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The effects of unemployment, a higher foreclosure rate from the ongoing recession, and access to healthcare are three of the red flag areas cited in the “Community Focus 2009: A Report for Springfield and Greene County,” released today (Sept. 30, 2009) at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

This is the fifth anniversary of the inaugural report, which provides an objective assessment of Springfield and Greene County, and assigns “red flags” and “blue ribbons” to various indicators of the community’s health and vitality.  The idea for the report came from a Community Leadership visit to Lexington, Ken., in 2003.  The report is compiled and published bi-annually.

Jill Reynolds, Chair of the Community Focus committee, noted that this year’s report has a special emphasis.

“Since this is the fifth anniversary of the report, the steering committee made the decision to focus on the progress regarding the initial red flags,” she said. “The committee felt that the fifth year was an appropriate benchmark to pause and reflect, and see if we are indeed making some progress.” 

The original intent behind the report was to provide a “report card” on important indicators to help focus local resources and energy into our most critical issues, she said.

“A community cannot make a meaningful impact on its weaknesses until it identifies and acknowledges them,” Reynolds said. “The integrity and impact of the report comes from the honest portrayal of our community and its representation of both its blessings and shortcomings. As American industrialist Henry Kaiser once said, ‘problems are only opportunities in work clothes.’”

Dr. Cristina Gilstrap, a Drury University faculty member who served as this year’s Focus facilitator, presented the summary of this year’s report. 

“As discussed in the 2007 Community Focus, progress has been made in responding to previously published red flags through initiatives, volunteer commitment, grants and legislation,” she said. “However, our community continues to face challenges regarding access to health care, child abuse and neglect, education funding, and basic issues such as housing and hunger.”

Dr. Gilstrap also noted the effect of the economic downturn on previous indicators.

“For those indicators that have more recent data available, we saw some significant impact in the past year,” Dr. Gilstrap said. “We may have had favorable trends for four years, then deterioration in the last one.  I fear that trend will continue as new data becomes available in the coming year.”

Dr. Gilstrap noted some emerging issues that have resulted from the recession. 

“Local unemployment has roughly doubled from four percent in 2007 to more than eight percent this year. Home foreclosures have more than doubled from 513 in 2007 to 1,110 in 2008,” she said. “Although we are blessed with a diverse economy in the Ozarks, we’re not immune from the national experience.” 

Dr. Gilstrap also noted that while this report focused purposefully on red-flag issues, blue-ribbon issues for Springfield-Greene County remain numerous.  “It truly is a privilege to live in the Ozarks.  We have a wonderful quality of life, caring citizens as evidenced by outstanding volunteerism, and an outstanding environment in which to live, work, and recreate.  The purpose of the Community Focus is to help us celebrate and appreciate what is right, but also focus as a community on those things that need improvement.”

The complete “Community Focus 2009: A Report for Springfield and Greene County” is available at: www.SpringfieldCommunityFocus.org .  The report is funded by and is a cooperative effort between the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield-Greene County Library District, Junior League of Springfield, United Way of the Ozarks, and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.