Community Report Card Shows Mixed Picture of Well-Being

The 2007 Community Focus report is out for Springfield and Greene County.

 The report looks various health and societal factors to determine what conditions are improving in the region and what still needs to be addressed.

  The focus of this report is to give a blue or red flag to certain aspects of our community.

  The last time a report like this was released was 2005 and organizers say some of the red flags from the last study are still present.

 But this doesn't mean the report is all bad.

 Many sectors of the Springfield area were awarded blue flags for the cost of living, community collaboration with education, and water quality.

 Leaders say some of the red flag issues like child abuse and neglect and poverty also made the list in 2005 but they do see improvements and realize these issues won't go away in two years.

 The Ozarks Food Harvest is trying to fight back against poverty in the region.  The agency displayed its new mobile food pantry today

  Julie Morris of Christos House, a women's abuse shelter in West Plains, says the mobile food pantry has been a help to her organization.

" We have individuals who can get the food they need but they can't get laundry soap or toilet paper so we have to have community resources to get those things they need...this is great."

One of the publishers of this report says its goal is to improve the quality of life for the people of our area.

Many organizations like the United way will be using this report as a tool in its decision making. Leaders hope more organizations will take this report and use it in their decision making process as well.

 You can read the full report by clicking here.   (requires Adobe Reader)