Center for Ozarks Poverty Research (COPR)

iStock.com/Brandy Taylor

The Center for Ozarks Poverty Research (COPR) was formed in 2022 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.

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 diversity and interdisciplinary endeavors.

Current research projects include evaluation of food security models, farm incubator models, high risk and homeless youth, community gardens, and ethnographic research at the Eden Village tiny house village for those moving out of chronic homelessness.

Ongoing public activities of the Center include an annual collaborative community conference hosting regional scholars, activists, and community members to share research, strategies, and lived experiences.

COPR is a resource for nonprofits in the community to access faculty with specific areas of expertise 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 related to poverty for community members and students on Ozarks regional issues on the fourth floor of Strong Hall.

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Press

"Missouri State University professors deliver second conference on poverty" (Reynolds College Blog, May 21, 2025).

"'Poverty is a policy choice': MSU conference talks issues, solutions for Ozarks poverty" (Springfield News-Leader, April 15, 2025).

"Center for Ozarks Poverty Research to host conference focused on working poor, ‘invisible’ homeless" (Springfield Citizen, April 7, 2025).

"Missouri State University research group hosts first Community Conference on Poverty" (April 26, 2024).

"Connecting the community with research on poverty" (Missouri State University, April 9, 2024).

Center for Ozarks Poverty Research 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.