Valerie Patton, “Greater St. Louis, Inc. is ‘great opportunity’ for Black community”
Valerie Patton’s life work has centered on the economic betterment of St. Louis since 2004. Now, she says, the next step in that work is about to be taken with the merger of five private sector led economic development organizations.
The senior vice president of inclusion & talent attraction at the St. Louis Regional Chamber said the coming-together of these organizations should be a great opportunity for black and brown communities in the space of jobs and business expansion.
“I’m really excited about where we are,” Patton said. “I think the work will be transformational. It is time for us to be inclusive; there have been a lot of things that have happened in our community, and in the nation, that have led to this point. But at the end of the day we must be working together. I mean, I’m a big fitness buff most days and what we know for sure is the core has to be strong and if your core is not strong, then that means another piece will not be strong.”
The merger was announced Thursday afternoon and includes five private sector led economic development organizations: St. Louis Regional Chamber, AllianceSTL, Civic Progress, Downtown STL and Arch to Park.
The new organization will be called Greater St. Louis, Inc.
Enterprise Holdings Executive Chairman Andrew Taylor will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s founding chair. In a recent interview, Taylor said that as of January 1, 2021, the organizations will operate as one entity with various departments focusing on different aspects of economic development.
“I think so far nobody, strangely enough, has said, ‘That’s a bad idea, Andy,’” Taylor said. “Everybody thought it is just great and it’s overdue, if anything,” he said. “So, I think in terms of the goodwill and the commonality of putting this organization together by these various organizations is terrific. I think what is going to be the challenge, of course, is we are going to be dealing with some of these hard problems — how are we going to get more jobs? How are we going to grow St. Louis?”
Jason Hall, the current chief executive officer of Arch to Park, will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s CEO. A few years ago, Hall began researching cities who were experiencing economic growth and mapped out what they were doing that was leading to that success. He then made note of what would work here in St. Louis, which was incorporated into the merger’s plan.
“A thriving city is not automatic, but it’s also not accidental,” Hall said. “We do need to map strategy and raise capital to drive that forward. I think we saw in other cities the role of the urban core, which Val mentioned, is people recognized that for a region to grow and thrive, you must have a strong core. And I think that’s something that’s going to be really, really critical here.”
Patton said the organization will have goals and metrics to guide the movement of the inclusive economic growth plan, which is being put together by Bruce Katz and will be made public later this year. She said Greater St. Louis, Inc. will measure overall job increase, regional GDP, especially in neighborhoods who have been historically disinvested and disenfranchised.
“I think this is a great opportunity for Black and Brown communities, not only for jobs but for business expansion — probably even looking a little bit deeper into economic development opportunities to expand into neighborhoods that have been generally disenfranchised disinvested in,” she said. “And I really think that everything is not going to get done in a day because many of these issues did not start in a day, but I think it is a sign for us to have a fresh new beginning to look at what is, what has been and then to move forward to what we can do together.”