MU Receives Gift from State Farm Insurance to Support Various Programs
May 20th, 2014
By Jerett Rion
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Today, officials from State Farm Insurance Company donated nearly $120,000 to the University of Missouri. This latest gift brings State Farm’s total giving to Mizzou academic programs to $1.8 million. The money will support several MU programs including:
- Office of Financial Success – $22,000
- Fire Rescue Training Institute – Vehicle Rescue – $50,000
- MU College of Education – Achieve Program – $16,200
- University Hospital – Mobile Age-Older Adult Driving – $30,000
Office of Financial Success
The Office of Financial Success (OFS) provides free financial counseling for MU students and is staffed with student volunteers who are studying personal financial planning at MU. The funds will be used to help more students, purchase equipment and give presentations in classes across campus.
“Since OFS is a free service to students, faculty and staff at MU, we depend on grants and gifts to fund the day-to-day operations of the office and help us market our services,” said Ryan Law, director of OFS and director of the Center for Economic Education. “This gift will help empower students to develop a financial literacy mindset at the beginning of their academic careers. We will encourage them to use the financial resources on campus, with OFS being their primary contact.”
Fire Rescue Training Institute – Vehicle Rescue
The Fire Rescue Training Institute (FRTI) is housed in MU Extension. The money will be used to fund a 16-hour course that provides training to emergency first responders on how to extricate vehicle accident victims safely and effectively. These techniques enable first responders to deliver the victims to treatment centers quicker and improve patients’ chances of survival. This course is requested by emergency responders more than any other course offered by FRTI. Currently, the program does not receive enough funding to keep up with demand. This gift will allow FRTI to conduct 20 additional courses in 2014, training an additional 500 personnel.
MU College of Education – Achieve Program
The Achieve Program, housed in MU’s College of Education, is designed to assist schools with significant achievement gaps by pairing MU education students with struggling elementary students who will benefit from one-on-one tutoring outside the classroom. With the money from State Farm Insurance, the Achieve Program will expand to three new schools in Columbia next year: Fairview Elementary, Russell Elementary and West Middle School.
University Hospital – Mobile Age-Older Adult Driving
This project, which is coordinated by the Frank L. Mitchell Jr. Trauma Center at University Hospital, will build upon a project funded by State Farm in 2013 that demonstrated peer-to-peer counseling improves outcomes among vulnerable older adults who are at risk for driving retirement. The project will expand to train three key groups of professionals: law enforcement officials, Department of Motor Vehicles personnel, and health care providers. The goals of the project are to reduce older driver crashes, increase access to web-based information and training materials among professionals, and support appropriate reporting of impaired drivers for further evaluation. The project will work with the Alzheimer’s Association, the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, the Missouri Department of Revenue, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and regional health systems to accomplish these goals.