The St. Louis Development Corporation Board is moving forward with a proposal to launch an economic “empowerment center,” at the historic Sumner High School – the first such center established by the SLDC.
“We cannot succeed as a city, together, if one half is allowed to fail,” Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said
The board voted last week to work with Saint Louis Public Schools to open a Northside Economic Empowerment Center that would provide a number of small business and entrepreneurial services including certification workshops for minority- and women-owned businesses, digital training and resources and procurement education.
Neal Richardson, SLDC executive director, said he would work with SLPS to finalize details of a cost-sharing agreement. SLDC will spend up to$100,000 over three years to use an ancillary building at Sumner, which was established in the late 1800s, according to the school website, and served as the first high school for African-American students west of the Mississippi River.
The $100,000 will come from $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to establish a Technical Assistance Hub. The money will cover operations, administration, staff and technology and any needed retrofitting of the space, he said. Other sources of funding will be tapped to provide access to capital for small businesses including grants and loans.
It will be staffed by an estimated 10 SLDC employees over the next three years, including five new hires, Richardson said.
Launching the center will help the city bring “resources directly to the neighborhoods that have lacked access to these tools while collaborating to use community anchors in new and innovative ways,” Richardson said in a release.
“We cannot succeed as a city, together, if one half is allowed to fail,” Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said in a statement. “With the American Rescue Plan Act, St. Louis is thinking outside the box to create new opportunities for families and entrepreneurs across our city to build generational wealth while priming our neighborhoods for equitable growth for decades to come.”
Alderwoman Dwinderlin Evans (4) said in a statement the proposed center will help connect entrepreneurs “with resources to start and grow their businesses, strengthening our communities. I welcome this commitment to North City and the opportunities it brings to our neighborhoods.”
Partners for the proposed center, which must secure the backing of the school district, 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).
ARPA funds will be used to cover the cost of bringing the partners to the site, Richardson said.
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
