The Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods planning team is excited to share an update on our progress and next steps. The past month has been busy!
We met with the TDLC Youth Council at Thomas Dunn Learning Center to discuss the Gravois-Jefferson Plan, participate in a neighborhood walk, and lead interactive mapping and community planning activities. These 13 through 19 year-olds are the community development leaders of the future. Equipping them with the tools and resources necessary to make change will be transformative for our neighborhoods!
We also held the seventh meeting of the Gravois-Jefferson Steering Committee — a remarkable group for fourteen passionate, engaged residents. Following a presentation by the nonprofit Forward through Ferguson, we began a conversation about developing criteria for evaluating draft plan recommendations. As defined in KU’s Community Tool Box, “criteria” as they relate to neighborhood planning “provide guidelines for making decisions… and depend on the community, the conditions that are in place at the time of the decision, the needs and concerns of the people making the decision, and other factors.” Examples may include urgency, equity, and feasibility. The Committee is currently in the process of determining which criteria they will use to evaluate plan recommendations.
We are also holding another round of Resource Groups to gain feedback on draft plan recommendations. Specifically, we want to ensure that our strategies support the work already underway and align with best practices and past successes. These meetings are also an opportunity to interact with community leaders and topic area practitioners to organize for implementation. Meetings are being held for all eight of our plan focus areas:
- Safety and Security
- Youth and Education
- Employment and Business Development
- Housing and Community Development
- Transit, Streets, and Walkability
- Health and Community Services
- Environment and Ecology
- Arts and Culture
From the resource group meetings and conversations with local and regional leaders, we will refine the plan recommendations and send them to the Steering Committee for evaluation and prioritization. Using the criteria they have established, the Committee will determine which recommendations are set out as community priorities. As this takes place, our planning team is actively developing plan content, including summaries of current conditions, catalogs of available funding resources, and overviews of best practices.
This process will lead directly into a draft plan meeting where local residents and organizations will gather to reflect on the plan, provide comments and organize around strategies. As we gather these local partners, we’d like the opportunity to connect them with individuals like yourself who have been a part of this process. If you would prefer not to have your email shared with these partners, please let us know. We look forward to disseminating information about the draft plan meeting once a date and time are finalized.
Once the draft plan is reviewed and any final edits are made, a final plan will be submitted for approval by the Planning Commission of the City of St. Louis!
Thank you all for your active participation throughout this process.
We look forward to walking these final steps alongside you,
The Gravois-Jefferson Team