Congratulations to Tonnie Glispie-Smith, Board member with Cornerstone Corporation and Saint Louis ArtWorks; graduate of Neighborhood Leadership Academy and Neighborhood Leadership Fellows; leader and volunteer with the West End South Community Improvement District, the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative, Creating Whole Communities, and more, recipient of our 2020 Award for Resident Leadership.
The Award for Resident Leadership recognizes a person who:
Has shown incredible volunteerism and involvement in their community and/or community initiatives.
Goes above and beyond typical resident action to sit on boards, head committees, and/or encourage the engagement of other residents.
Works to challenge the status quo in the St. Louis region.
Humans of St. Louis storytellers Maleeha Samer and Colleen O’Connell Smyth met with Tonnie to learn more about her and her work. Here’s some of what she had to say.
Tonnie Glispie-Smith
“What is the cost that racism has had on America? Who got killed that could have been a brain surgeon or found the cure for cancer? They didn’t get the opportunity to live up to their potential, not only for themselves, but what could they have done for the United States? Policies are put in place that give the impression our neighborhoods are how we want them to be or that we did this to ourselves. The real truth is there were federal banking and housing policies that led to these conditions. I’m not sure if a lot of people are aware of that. They may think people like to live that way. When, really, these properties got burned down or people can't afford to take care of 'em because they're poor and the owners couldn't get loans. I gained a different perspective from this book called ‘The Warmth of Other Suns’ by Isabel Wilkerson. She talks about The Great Migration, and there are all of these stories about people who lived in the South, but their families wanted better for them, so they moved North. Also, you see people with nice cars, but their house may not be in the best of condition. So maybe you think, ‘They have their priorities wrong.’ Then when you research the history, it could go back to how African Americans couldn't get loans for houses but how they were still allowed to get a car loan, at an exorbitant rate. That would be the only way they could show that they're successful. I had never thought about that. And how some of that carries on to this day.”
- Tonnie Glispie-Smith, Board member with Cornerstone Corporation and Saint Louis ArtWorks; graduate of Neighborhood Leadership Academy and Neighborhood Leadership Fellows; leader and volunteer with the West End South Community Improvement District, the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative, Creating Whole Communities, and more
Tonnie Glispie-Smith
“We want to redevelop Hodiamont Tracks in the West End into a greenway. As we’re telling people about this opportunity to make it more appealing, Judith Arnold, who lives in Vandeventer, spearheaded a cleanup. She organized from her neighborhood all the way to the West End to get people to come out and clean that whole entire section. That showed me as a region we can definitely work together. Just because I’m across the street from you, what goes on in your neighborhood still affects my area. I have several friends throughout those neighborhoods that connect all the way going east, and whenever there's an opportunity I think we could all benefit from, I share that information. I want their community to thrive and do better as well. It helps me, and it helps them to make those connections. It’s the right thing to do.”
- Tonnie Glispie-Smith, Board member with Cornerstone Corporation and Saint Louis ArtWorks; graduate of Neighborhood Leadership Academy and Neighborhood Leadership Fellows; leader and volunteer with the West End South Community Improvement District, the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative, Creating Whole Communities, and more
We hope you can join us to celebrate community builders like Tonnie 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.
