Ears to Hear and Eyes to See
For the last several months, I have been preaching from the book of regional self-interest about the need to invest in our collective future. I
Our Work
Built for complex challenges
People and communities have many needs that must be met in order to thrive.
Our comprehensive, holistic work is designed to transform entire communities by strengthening individual families, transforming the physical environment, and creating change at the systems level.
The following is an overview of our comprehensive, holistic work addressing key impact areas.
Housing
- $35 million in new home construction since 2010
- 509 affordable rental housing units
- 36 new single-family homes in development
- 114 townhome project in development
- Housing Resource Coordinators (HRCs):
Staff that provide holistic suite of supportive services including financial advising, continued education, referrals for childcare, employment, and more to all residents in Beyond Housing rental homes - $13+ million in home repair grants
- Acquisition and rehab program of dilapidated homes, increasing existing housing stock and families receiving supportive services
- Homebuyer education and down payment assistance program serves first-time homebuyers throughout the St. Louis area
Education
- Family Engagement Liaisons (FELs):
Staff embedded within each school serving as liaisons between families and school; ensuring students and families’ basic needs are met to reduce student mobility and remove barriers to academic performance - State-approved provider of wrap-around services for Normandy school district delivering basic needs and resources
- Viking Advantage:
An Individual Development Account (IDA) matched savings program that helps students save for college or vocational training, plus college counseling for local high school students - Pagedale Family Support Center:
Provides youth development through after-school, summer, and athletic programs, as well as supportive services for families
Health
- Community Health Workers (CHWs):
Staff in Community Health Program who help individuals and families manage chronic health conditions that prevent families from becoming self-sufficient - Community partnership with BJC HealthCare
- Community partnership with Affinia Healthcare
Employment
- Workforce development programs and partnerships to increase employment skills for living wage jobs in different industries
- Workforce Individual Development Accounts with matched savings to help families achieve financial stability and goals
Economic Development
- $35,100,000 in commercial development since 2010 including:
- Grocery Store
- Multi-plex Cinema
- Affinia Healthcare facility
- BJC HealthCare facility
- Midwest BankCentre
- Rosie Shields Manor Senior Center
- Vetter Place Apartments Senior Center
- Carter Commons—$6.5 million, 20,000-square-foot development home to minority-owned businesses including restaurants and food hall, retail and offices, culinary training center, and brew pub
- Normandie Golf Club—renovation of historic, 100-acre community asset with Jack Nicklaus and Nicklaus Design to create a premier golf destination, a platform for greater inclusiveness as well as youth development, jobs, and community revenue
- 24:1 Small Business Network fostering success of local entrepreneurs and startup enterprises
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
- 24:1 Municipal Partnership
- More than 20 municipalities united under common vision
- Municipal collaboration through purchasing co-ops, municipal courts and police consolidations, forestry services, and universal consolidation of building codes
- Improved efficiency of budgets and effectiveness of services to residents
- 24:1 Community Engagement
- Routinely engages with members of the community through one-on-one interactions, surveys, and town hall meetings to gain input and ensure the voice of the community is guiding actions
- Our extensive community engagement has focused goals and priorities moving forward, uniting residents of more than 20 municipalities under a common vision of neighborly communities, invested families, and successful businesses
- 24:1 Community Coalition enables residents to take an active role through committees dedicated to specific community priorities
- Community is also engaged through paid and organic social, community influencers
- Our241.com community website fosters placemaking and serves as central hub for community news, promotion of events and small businesses, and links to programs and resources
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
- Forestry Department provides tree services for community beautification and greenspaces as well as cultivation of tree canopy for energy efficiency of residential housing
- Creation of parks and greenspaces for community beautification
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Demolition and removal of dilapidated homes and vacant buildings and vacant lot remediation
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Repairs and upgrades of municipal infrastructure from sewers to streets, sidewalks, parks, and greenspaces
Partner Organizations and Additional Resources
Staff work directly with a network of nonprofit organizations that provide complementary and mutually reinforcing services as well as corporate partners and anchor institutions including the Normandy Schools Collaborative, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Collective impact and measurement
The comprehensive, holistic nature of our work and model makes each dollar invested exponentially more effective.
Additionally, our logic model created in partnership with Washington University in St. Louis maps the logical relationship between resources invested and activities. This enables us to measure the benefits or changes that result from these investments in order to track and optimize our efforts for greater results.
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