Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Plan
Gravois Jefferson Community Planning Meeting
Between 2016 and 2018, Rise Community Development facilitated a community-driven planning process in collaboration with local elected officials, neighborhood organizations, residents, and other community stakeholders. The Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods is the area defined by Gravois on the north, Meramec on the south, Grand on the west and Jefferson on the east (see map).
Over two years, residents and other stakeholders in the area shared their vision for the plan area through a combination of focus groups, public roundtables, design workshops or charrettes, and open houses. Their insight guided the plans recommendations on economic development, racial disparity, land use issues, social services, environmental concerns, transportation (including pedestrian and bicycle networks), housing, educational opportunities, community health, and parks and open spaces.
The Planning Team
This planning effort was the collective action of a steering committee made up of neighborhood community leaders and community-focused organizations who work to create a stronger St. Louis.
The fourteen-member Steering Committee was made up of neighborhood residents and oversaw the work of the planning team. Members included: Pacia Anderson, Richard Bax, Nha Nguyen, Wendy Campbell, John Chen, Linda Hennigh, Scott McIntosh, Linda McKindley, Andrea McMurray, Charmane Mu’Min, Carlos Restrepo, Dale Sweet, Pam Welsh, and Darren Young.
Rise Community Development partners with communities to build stronger, more equitable St. Louis area neighborhoods. By providing capacity building technical assistance to local CDC’s, housing development and development consulting services, and access to financing, Rise makes the connections between non-profit community organizations, financial institutions and government that make successful neighborhood revitalization possible.
Dutchtown South Community Corporation (DSCC) advances neighborhood vitality through community empowerment, housing stabilization and real estate development. DSCC lead community engagement efforts throughout the planning process, ensuring resident voice was incorporated into all steps of the project, from the formation of the plan to implementation of strategies.
Lutheran Development Group is the founding funder of the Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Planning effort. LDG creates affordable housing, expands the capacity of neighborhood organizations, builds educational opportunity, recruits job creators, empowers resident-informed planning, and remediates blight; all with the hope that the neighborhood can be a strong, stable, and sustainable home for the households living there now and for generations to come. Additional funding was been provided through the Incarnate Word Foundation and Deaconess Foundation.
Residents and Other Community Stakeholders ultimately, are the ones who will be represented by this plan, and as such it is a plan by and for them.
Resident and Local Engagement
The area encompassed by the Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Plan includes a diverse group of businesses, community institutions, and approximately 13,000 residents. Throughout this process, we engaged this diverse group in developing a shared vision for our neighborhoods.
Intentional Outreach to Historically Under-represented Populations