Is it possible to develop land, housing and economic activity in low-income communities that actually empowers at-risk populations? This was a rather abstract concept for me until Jasmin Aber paid a visit to the Sweet Potato Project this past summer.
Aber is a European-trained architect and co-author of The Future of Shrinking Cities – Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context. She has worked as a consultant/designer on local projects such as the Gateway Mall, St. Louis River Front Design & Development and Old North St. Louis.
In 2008, Aber founded the nonprofit Creative Exchange Laboratory (CEL), an incubator and forum for architecture and design. CEL’s primary mission is to encourage graduate students and emerging architects to gain valuable experience through public interest projects.
“We’re not necessarily waiting for a wealthy client to come to us and say, ‘Brand me’ or ‘design a beautiful house or headquarters,’” Aber said. “We proactively look in the community, in the city, in the neighborhoods and ask, ‘How can we make this better? How can we add to the quality of life?’”
Improving the quality of life is a catalyst for positive economic and social change by creating jobs for the community within the community, Aber said.
Aber asked our Sweet Potato Project students to imagine their own space. They responded with visions of a building with an industrial-sized kitchen and enough land to grow, store and sell their produce and products. They described a home where they can hang out with access to positive literature, classes and computers, with famous quotes and images on the walls.
Aber’s approach opened my eyes to powerful possibilities. She invited our students to dream of their own space. Imagine the sense of empowerment they will have in five or so years when it becomes reality. Aber’s example begs the question: How often are residents in low-income communities involved from inception in developments in their own neighborhoods?
In a 1965 interview, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on the government to invest $50 billion so poor people could rebuild their own communities in metropolitan areas. The incentive, he said, would motivate them to stay and build economic engines in their own neighborhoods.
Aber has committed to walk with the Sweet Potato Project as we seek a permanent location with enough space to carry out the big picture: massive farming and sustainable production of fresh produce and food-based products in North St. Louis. The key will be collaborating with like-minded individuals who have economic, social and psychological developments already underway.
North Side rebound
Consider Jason Wilson, the owner of Chronicle Coffee, located near the intersection of Page and Grand avenues. In an interview with The American early last year, Wilson explained why he chose to invest in an area surrounded by “dilapidated buildings, check cashing facilities and liquor stores.”
“Instead of someone saying, ‘This is a neighborhood that’s falling apart, has a high crime rate and nothing’s really going on here,’” Wilson told The American, “you control the narrative and tell people what you want them to feel about the community.”
Visitors to the coffee shop are exposed to a comfortable, professional environment where vintage photographs of the Blumeyer high-rise public housing projects (built near Chronicle’s location) are prominently displayed. As customers sip coffee, dine or play chess, the photographs serve as subtle reminders to spark positive dialogue about the possibilities of controlling the community’s destiny.
Further west on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, the Greater Ville area in the 4th Ward – once prominent, due to economic activity spurred by the now-shuttered Homer G. Phillips Hospital – is attempting a grand rebound. New housing and senior citizen developments, along with community gardens and small business projects, will restore the Ville to its days of luster, says Harold Crumpton, president of the Greater Ville Neighborhood Association.
Nearby, in the 18th Ward, the North Sarah development project – led by McCormack Baron Salazar – is coming to fruition. Among the new housing and storefronts, the Progressive Emporium & Education Center has reopened its doors at 1108 N. Sarah Ave., providing a positive space where people can find the guidance to, as Wilson says, “control the narrative.”
Melvin J. White, founder and president of Beloved Streets of America, has launched an impressive effort to reclaim, rebuild and rebrand Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. from Illinois to St. Louis County. Plans are underway to launch Legacy Park near Wellston, modeled after University City’s Loop, where robust economic activity is sustained by diverse cultural interaction.
The Sweet Potato Projects aims to join and build upon these sustainable economic and social developments through our partnerships with Jasmin Aber’s Creative Exchange Laboratory, St. Louis University’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Gateway Greening and others. Thanks to Aber’s inspiration, we also now recognize the powerful possibilities of collaborating with a purposeful goal of empowering low-income residents and communities by design.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is founder of Sweet Potato Project and a writer from North St. Louis.
