Community Empowerment

One of the most popular refrains that I have heard over the last twenty years with respect to community development from North St. Louis residents is “all the money goes to the Southside” That statement alone captures the essence of disconnect, and general lack of empowerment that many North St. Louis residents have as it pertains to community development. An empowered community understands the rules, the reality, and the regulatory processes that impact how city resources are allocated. Those are funds come from the federal government in the form of block grant money and they provide resources that generally go for vacant building demolition, sidewalk repair, new home development, and home repair. The manner in which these funds are used and leveraged to bring in more funds, can determine the sustainability of a neighborhood.

In the City of St. Louis, the Community Development Agency (CDA) is the custodian of that federal money. In October of each year part of the allocation process begins with CDA inviting 5013c organizations to come and make a case for funding. Those organizations must have the support of the Alderman in their ward to get funding. Thus the Aldermen in each of the City’s 28 Wards have almost total control over the winners and losers, a virtual fiefdom over how federal dollars are spent. What that effectively means with respect to development is the capacity of a community to grow and evolve is tied to the effectiveness and competence of their elected officials. Given the amount of money involved, and what is at stake I question if the current system truly represents best practices. From my perspective there should be more inclusion and more transparency in the allocation and spending process.
Yet, it is not the ward by ward allocation that is troublesome, it is the manner in which local Alderman use those funds. In over twenty years I have seen many community newsletters put out by Alderman, but not once have I seen one with an accounting on how they use tax dollars. A few years ago a Fox 2 News’s “You Paid for It” segment exposed that over two million Community Development Block Grant tax dollars went into the Ville community which resulted in the construction of less than ten homes. Those homeowners were promised a development of over fifty homes, and now live across the street from vacant and boarded up buildings. Now to be fair, in that segment in which former 4th Ward Alderman O.L. Shelton appeared to want to wash his hands of the mess, little was said on how Barbara Geisman in the Mayor’s Office signed off on the allocation. In preparing for this piece I contacted CDA to find out where could I go to see how block grant money was spent by ward, and I was referred to a four hundred page document, that provided a mountain of data but was not very helpful in understanding my central question. Clearly in the age of the internet, that information should be more readily available. An empowered community needs to be vested and informed stakeholders in how money is spent in their community.

A few years ago when I got involved in community development, one of my first objectives was to visit communities where they seem to be getting it right. One of my stops was to Forest Park Southeast Housing Agency headed by Irving Blue. One of the most impressive community tools was the existence of a community agreement system which effectively forced community businesses to be more accountable. Forest Park Southeast and area businesses would sign a “Good Neighbor” agreement that outlined the rules of the road that governed whether or not that establishment would be considered a community asset or liability. Imagine that! Suppose you were a community which had strong neighborhood housing or community nonprofit, that drafted a good neighbor agreement with businesses, and landlords, that make held them accountable for what goes on in their business or their property. Suppose you could go to a license renewal hearing with a document signed by the business owner, and make a case that they have failed to live up to their agreement, and their license should not be renewed. Imagine if you had the support of the Alderman! That’s empowerment! Holding businesses accountable is one of the pillars in having a stable community. Finally, imagine that same community group was empowered to meet with potential developers and as a result were able to negotiate a development agreement that included a commitment to support community schools, provide scholarships, and other community priorities – Again that’s empowerment.
Communities thrive when several things exists, a stable political infrastructure, inclusive decision making process, the capacity to hold business and landlords accountable, a willingness to draw in outside resources, and a holistic approach to development. Finally it needs a competent community nonprofit group which has competent and visionary board that can be a source of communication, and education, one that is independent of the political process. Our communities cannot grow when the political process gives rise to cronyism, back room deals that bring development and home repair contracts to incompetent friends. Our communities can’t grow when the investment community is turned off by a community’s history of in-fighting and dysfunction.

Last week in the 21st ward, Alderman Antonio French brought the Bosman Twins to a concert in O’Fallon Park only a few minutes from where the talented group played in the 70’s. For the last few years O’Fallon Park had the “rep” of a park to be avoided, for a concert to be held there is significant. In 2008 Barack Obama campaigned on the message of change. Having a concert in O’Fallon Park while not a “game changer” in North St. Louis, does provide a glimpse of what can happen. Alderman French seems to be not only engaged, but one who understands the modern world of relationship building, the power of the Internet, and understands how to connect on a variety of levels. That is encouraging. For those in communities in North St. Louis that don’t see the same level of engagement from their Alderman, you need to start plugging back in. Plugging in means asking your Alderman about his or her block grant budget, find out the renewal date of the liquor stores in your ward, getting involved in the nuisance process, inquiring about developing a good neighbor policy in your ward, and finally find out if there is a nonprofit housing/community development agency in your ward and ask who on their staff, and their board, when do they meet, where are their minutes, what are they doing? If there is not a non profit Housing Board, start one. Empowered communities are informed and engaged, knowledge is power. Those in the community who want change must be encouraged, empowered, and kept in the loop but more importantly those in the community who want change, must become engaged.