Ozarks Poverty Working Group
iStock.com/Brandy Taylor
The Center for Ozarks Poverty Research (COPR) was formed by a group of scholars, teachers, and regional activists who believe that shared community is essential to those writing, researching, and teaching about the Ozarks region.
Since 2022, COPR is headquartered in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. COPR's mission is driven by our commitment to include undergraduate students in grounded, empirical social science research opportunities and to foster quality of life and appreciation of Ozarks experiences. We are committed to inclusive excellence and interdisciplinary endeavors.
Current research projects include ethnography and evaluation of local food pantry, community gardens, youth-based programming, Eden Village Tiny Home project for chronically unhoused, and financial literacy and life skills programming through Project RISE/Drew Lewis Foundation.
Future plans for the Center include a conference every other year to invite regional scholars and activists to share research and strategies.
COPR is a resource for nonprofits in the community to access faculty with specific areas of expertise surrounding things that touch poverty or are related to poverty (housing, homelessness, food insecurity, etc.) — for consultation or research. Center staff offer consultancy resources, including evaluation and promotion, for community solution stakeholders at a rate of 10-15% of grant awards.
The Center also houses a library of resources for continued research on Ozarks regional issues on the fourth floor of Strong Hall.
Currently, the Center is seeking alignment and support from corporate sponsors, community foundations, and research think tanks.
Housing, Homelessness and Families
Please register to attend.
Ozarks Poverty Research Working Group Members
Contact us at COPR@missouristate.edu.
Marnie Watson, PhD
Dr. Marnie K. Watson is a cultural and applied medical anthropologist and associate professor of anthropology at Missouri State University. Her research and teaching focus on homelessness, urban anthropology, expressive culture, modernity, behavioral health, migration, and refugee health. Watson has led and been a part of research projects in New Mexico, Ohio, Missouri, and Brazil. Since 2018, she has led EVES, the Eden Village Evaluation Study, a longitudinal ethnographic study investigating the effectiveness of this tiny-homes-for-the-homeless community in Springfield, Missouri.
Erin Kenny, PhD
An associate professor of anthropology at Missouri State University, Dr. Erin Kenny earned her PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of Kentucky in 2005. Her ethnographic work with extended families in West Africa prepared her to think critically about how household members navigate scarcity and differential access to resources. Kenny is especially interested in the cultural constraints and allowances that shape innovative strategies for coping with economic precarity, including lending/borrowing, mutual aid associations, and entrepreneurship. Since 2017, she has been conducting participant observation with low income households in northwest Springfield through the Drew Lewis Foundation’s RISE program for financial literacy.
Christina Ryder, CSP
Christina Ryder is the CEO of The Grantwell and is a former social worker, a current sociologist, and expert in federal and foundation funding requests, program development, and social science evaluation research. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a master's degree in social science with a concentration in demography and social analysis and course focus on social inequality. Throughout her professional career Ryder has participated in various federal grant evaluations including program evaluations on behalf of the USDA, SAMHSA, HHS, and the DOJ. As a Certified Sociology Practitioner (CSP) and federally recognized statistician, she has also participated in, or authored, over 40 various social science research studies endeavors, journal articles, and community based reports. She is currently part time staff and sociology instructor at Missouri State University.