What does the Springfield region look like today — and where should it go next?

The Community Focus Report 2026 brings together local data and community perspectives to help answer those questions. It also marks a new chapter for the longtime resource, now housed at Missouri State University’s Ozarks Public Health Institute (OPHI).

Today, the institute released the report to the public at an event hosted by the Junior League of Springfield and at the Hatch Auditorium.

“My hope for every reader is that they find one thing in these pages that touches their sphere of influence and one concrete way to move on it,” said Traci Nash, OPHI Community Focus facilitator.

Read more on the News blog.