The Southwest Missouri Council of Governments (SMCOG) and Missouri State University’s Center for Resource Planning and Management (CRPM) are celebrating a 30-year partnership.

In addition, CRPM is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

To celebrate these milestones, they wanted to create something new.

They created the Fred and Diane May Planning Scholarship Fund, designed for planning students.

SMCOG and CRPM are hosting an event to fundraise for the scholarship fund May 30.

“We couldn’t pass up this milestone for both organizations without celebrating and creating new legacies,” said Jason Ray, director of CRPM.

About the event

The celebration is from 5-8 p.m. May 30 at Kentwood Hall in the Crystal Ballroom.

Tickets are $30. This goes directly into the scholarship fund.

The event features food, live music, a silent auction and guest speakers.

Tickets can be purchased on the SMCOG website. Other contributions can be made through the event site as well.

About the scholarship

Diane May was the executive director of SMCOG for 28 years.

“Diane was instrumental in establishing this decades-long partnership,” Ray said.

Diane was also a professor of planning for more than 30 years at Missouri State.

Fred, her husband, was the planning and development director for the City of Springfield for several years.

“Both of the Mays have played a major role in planning and development in southwest Missouri,” Ray said. “We want to honor their legacy by creating a new legacy to help students who are studying community and regional planning at MSU.”

This is the first scholarship dedicated to planning students at Missouri State.

Students have to demonstrate financial need and be actively engaged in the Missouri Association of Planning Students (MAPS) or the American Planning Association (APA).

MAPS and APA have both donated $1,000 to the fund.