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 stood to be the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to slow its spread. We are honored to support 176 neighbor-led collectives, CDCs and small businesses across 42 neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Solidarity Fund. Currently the Neighborhood Solidarity Fund is focused on deepening investment and support within the initial group of investees. You can click here to learn more about the fund and it’s impact in St. Louis neighborhoods.
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.