In 2018, we made our first multi-year investments in two neighborhood partners: Cornerstone Corporation, working in the West End and Visitation Park neighborhoods, and Dutchtown South Community Corporation, serving the Dutchtown, Gravois Park and Benton Park West neighborhoods. You can learn more about our partners and their work on their websites linked above.
In April 2020, in consultation with community partners and neighborhood leaders, we developed the Neighborhood Solidarity Fund to support neighborhoods that stand to be the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to slow its spread. We are honored to support 172 neighbor collectives, CDCs and small businesses across 42 neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Solidarity Fund. At this time, we are no longer accepting applications for new awards. Instead, we are pivoting the Neighborhood Solidarity Fund to provide deeper investment in the current group of grantees. You can click here to learn more about the fund.
As the region’s emerging funder for place-based community development investments, Invest STL will launch a five-year investment strategy in 2021 to change how neighborhood transformation is led, supported, understood, and evaluated for success. This strategy approaches equitable development by investing in neighborhood leadership, the organizations leaders create, and those organization’s ability to make meaningful actionable plans and contribute to catalyzing development projects.
We look forward to working with the St. Louis community to build out that framework and guide our investment decisions.