Congratulations to Loura Gilbert, former Vice President of Community Development at Commerce Bank and founding member of the Metro St. Louis Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Association, recipient of our 2020 Award for Lifetime Dedication to Community Building.
The Award for Lifetime Dedication to Community Building recognizes a person who:
Has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to community building work.
Has exhibited leadership, vision, and a commitment to action and results.
Has catalyzed outstanding impact in community building policy, investment, and/or community change.
Has worked to challenge the status quo in the St. Louis region.
Humans of St. Louis storytellers Maleeha Samer and Colleen O’Connell Smyth met with Loura to learn more about her and her work. Here’s some of what she had to say.
Loura Gilbert
“When you hear people’s stories about their neighborhoods, problems, and difficulties, you think you know what they’re dealing with. You have to be in their shoes. You may think, ‘Well, there’s an easy answer to this question. Save this, do that, make a plan.’ But you don’t know. People have to make choices. They might be saving to buy a house but then have a health problem and have to spend that money on something else. It wasn’t what they wanted. And when they can’t do what they wanted, that hurts. People without a safety net and families with small kids or elderly parents can get stuck in this rut. They want to buy a house and then grandma has a health problem, there’s not enough health insurance, they end up having to tap into their down payment or get behind on a bill or two, then that impacts their credit, and they’ve got to start all over again. That’s hard work. They’re down and they still say, ‘I’ve got to get back up.’”.
- Loura Gilbert, former Commerce Bank Vice President of Community Development and founding member of the Metropolitan St. Louis CRA Association
Loura Gilbert
“There are too many good projects. There are too many problems that can’t be fixed by a little bit of something, and the obstacle is always that there’s not enough time and money. Community building projects are expensive, and the impression is that there’s no money to be made even if the project is a good thing to do. We have to get people over the idea that not every project’s making as much as a $20 million, 20-story commercial building. You are making money. And more than making money, you’re making a difference.”
- Loura Gilbert, former Commerce Bank Vice President of Community Development and founding member of the Metropolitan St. Louis CRA Association
We hope you can join us to celebrate community builders like Loura at our 8th Annual Community Building Awards on July 29!
Photostory by Humans of St. Louis, Maleeha Samer, and Colleen O’Connell Smyth. Photostory narratives represent the opinions of the speaker(s) featured only and do not necessarily represent the views of the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis.
