Lisa – #FiveYearsLater #STL2039
Community stories marking the five-year milestone after the killing of Michael Brown Jr. and the Ferguson uprising. Community members reflect on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.
Vetta and Riisa – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Amelia and Maria – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Erica and Serena – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
David and Rachel – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Stacey and Bob – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Tishaura and Ellen – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Val and Greg – #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Jackie and Elisabeth — #STL2039
This is part of the #STL2039 Action Plan storytelling series in partnership with Humans of St. Louis. Jackie Hutchinson: I am the Board President of Consumers Council of Missouri. CCM’s mission is to educate and advocate for the collective interests of consumers through leadership and partnerships on issues such as utility rates, personal finance, health…
Stephanie and Neal — #STL2039
Sharing the visions of St. Louis residents for a future St. Louis—in 2039—where Racial Equity is the reality and what they’re doing to achieve it today. #STL2039
Kayla
The Finesse Center started because I didn’t really know what else to do. After my brother passed, one of my friends from Webster University was like, “Hey, I have someone that wants to donate money. Where should they donate?” I was like, “I don’t know. To the family?” And they said, “You know what? We’re…
Karishma
I, quite honestly, was kind of terrified. I knew my comfort zone was solidly in the area of numbers, and analytics, and modeling in statistics and data sets. Secondary data means you’re not actually in front of people, gathering information from their mouths, from their lived experiences, and then listening to it being relayed to…
Faybra
I show up every day and I fight my hardest to contribute. There aren’t any Montessori schools in St. Louis I know of that have a director or an administrator who does community engaging, outreach coordinating, social justice, and Racial Equity. Before I took this position, I was a Montessori teacher for a school in…
Claire
Given the work that U.S. Bank Community Development Corporation does, our investments we make in communities every day, and a lot of them in communities of color, there was a realization that we have a unique responsibility to be more actively engaged in equity work. It’s not to be a White institution that comes in…
Julia
I’m a community organizer here in St. Louis. I previously worked with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) and I’m the founder of Solidarity Economy St. Louis. When I first started getting involved in community organizing, I was part of a lot of direct action, which is of course what lead me to a…
Paul
I attend a lot of national conferences to speak about the work of community development credit unions and Prosperity Connection. Whether I’m in St. Louis, or talking to people from other parts of the country, I always start by saying, “My name is Paul Woodruff. I’m from St. Louis, and St. Louis is a great…
Justin
I’m from the West End, or as I like to say, “The forgotten West Side.” I found out about Forward Through Ferguson through I’m going to call it the male initiative to bring in African American males. I think it was either through an email or a tweet I received. I looked at it, clicked…
Zack
My parents were involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. I grew up believing I understood and was on the right side of things. But Crossroads Anti-Bias Anti-Racism workshop opened my eyes differently and in such a way that I couldn’t close them anymore. It just changed my way of viewing the rest…
Scott
I was born and raised in Ferguson. My grandfather came here in 1920. I still get emotional because it’s my hometown. I couldn’t believe what was going on on many different levels. We worked so hard to make this a good town. I say “we” — the entire community. And to see what was going…
What does it take to find a home?
It’s the summer of 2002. Fredica M., a St. Louis native who’s moved back to the Midwest after spending some time in California, is a 25-year old mother renting an apartment in South City. She’s glad to be back in her hometown, and expecting her third child. What she isn’t expecting is becoming homeless. When…
Starsky
There are a lot of more usual suspects who could have co-chaired the Commission. It probably made a whole lot better sense to appoint somebody else. But God gave me an opportunity to translate what was going on in the street at the time into the Commission’s work and attempt to do so effectively to…
Ginger
Entrepreneurs are generally inherently disruptive because they’re trying to fix a problem and they’re trying to change whatever the status quo is around that problem. That’s what entrepreneurs do best. The kinds of challenges that face our community as a region, race-wise, require disrupting the norms.
Why do you live where you live?
Deciding where to make your home is challenging enough when you’re familiar with where you’re moving. For those who transplant to St. Louis from an entirely different city, state, or country even, the advice of contacts in your soon-to-be-local area can provide valuable insights
Summary of Terms
Apprenticeship A combination of on-the-job training and related instruction in which workers learn the practical and theoretical aspects of a highly skilled occupation. Source:U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/training/apprenticeship.htm Asset-Building Strategies that focus on the long-term development of individuals, families, and communities and that promote the increase of financial and tangible assets, such as savings,…
Ensuring Robust Minority Participation in the Job Market
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:Federal Reserve economists conducted an analysis of factors impacting per capita income growth and the growth of metropolitan areas at large for nearly 120 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. as part of a report for the Fund for Our Economic…
Prioritizing Youth-Focused Job Creation and Training
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:On a national scale, employment rates showed a ‘Great Age Twist’ between 2000 and 2011. Individuals under age 54 were less likely to be working in 2011 than in 2000, while those 55 and over were more likely to be…
Bolstering Employer-Educator Collaboration
The expert research, scholarship, and testimony of lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:According to economist and workforce development expert Harry Holzer, community colleges provide the majority of job training in the U.S. (Holzer, 2013). Studies have found that successful job training programs involve educators collaborating with employers to design curricula (Eyster,…
Enhancing Access to Transportation
The expert testimony, scholarship, and accounts of lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:As stated by the Transportation Equity Caucus, “Transportation is a critical link to opportunity, connecting people to jobs, schools, affordable housing, health care, grocery stores, and more. For many Americans, mobility can make all the difference in their ability…
Optimizing Existing Housing Support
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:The nation is facing a housing crisis (Desmond, 2015). The number of market-rate housing units affordable for lower-income families has decreased substantially (Poethig et al., 2015). In 2013, St. Louis City had 21 market-rate units available per 100 extremely-low income…
Realigning Incentives and Funding to Improve Job Training and Creation
Realigning Incentives and Funding to Improve Job Training and Creation The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:Federal Reserve economists conducted an analysis of factors impacting per capita income growth and the growth of metropolitan areas at large for nearly 120 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. as…
Building Equity through Enhanced Access to Banking
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:As stated by researcher Martha Beard of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:“The word unbanked is an umbrella term used to describe diverse groups of individuals who do not use banks or credit unions for their financial transactions….
Ensuring Communities’ Ability to Advocate for Equity
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:In July 2015, Governor Jay Nixon vetoed HB 722, a bill that would have, among other things, prevented cities from raising employment benefits above state and federal standards (Missouri House of Representatives, 2015). Governor Nixon noted:“House Bill No. 722…
Ending Poverty
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:Federal Reserve economists conducted an analysis of factors impacting per capita income growth and the growth of metropolitan areas at large for nearly 120 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. as part of a report for the Fund for Our Economic…
Promoting Asset Building
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:Research shows that increasing income for low-income families does not always increase generational wealth or reduce poverty (Shapiro et al., 2013). Income is often used as a measure of poverty; however, it does not provide as adequate a measure of…
Increasing Access to Care
The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:Adults with insurance are more likely to have a usual source of care and access to preventive care (Ayanian et. al., 2000). Insured adults are therefore more likely to be up-to-date with their immunizations, more likely to receive cost-effective care,…
#FwdThruFerguson