champion community

Annual Report
2008
2001

Ripley County Champion Community

Lead Entity: Ripley County

Demographics

State: Missouri
Counties: Ripley
Community Population: 13,509 (Doniphan 1,932; Naylor 610; Remainder of the county 10,967)
Poverty Rate: 22%
Net land Area: 632 square miles

Background:

Unemployment rate: 5.6% (Department of Economic Development-DED)
Median Household Income: $19,671 (DED)
Per Capita Income: $15,492 (DED)
44.5% of children are receiving food stamps in Ripley County; the free/reduced lunch rate is 57.3%

Community Overview:

The Partnership is located in Ripley County in the Ozark Foothills region of southeast Missouri, near the Arkansas border. The county is approximately 180 miles south of St. Louis and 180 miles east of Springfield. Doniphan is the county seat and lies about 30 miles west of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which is the regional shopping center for our county. The county is home to several thousand acres of National Forest Lands with the headquarters of the Doniphan Ranger District located in Doniphan. A popular recreational attraction in our county is the Current River that flows through the middle of the county, south into Arkansas. Timber, agriculture, and cattle farming are the main sources of industry in the county, all of which are seasonal.

Strategic Plan Highlights:

With the implementation of its strategic plan, the Ripley County Champion Community seeks to achieve a balance in economic and community development. Highlights from the plan illustrate that the community plans to:

Obtain affordable housing for Ripley County citizens;
Implement a 911 emergency system in the county to respond more quickly to an emergency situation;
Engage community leaders to implement county’s plans to improve the quality of life for county residents;
Increase the amount of quality childcare licensed providers in Ripley County;
Pass library tax (accomplished April 2001) to make modifications to the libraries in Doniphan and Naylor;
Build an indoor aquatics center for county residents to serve on a year round basis;
Coordinate efforts among various entities to pass a lodging tax (accomplished April 2002);
Develop a one-stop center to allow low to moderate-income people to come to a central location for a variety of services to assist them to become self-sufficient; and,
Establish a community technology center to teach adults and children computer skills to be used in the workforce.

Partnerships include:

Ripley County Caring Community Partnership, Ripley County Commissioners, Ripley County Chamber of Commerce, Doniphan City officials,Doniphan Neighborhood Assistance Program (DNAP), civic groups, and community leaders.

Leveraging:

Ripley County has been diligently working on various state and federal grants and other funding sources (CDBG grants, USDA grant funding, taxes passed for the library and lodging proposals, Federal Home Loan Program, Missouri Housing Trust Fund, HB1519 grant by Department of Social Services, and various other grants pending).

Community Involvement:

Periodic meetings are held to update the process and to see what steps need to be taken for the next level of the project. The nine action strategic plans have their own committees to address these issues.

Contact:	Ken Kane, Executive Coordinator
Address:	Ripley County Caring Community Partnership
	126 Washington St.
	Doniphan, MO 63935
Telephone:	(573) 996-7980
Fax:	(573) 996-4662
Email:	rcccp@semo.net

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