Two months before the entire world was looking at the impacts of St. Louis’ racial divide, local health researchers released a report where they stated, “Our region continues to be divided along lines of race and social class, and where you live has a considerable impact on your health.”
The report, released on May 30, was part of the “For the Sake of All” multidisciplinary project, which is aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of African Americans in St. Louis.
Recently Wells Fargo Advisors announced that it will donate $100,000 to help further the project’s reach into the community by facilitating conversations with and giving voice to young people in the region. The project’s lead researcher is Jason Q. Purnell, assistant professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work.
“Dr. Purnell’s research on the economic, educational and health disparities in the St. Louis area is astounding and an important step in bettering our community,” said Vanessa Cooksey, senior vice president of community affairs with Wells Fargo Advisors. “We are proud to support For The Sake of All, as it engages the community in making his recommendations become reality.”
Having spent much of the last two years working on engaging key stakeholders in the community and developing a comprehensive report on the health and wellbeing of African Americans in St. Louis, the research team has moved into the implementation phase of the project. They are engaging community and business leaders and policy makers to mobilize support for implementation of the project’s six recommendations.
First, the research team recommended that the region invest in quality early childhood development. Every $1 invested in early childhood returns between $7 and $17 of benefit for society, the report stated. They also pointed to a recent study that showed that individuals who had high-quality early childhood programming were less likely to have risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in their mid-30s.
Second, they suggested creating more economic opportunities for low- to-moderate income families. Children who have savings in their names – even in small amounts – are up to three times more likely to attend college and four times more likely to graduate compared with students without savings, the report states.
Also, emerging evidence shows having financial assets like college savings accounts is associated with better social and emotional development for children and lower levels of depressive symptoms for mothers, it states.
The third recommendation is investing in coordinated school health. The researchers argue that poor health can be a serious barrier to educational success.
Next is investing in mental health awareness, access, and surveillance. There is a significant need for accessible, community-based mental health services in the St. Louis region. Without greater investment in this area, there are large social and economic costs, it states.
The last two action steps are to invest in health-promoting neighborhoods and enhance chronic and infectious disease prevention and management.
Chronic and infectious diseases carry large human and economic costs for our region. Cross-sector collaboration and investment is needed to make St. Louis a healthy and productive place to live, it states.
“It has always been our intention to fully engage young people in our region in the important work of making the recommendations in For the Sake of All a reality,” Purnell said.
He is grateful for Wells Fargo’s gift, he said.
“With our partners at FOCUS St. Louis, we have already developed discussion guides and an action toolkit aimed at youth,” he said. “This gift will allow us to reach even more young people and support their efforts to make positive change in our community.”
For more information on For the Sake of All, including the discussion guides, toolkits and resource lists, visit forthesakeofall.org.
