First Lady's Initiatives

First Lady Melanie Blunt is pleased to announce the inaugural 2008 First Lady Awards. She established the awards to honor women in five categories: business and innovation, culture and humanities, education, health and wellness, and volunteerism. The First Lady Awards seek to recognize Misosuri Women who graciously give their hearts and minds to make an historic contribution to enhance the lives of all Missourians.

Missouri Citizens for the Arts is the statewide organization that promotes Missouri's art industry to the public and private sectors. The non-partisan, grassroots organization supports the arts by addressing public issues affecting the whole industry.  Missouri Citizens for the Arts seeks to secure a stable and growing base of public financial support for the arts and to ensure access to the arts for all Missourians.

Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association's national call to increase awareness about heart disease and to inspire women to take charge of their heart health.

Early detection is important in the battle against breast cancer. Each year in Missouri, 123 of every 100,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Approximately one in four women over 40 years old in Missouri has not been screened for breast cancer by mammography within the last 2 years. The National Susan G. Komen Foundation’s main focus is researching and fighting breast cancer with the hope of one day completely eradicating it as a life-threatening disease. The Mid-Missouri Affiliate joins Kansas City and St. Louis to become the third Komen affiliate in Missouri. The funds raised by each affiliate remain in their respective areas.

The Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks will provide a safe environment for children when there are problems at home. The center will offer residential care for children ages birth to 12 when there is trouble at their home, and provide families in crisis with education, support and training services.

The reading initiative was created by Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, to generate excitement about reading in schools and homes and to connect millions of children around the world through the power of reading books.

The Internet Keep Safe Coalition teaches basic rules of Internet safety to children and parents.