Community Partnership of the Ozarks’ Caring Communities team has been hard at work realigning our programming to better address the changing needs of our community.
We are restructuring our program to provide more direct support to the community in the areas of mentoring/youth development, college/career readiness, community-based social work services and community development.
As a result, we have two neighborhood support staff members to work with associations across the city.
Rachel Tripp, our new community development specialist, isn’t new to CPO – in fact, she has been with the organization since 2016 and has served as the community-based social worker for the last four years.
She holds a degree in social work and has worked with the community and Springfield Public Schools to help families in crisis with needed resources and support. In her community development role, she will be working to provide a macro level of technical support to all 22 neighborhoods across the city.
This support will include providing oversight of educational and networking opportunities, which will be made available on a quarterly basis (i.e. NOVA banquet, Leadership Summit), as well as liability questions/concerns, individual neighborhood inquiries, and support for newly forming/reforming associations. In addition, she will be getting involved with affordable housing and chronic nuisance property initiatives.
“The work that I did with individuals and families experiencing housing crises as a community-based social worker ignited within me a passion to impact affordable housing in our community,” Tripp said. “I am very excited to work collaboratively with neighborhood associations, organizations, and other community groups to identify chronic nuisance properties and gaps in affordable housing. I strive to help create strategies to address those gaps while securing and leveraging resources.”
Hannah King, our neighborhood special events coordinator, is brand-new to CPO, joining our team in August. She is a recent graduate of Missouri State University with bachelor of science degrees in entrepreneurship and marketing. She will be working to coordinate neighborhood cleanups, oversee the Tool Library and help with the planning and facilitation of quarterly neighborhood educational and networking events.
“I am excited to form relationships in the community and find new and creative ways to solve our neighborhoods’ problems. Community Partnership already has an abundance of great programs and initiatives that I’m looking forward to spearheading. I hope to strengthen and even expand what is already in place to better serve our community,” King said.