being removed from the welfare system. We survived a fire in the Spring of 2001 and programs returned to a renewed building.
To truly understand our story, it is important to understand the context of our community. Each year we served between two and three thousand families. This meant between five and nine thousand people benefited from our services. In the mid-2000’s this number peaked at 10,000 individuals finding benefit. Home visits, family assistance, and support of families and children continued to be the foundation of our reputation.
The local business community was very supportive. When I started, my boss said I had to visit businesses in the community and tell them what we were trying to accomplish. I thought this would be very difficult and not worth the effort. Around the time I was worrying about this, I read an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which said “in order to sustain communities there has to be a partnership between local businesses, churches, social services and families”. This partnership would bring everyone committed to an area of the city together. The article suggested a partnership could be built which would develop relationships between all stakeholders and would strengthen neighborhoods.
Using this editorial as a guide, I began to visit neighborhood businesses with a staff member. Together we felt our way forward with a presentation about what MIDTOWN would represent to the community. We sponsored business luncheons so local companies could come and see where we were. It was necessary for our building to be welcoming to the whole community. Its cleanliness and decor always impressed visitors. Within a very short time, we had commitments from several local businesses.
In urban neighborhoods with large areas in decline, people expect everything to be run-down and dirty. I told staff (particularly the custodians) how important it was for our building and grounds to reflect something different. I said our building had to be welcoming to everyone—clean and well-decorated at all times. Whether it was a neighbor coming to visit or a potential supporter stopping by, the building had to appear as what was possible. In neighborhoods which had the look of decay, outsiders would expect the worst. People who lived there would get used to things the way they were. We had to show both groups of people how things could be different.
One woman’s business contributed $100 a month for 10 years, until she retired and her son took over. Another business’ owners loved golf and wanted to sponsor a golf tournament to benefit MIDTOWN. Their commitment lasted over 10 years and the tournament continued for 22 years. After visiting a business to discuss our efforts, that business owner visited our building. After a short tour and discussion of our work, he wrote a check for $5,000 because he was so impressed by the atmosphere. Many businesses continued their support through financial contributions, helping families at Christmas, donating supplies and services, and becoming members of our board.
OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
Our service area was comprised of eight St. Louis city neighborhoods—a two to three square mile section of mid-city. This area of St. Louis was much more economically and racially integrated than the rest of the city. For a long time, immigrants from all over the world settled in parts of this area. A resettlement agency helped new Americans establish their homes in our service area. In 1990, there were about 25,000 residents in these eight neighborhoods. At that time, 63% of these residents were low income. About 60% of the neighbors were African American. Obviously, this means about 40% of these neighborhoods were both white and middle class. At first, I thought of this as a good thing with lots of possibilities. I would learn I was wrong.
Each neighborhood had a different racial and economic makeup. The Compton Heights neighborhood was the most middle-class area we served. Comprised primarily of white, middle and upper middle-class people, some low-income families found affordable rental housing on its outskirts and were able to move into a stable, safe neighborhood. We served several people with AIDS in this area. People lost their jobs because of the illness. They could not afford their mortgages or utilities. They asked for help as they waited for other types of income to begin.
Forest Park Southeast was the neighborhood where our offices were located. This neighborhood was very strange in terms of its politics. Most people in the area were low income. 60% of the neighborhood was African American. One section of the neighborhood was an area where a number of middle-class white families had settled. They thought of this as “their neighborhood”. Other residents had the same feelings. The differences in race and income created disconnection. This caused the neighborhood to become stagnant in its development.
Washington University Medical Center’s campus was just across Interstate Highway 64 from the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Washington University was very interested in how the people in this neighborhood affected the safety of the students and personnel on their campus. In the mid-90’s, the campus security office sent a letter to students and employees which warned them about parking. The letter told of safety concerns in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood and warned people not to park in that area. Later, Washington University Medical Redevelopment Corporation was placed in this neighborhood to facilitate changes benefiting the medical school and hospital campus.
The Fox Park neighborhood was on the far eastern end of our service area. It was a stable neighborhood made up of low and moderate income African American families who lived in affordable housing. Some of the housing was subsidized through Section 8, and the local public housing agency. I did a social work practicum in this neighborhood working on business and housing development. Very few buildings were unoccupied and fewer boarded over, in contrast to most of the other neighborhoods. The neighborhood association and Community Development Corporation worked to keep housing affordable.
The Gate District was a neighborhood of ongoing redevelopment. The Section 8 senior and family housing I formerly managed was in this neighborhood. There were moderate income homes, townhouses and condominiums. The neighborhood was filled with vacant lots for 15 years before this new housing was built. On the west end of this neighborhood St. Louis University’s Midtown Medical Redevelopment Corporation was continuing to buy up property to expand the university’s south campus. The demographics were African American people with low, moderate and middle-class incomes. This was a neighborhood where low income residents were displaced to build homes affordable to first time homebuyers. Although I agreed with the need for homes for people with incomes under the median, I did not agree or support the displacement of lower income families to make it happen.
McRee Town was one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city of St. Louis. It had been cut off from its original neighborhood when the interstate highway was built. It was surrounded by industrial parks, railroad tracks, the highway and a redeveloped low/moderate-income area. It was a place of last resort for low income families who might only have to pay the first month’s rent to move there—often no deposit was required. Women fleeing abuse, people evicted from other apartments and families wanting to move where they could afford the low rent came to this neighborhood. Absentee landlords owned most of the property. A management company, located in the Gate District neighborhood, owned a good deal of property. This company tried to create decent, affordable housing for low-income families. However, they were not very good at working with the families who lived in their apartments.
McRee Town had the only gang activity I experienced in our service area. One gang had split into two opposing groups. Sometimes, they would shoot at each other from opposite ends of McRee Ave. We would hear shots during the day time when we were delivering furniture to families. The surrounding neighborhoods blamed all of the crime and other problems in their neighborhoods on the people in McRee Town. Before its redevelopment, teens who came to our programs called it the “Dark Side” because all the street lights were out and the city never replaced them. 98% of the families living in this neighborhood were low-income and African American. Almost all of the families living in McRee Town had nothing to do with the violence and decay in their neighborhood.
The Shaw neighborhood was nearly evenly divided between middle/upper-middle-class white and low-
