Evans is the missions chair at Trinity Presbyterian Church and was originally scoping out the project for her church. After attending a few programs, she was inspired.
“It’s quite humbling,” Evans said. “The fact that the participants involved have a serious desire to set goals and obtain their goals. It’s scary to step outside your boundaries … it was really gratifying to see people choose the pain of stepping out of their boundaries to improve their lives.”
The church has also paired with a family in the program.
The Northwest Project is based in the former Fairbanks Elementary School–now a community hub in the Grant Beach neighborhood–but also executed out of Robberson Community School in the Robberson neighborhood; The Springfield Dream Center in the former Hamlin Baptist Church in Woodland Heights; and is slated to expand into the Heart of the Westside neighborhood in the fall.
While the grant is the backbone of the program, the heartbeat is the community.
“As far as the city getting involved, the momentum is something I never imagined,” Blansit said. “What we hear from people is they sit in a meeting and hear about poverty in Springfield, but this gives them a chance to be directly involved. To cultivate relationships, to see change.”
People and businesses have donated furniture, cooked for families, and professionals have offered their expertise and led programs at the center. Local universities, such as Drury and Missouri State, send their students to volunteer and earn college credits. Blansit teaches at Missouri State and her students pitch in at the center.
Taylor Endsley, a senior at MSU majoring in sociology, said it has given her “real life” experience that she could not gain in a classroom.
Blansit and her late husband, Drew Lewis, purchased the former elementary school property and founded the Fairbanks as a community resource center before his death from cancer in 2013.
Their vision was to create a center to improve the quality of life in Grant Beach and surrounding neighborhoods.
The Fairbanks has a trove of free resources such as a diaper bank; cooking demonstrations; classes and programming for adults; childcare while parents participate in Circles® and other programming.
At 829 W. Atlantic St., another community center is taking root with a similar vision.
The Springfield Dream Center opened in March in the Woodland Heights Neighborhood and is funded by North Point Church.
Jody Glazner, executive director, said they want to offer resources where they are most needed in the heart of this Zone 1 neighborhood.
“When we started this, we asked ‘What do we need to do to best serve this neighborhood?’ We hear about drugs a lot but ultimately we think the issue is broken families–which can lead to drug use and drugs can lead to broken families,” Glazner said.
The Dream Center is focused on building stronger families, so all the programming is geared toward that goal.
Glazner said transportation is a huge issue for the working poor. She added that those needing multiple services may have to spend five hours traveling by bus from one place to another requiring them to take a day off work.
The Dream Center offers multiple services in a centralized location: a food pantry, clothing bank, after-school and summer programming, adult education, community dinners, counseling, and addiction programs.
“How do I give you help today and feed into you the hope you need tomorrow?,” said Glazner, explaining the center’s goal.
Counseling is a significant need, and the wait can be weeks or months. The center has a student finishing her practicum who offers 10 hours of counseling a week.
Some kids need a safe place to be after school, so the Dream Center provides after-school and summer programming. During the summer, the students must take academic classes as part of summer school to make sure they don’t fall behind, and then there are a variety of fun classes–like yoga and photography–taught by community volunteers.
The Dream Center is set up with a give-and-take model: in order to qualify for the clothing bank, people must either volunteer at the center or take one of the classes to earn clothing bucks to shop.
Even though the center is young, they’ve had no trouble mustering support and volunteers.
“The temperature in Springfield is to collaborate, jump in and be helpful,” Glazner said.
Through The Northwest Project, the Circles Program is offered on Wednesdays and starts with a meal which allows participants and volunteers to connect and build social capital. Blansit’s team handles the programming; the meal is prepared by volunteers like Jennifer Kennedy, who heads up the prep cook team.
Kennedy is a member of North Point Church and brings two of her children to help with prep work on Tuesday. Kennedy feels like cooking is part of her family’s ministry.
“Everyone needs to feel loved and everyone needs to eat, and cooking helps fulfill both those needs,” Kennedy said. “Then there is fellowship as we sit around the table, share a meal family-style and talk. This is a great opportunity to come together.”
While it’s too soon to judge long-term success for participants, most have reduced their household debt, increased their income, and are on track to achieve seven of the 10 goals by the end of 18 months, according to The Northwest Project’s Year One Summary.
For the Lutz family, it has given them hope for the future.
“Amy and her crew are fabulous,” said Lutz. “What they are doing is fabulous. They treat everyone the same and with respect. When you are poor, people don’t always treat you with respect. I was dead wrong about them and I’ve never been happier to be wrong.”
IN A NUTSHELL:
The Northwest Project is a five-year $1.3 million grant funded by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, with additional support from the Stanley & Elaine Ball Foundation, managed by Central Trust, and the Musgrave Foundation.
It is a collaboration among Missouri State University, Drury University, and Drew Lewis Foundation; and synchronizes with the City of Springfield’s focus on improving public safety, infrastructure and chronic nuisance properties.
WHY NORTHWEST SPRINGFIELD?
Northwest Springfield exceeds the city’s overall 25.6 percent poverty rate.
SUCCESS SO FAR:
After a one-year review, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks found:
All three cohorts of families are on track for increasing income by at least 15 percent through workforce training, new employment, and debt reduction, and attaining at least seven of the 10 sustainability assets by the end of 18 months.
Cohorts have also made significant achievements in health and wellness, housing security, and social assets, improving their lives.
Homes are being fixed.
Roughly 60 community service groups have invested and partnered in Northwest Project activities.
Approximately $1.5 million has been sought in grant-match funding for the project as it continues to grow and expand.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
There are a variety of ways you can get involved on a short or long-term basis using the gifts of time, talent or donations. Allies, which is an 18-month commitment, are needed to work with families. If you have a skill such as budgeting, cooking or gardening, you can help lead a class and share your knowledge. To learn more, visit one of the organizations’ Facebook pages or websites: