Promise Zone
Racial Equity Resources
Roadmap to Economic Justice
St. Louis Development Corporation’s report for economic justice.
5 Primary Goals
- Strengthen Neighborhoods
- Eliminate the Wealth Gap
- Improve health and educational outcomes
- Expand the tax base
- Grow the City’s population
3 Pillars
The Economic Justice Action Plan proposes an unprecedented investment in marginalized communities in St. Louis—particularly North City—and is comprised of three strategic pillars: economic empowerment, equitable & inclusive development, and neighborhood transformation. Each pillar is critical to the future of our city and the region at large.
Ferguson Commission Report
Racial equity is an overarching theme underpinning the work of the Commission and the calls to action it proposes. Racial disparities extend to employment, education, housing, transportation, and the application of justice. Those topics are addressed throughout the Calls to Action.
To determine what recommendations, out of the 200 calls to action produced, would sit at the core of the report, the Commissioners completed a prioritization process to based on three defining principles:
- Transformative: Is the policy call to action innovative? Will it create an impact or cause positive change?
- Urgent: Will this policy call to action address pressing issues?
- Unflinching: Does the policy present cause-driven solutions that call out core issues in the region?
These priorities were carefully chosen with opportunities for Commissioners to suggest the addition of important calls to action to assure a broad level of impact. Signature Priorities
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 #2039 Action Plan
St. Louis Promise Zone
Working Towards a Better Future
The St. Louis Promise Zone program partners with local leaders to give communities proven tools to rebuild and put people back to work. The federal program launched in 2013, designates high-poverty urban, rural and tribal communities as Promise Zones in order to increase economic activity, improve educational outcomes, reduce serious and violent crime, invest in transformative development and improve health and wellness.
The Promise Zone, designated in 2015, encompasses portions of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. The federally designated areas were reviewed by representatives from several federal agencies and met qualifying criteria. The selected areas have high unemployment, high crime and mortality rates; significant numbers of vacant lots and abandoned buildings; and homelessness. The Promise Zone designation, which lasts 10 years, is a catalyst for ongoing collaboration and change that will drive regional growth and create a better, more inclusive St. Louis region.
The Promise Zone includes parts of North St. Louis City and North St. Louis County.
Promise Zone 2019 Annual Report
For the Sake of All
Health is about more than what happens in a doctor’s office or a hospital room. Health allows us to engage fully in the activities of our daily lives and to make meaningful contributions to our communities. It is fundamental to human well-being, but it is not equally distributed across our community.
Since March of 2013, scholars from Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University have been exploring how this unequal distribution of health in the St. Louis region is related to what are called social determinants of health — factors like education, income, the quality and composition of neighborhoods, and access to community resources like healthy foods and safe public spaces.
For the Sake of All – Health and Well-Being of African Americans in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis’ In St. Louis Project
In St. Louis is an annual project designed to explore — through the experiences, scholarship, work, and voices of St. Louisans — what it means to be in St. Louis today.
In St. Louis is a project of the Academy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in partnership with the Office of Public Affairs. Toward the academy’s charge of “being the primary vehicle for shifting climate and culture on all the university’s campuses with a focus on faculty and staff,” this project recognizes the interconnectedness of the climate and culture at Washington University and that of the larger St. Louis region.
A shift in culture relies on changes in policy, systems and process. It requires truth telling, healing and becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. It takes individual participation, but only happens when civic, legislative and legal structures are different. The work it takes to achieve those things is not fast, is not easy, and doesn’t lend itself to sound bites. This project aims to provide a space to witness, explore and amplify that work here in St. Louis.
In its inaugural year, In St. Louis will delve into the movement and momentum that sprung from the killing of Michael Brown Jr. by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson in August 2014, and the uprising that followed. The first installment of In St. Louis will ask: Five years after the uprising in Ferguson, what does it mean to be in St. Louis?