On Thursday, Missouri-based nonprofit Health & Homes STL announced its plan to help reshape and revitalize Ferguson. The proposal, which comes five years after the shooting death of Michael Brown, details a multimillion-dollar development called WestFlo District. The development will include the Boys & Girls Clubs new $12.4 million teen center, a Mercy health care hub, 12,000 square feet of ADA-compliant sidewalks, 17 new crosswalks, almost four miles of improved curbs and gutters, street lighting, sewer improvements, and more.
Although Health & Homes is footing the bill to construct this development, the WestFlo District is designed to be sustainable and eventually thrive financially on its own.
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Donn Sorensen, founder of Health & Homes and executive vice president of operations for Mercy Health, said in a press release that the development is “about removing the barriers that cause isolation and replacing them with connections that provide options.” Around 100 people were present for the announcement Thursday afternoon at 9180 W. Florissant where the development will be constructed.
The project started about three years ago when Sorensen and other Health & Homes leaders reached out to the residents of the neighborhood to discuss what they envisioned for their community. The group met with city officials, religious leaders, went door-to-door talking to residents, sent out a questionnaire, and held a town hall.
“Their hopes for the neighborhood included basic services such as adequate health care, better infrastructure, and new economic opportunities,” Sorensen said in the release.
Getting the residents’ input was the first phase. Phase 2 involved fundraising to purchase the property and securing the partners such as Boys & Girls Clubs, Mercy Health, Regions Bank, Fields Foods, The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, and others who will be moving to the neighborhood. Phase 3 will focus on the city’s curbs, gutters, street lights, and bus stops. Further, Sorensen says, there must also be a phase 4: get rid of the predatory renters and give homeownership back to the residents.
The Boys & Girls Clubs Teen Center of Excellence opening in October will house a gym, music and art studios, a garden, a kitchen, an auditorium, and an innovation center, as well as a common space for homework or just hanging out. Flint Fowler, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, recently told SLM that having the center will make a difference in the neighborhood because kids will have somewhere to go and won’t “lose their lives to the streets.”
Construction on Mercy Health and Regions Bank is also slated to start this fall, and Sorensen estimates it will take 12 to 18 months.
Health & Homes is collaboration of several prominent St. Louisans including Sorensen, Fowler, Jim Kavanaugh (who recently won SLM‘s Visionary Award), Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, the Improvement Programs Manager for St. Louis County Larry Welty, Don Musick of Musick Construction, David Peacock of Schnucks, Dave Rabe of Emerson Electric, several Mercy Health executives, and more.
Sorensen says the nonprofit began almost four years ago when he and others were discussing the city’s recent woes, namely the continued unrest in Ferguson, an increasing murder rate, and the release of Stan Kroenke’s now-infamous letter to the NFL in which he criticized the city. The group was lamenting the lack of leaders to guide St. Louis through all of this when Sorensen abruptly realized: “We’re leaders. We should fix this.”
