History is taught at Sumner High School and Sumner High School is historic.
The school’s honored past shared a stage with a brighter future on Tuesday during the opening of the Northside Economic Empowerment Center [NEEC].
Located in the Sumner Annex building, NEEC will provide access to technical assistance, capital, back-office support services and training opportunities for residents and businesses.
It will serve as an accessible hub for business empowerment, capacity building and workforce development, including Minority Business Enterprise [MBE] certification.
Mayor Tishaura Jones brought additional spirit to the celebration when she announced she had signed the Economic Justice Act, which directs $93 million to disinvested communities.
“This investment directly into communities will end decades of intentional disinvestment,” Jones said.
“While it won’t happen overnight, we’re working to create change that St. Louisans can see and feel. St. Louis is investing in neighborhoods that need it most to make our communities stronger and our entire city safer.”
Sumner High School is in the historic Ville Neighborhood just west of the former Homer G. Phillips Hospital and Annie Malone Children and Family Services location.
“The next Annie Malone could drop in at the Northside Economic Empowerment Center to receive the support and training she needs to open her first business; maybe the next World Wide Technology will get its start right here in the Ville,” Jones said.
World Wide Technology was founded by African American entrepreneur David Steward and is listed by Black Enterprise as America’s largest Black-owned business.
NEEC is funded through $1.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA], which directed $498 million to the city. All funds must be allocated by 2024 and spent by 2026.
The center will be fully staffed and serve the community 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.
Online resources are available through the BOSS Portal, which will help the NEEC partner St. Louis Development Corp., deliver services when and where business owners need them, according to SLDC President and CEO Neal Richardson.
“[NEEC] will break down systems that marginalized people and communities because they did not have opportunities,” Richardson said.
“It will lay foundations for small business growth in scale in their respective industries. We knew opening a strategic, centralized facility that offers the resources most needed by companies at various stages would be critical for success.”
Richardson said SLDC’s relationship with St. Louis Public Schools can create new opportunities, including use of unoccupied and underoccupied school buildings “that are ripe for redevelopment.”
Matt Davis, SLPS board chair, said NEEC is in “a great location and the building is in great shape.”
“There are historic and emotional reasons this partnership makes sense,” he said.
“We have lost so many families who have left the city and left these neighborhoods, because of all those historical reasons. This is an opportunity to put the past behind us. We can now ask, ‘how are we going to build [this neighborhood] back up?’
“We can invest in the classrooms, but if we’re not investing in our families, communities, it’s not going to make a difference.”
Aaron Williams, chair of the Sumner Advisory Board and a co-Founder and chair of the 4theVille organization, said “this institution has always been worthy of investment.”
“There is no community, there is not a market, there is no real estate if we don’t protect the education of future generations.”
Noting the Sumner High School location, Jones called the center “a powerful symbol for creating new opportunities.”
“[The Economic Justice Act] is a first step towards reversal of decades of intentional disinvestment. With tools to promote homeownership, development, workforce training and property stabilization, this Act will jumpstart the City’s work to support neighborhoods and the working families who live in them.”
Partners for the center include the Small Business Empowerment Center, Missouri Business Development Agency, Mastercard Digital Doors, Maryville University, St. Louis Lambert Airport Business Diversity Development, the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), and more.
NEEC will offer access to capital information, in-person and virtual trainings, technical assistance, and contract bidding opportunities
Richardson said training and workshops are “for those who want to start a business, but don’t know where to start; for new business owners and young startups and existing businesses looking to diversify, grow or expand.”
“This is not just bricks and sticks. This is hearts and minds,” he said.
