On March 30th, we held another session of our second public working meeting around the theme of Housing. Our first iteration of this meeting was held on February 11th; due to lower-than-usual turnout, we felt it was important to have another opportunity for residents to voice their opinion on this important subject. Combined, these meetings engaged more than 100 people. At the March 30th meeting, residents discussed existing market conditions, residential stability, landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities, community building, and tools and partners. In small group discussions, participants reviewed information and developed strategies and goals to address the needs of our neighborhoods. You can check out the data and community input by clicking the links above.

This is what he heard:

• COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP will be our future! Our neighborhoods want to align resources and partners to ensure future development is locally owned and residents organize against speculation and discrimination.
• Housing policy must PRESERVE OUR DIVERSITY! The Gravois-Jefferson Plan must lay out strategies to preserve socioeconomic and racial diversity, such as affordability requirements for new developments and developing tools to empower homeownership among low-income households.
• COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION are integral to success! We need to work with residents and partners to increase awareness of policy and opportunity — this includes fair housing, marketing, training opportunities, and more.

If you didn’t have the opportunity to attend, you can also participate online in all the activities from the meetings by clicking here.

In addition to our most recent working meeting, we have met with local youth at Carnahan HS, Roosevelt HS, and the Thomas Dunn Learning Center, convened a group of local stakeholders with interests in youth empowerment, and facilitated planning activities with the Amigas Latinas group. We are always happy to come and talk with you or your group – just let us know! In the coming weeks, we look forward to carrying out our “Resource Group” strategy, checking in with the Vietnamese elders, and planning our third public working meeting.

Thank you for your continued support!