U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay hosted a summit on federal funding opportunities opened up by the St. Louis Promise Zone designation on Friday, December 4 at Harris-Stowe State University. But, according to an official from the federal agency that administers the program, it will be some time before dollars are appropriated and all applicants will need to apply through a local government agency.
Promise Zones have priority in application for federal funds that help in “job creation, additional private investment, increased economic activity, improved educational opportunity and reduction in violent crime,” according to the April 28 announcement that part of north St. Louis city and county had been awarded the designation. The designation has a 10-year term.
The St. Louis Promise Zone – the largest thus far designated – includes the northern part of St. Louis, as well as North County cities such as Berkeley, Wellston, Ferguson, Jennings, Normandy Pagedale, Pine Lawn and Moline Acres.
St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay, who spoke at the summit along with Clay and St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, said the zone encompasses 99,000 residents in St. Louis and 99,000 residents in St. Louis County.
The local fulcrum for Promise Zone applications will be the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, the merged city/county economic development agency. At the event, its CEO Sheila Sweeney announced that Erica Henderson would be director of Promise Zone initiatives for the partnership.
The summit was attended by senior staff from seven federal agencies partnering in the Promise Zone: the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which administers the Promise Zone initiative; the Small Business Administration; the Corporation for National and Community Service; the Economic Development Administration; the Federal Transportation Administration; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and the Rural Development Service.
Other important federal partners in the Promise Zone, including the departments of Education and Justice, did not send a representative to the event.
Each of the federal officials present gave a brief presentation of their agency’s focus and funding streams and then were available to meet afterward with the public in breakout sessions. However, the rush to network in expectation of federal funding was brought nearly to a halt by James Heard, HUD field director in St. Louis, who spoke last.
“People are asking, ‘Where are the dollars?’” Heard said. “The Promise Zone doesn’t come with any direct dollars. Everything will be funneled through the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.”
Heard explained this was because the federal funders don’t “want the community fighting for the same slice of pie,” but many local attendees were disappointed to learn there would be one local gatekeeper for all of these federal funding opportunities.
Berkeley Mayor Ted Hoskins voiced his disappointment most bluntly. “Small cities won’t get any money,” Hoskins told The American. “There’s nothing here for me.” Hoskins added that he opposed Stenger in his bid for county executive and expected little from an economic development agency that reported, in part, to this county executive.
Clay rejected that assumption, saying it took city/county collaboration to obtain the Promise Zone designation and the initiative will be thoroughly collaborative.
“I see this as a collaborative process and everyone has a say in it,” Clay told The American. “If some grass-roots entity has a good idea, I am convinced local leadership will help them seek Promise Zone assistance. It’s this parochialism, this inability to break out of a tight-knit group, that is holding us back as a region.”
Rabbi Susan Talve, leader of Central Reform Congregation and a longtime social justice activist, had a different objection to the presentations.
“The collaboration is a beautiful notion – taking down the silos and making us work together,” Talve told The American. “But all we heard about from all of these federal agencies was receiving support for the safety net. But feeding the safety net is not going to help us dismantle structural racism. It’s racism that is causing the oppression that requires the safety net.”
Though several officials discussed the St. Louis Promise Zone as a “distressed area,” and the zone’s population is majority African-American, there was little talk of race. Indeed, as Talve pointed out, it was Slay – frequently attacked by black city officials and community leaders as not doing enough on issues of race – who addressed race most directly.
Listing the chronic problems in the St. Louis Promise Zone, Slay mentioned “racial disparities, poverty, crime, access to a quality education and job opportunities.” Slay said, “It will not be easy to confront these challenges, but we are stronger when we confront them together.”
Clay told The American – and Talve, who was listening – that Promise Zone funding can lead to structural change.
“We want to see real change,” Clay said, “where real dollars follow the real needs of the community.”
For more information on applying for Promise Zone assistance, contact the
St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, www.stlpartnership.com,(314)
615-7663.
