“Call to Action: Doing Our Part to Help Our Community” by Emily Kembell

As a member of Class 25 of Leadership Springfield, I attended the Sixth Annual Economic Outlook Conference for Springfield on October 14th. This Conference provided a competitive assessment of the Springfield metropolitan community for the first time in 22 years. At the Conference, J. Mac Holladay, founder and CEO of Market Street Services, presented his Company’s findings.
The results of the Assessment, were, in many ways, disturbing. Although Mr. Holladay gave Springfield proper accolades when discussing the low average cost of living and excellent school systems, his Assessment revealed that
Springfield is struggling in many areas as compared with the rest of the state and its peer cities.
The Assessment generally compared Springfield to three other peer cities: Knoxville, Tennessee, Colorado Springs, Colorado and Kalamazoo,Michigan.While holding its own in many areas (the Assessment looked generally at people, prosperity and place), Springfield regrettably had the highest rate of child poverty (19.9%)—higher than each of the three peer cities, the state ofMissouri and the United States. Even more unsettling is the fact that almost 42% of students in the Springfield public school systemqualify for free and reduced price lunches.
The Assessment did not offer solutions to this problem, but only presented the community’s strengths and weaknesses. The Assessment left it up to us as a community to take heed of these statistics and react accordingly. After Mr. Holladay finished his presentation, a roundtable of several community leaders discussed the Assessment’s findings that included the “culture of poverty” described by Mr. Holladay. Members of the roundtable, including Jim Anderson, President of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, labeled the Assessment’s findings a “Call to Action” and “a huge wake-up call to Springfield.”
As a member of the Springfield community, I take seriously my responsibility to endeavor to make Springfield a safer place for its children. Giving time and other resources to address this problemis a commitment we should all consider. If you would like to include a children’s charity in your estate plan, please contact a member of the CECB Estate Planning Practice Group.
A complete text of the 2009 Assessment can be found on the Chamber’s website: www.springfieldchamber.com.