CFO presents $200,000 in grants to local school districts

Six school districts are the first recipients of the Clinton and Nancy Schilling Technical Educational Grant Program.

Funded by the Clinton and Nancy Schilling Community Fund and administered by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, the program supports technical and vocational education programs in Barton, Dade and Jasper counties.

The recipients are:

• Carthage R-IX School District: $47,159 to purchase equipment for hands-on training to prepare students entering the manufacturing industry.
• Golden City R-III School District: $50,000 to support an animal science laboratory that will provide a hands-on learning environment for students enrolled in agriculture, food and natural resources courses.
• Greenfield R-IV School District: $11,000 to update educational material for a home economics class, including kitchen pots, pans and other supplies.
• Greenfield R-IV School District: $3,299 for Count on Success, an initiative to provide high-quality high school accounting curriculum.
• Lamar R-1 School District/Lamar Career and Technical Center: $31,042 to update automotive equipment and purchase carpentry equipment to allow students to use the most up-to-date technology in a safe learning environment.
• Lockwood R-1 School District: $50,000 to build a new greenhouse with up-to-date technology to familiarize students with current industry trends.
• Webb City School District: $7,500 to provide students with hands-on learning experiences in drone technology, integrating STEM principles with real-world applications.

The Schilling Community Fund is held by the Lockwood Community Foundation and managed by the CFO. Through a planned gift in their estate, Clinton and Nancy Schilling donated farmland they owned across the tri-county area to support the Schilling Community Fund, a scholarship endowment for students in the four counties and a designated endowment for Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lockwood. Clinton, a Lockwood native, died in 2020; Nancy died in 2021.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving donors, nonprofit partners and 55 regional affiliate foundations — including Lockwood Community Foundation, DACO Community Foundation, Barton County Community Foundation, Joplin Regional Community Foundation, Carthage Community Foundation and Sarcoxie Community Foundation — with assets totaling $494 million as of June 30, 2024. The CFO’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone in central and southern Missouri through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.