By Sean Spencer, Executive Director of the Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation
Over the last 5 years, Sean has facilitated the development of over 60 properties, cataloged vacant and abandoned properties, developed housing related community initiatives and promoted Tower Grove Neighborhoods as the premier place to live in St. Louis.
Community Development Block Grant funding (CDBG), as a business model for community development organizations, is dead. In 2013, the world of community development in the City of Saint Louis changed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Community Development Administration (CDA), who administer HUD CDBG funding, made it clear that the process to obtain funding would be more competitive and that output and outcome expectations would be higher than ever.
Leaders from Shaw Neighborhood Housing Corporation (Shaw neighborhood), Grand Oak Hill Community Corporation (Tower Grove South neighborhood) and Southwest Garden Housing Corp (Southwest Gardens neighborhood) saw these changes as an opportunity. Combining a larger service area with increased staff capacity able to leverage CDBG funding with other income sources could create a community development corporation not-for-profit built for long term success. Over a six month period and through a series of meetings at the individual organization board level and as a combined group, the three organizations worked to develop a way forward together. The result was the creation of Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation.
The successful consolidation is directly related to the cooperation between organizations and across ward boundaries. Where there is a need, there is a way. The organizations have serviced the area for 80 years combined and our presence is critical to the continued growth and stability of vital south city neighborhoods. It was widely believed funding for each neighborhood CDC in 2014 would not be obtained individually which emphasized the need for a “better together” consolidated approach. Further, the additional benefits for consolidating are:
1. 28,000 residents are represented in the three neighborhoods
2. Service area increased to over 3 sq. miles
3. Increased population representation and larger geographic service area created better funding opportunities for grants and donations from public and private foundations, individual donors
4. A broader area strategy, including infrastructure planning, is more effective at the new scale
5. Increased financial stability by combining assets
6. More collaboration opportunities with neighborhood associations, business district organizations and other not for profit companies.
While there are plenty of benefits, there are also many challenges. Real estate assets need to be evaluated and addressed for continued operation or for a potential sale. Completing maintenance issues including deferred maintenance can be expensive and time consuming. Property management from the outset drained our capacity. Corporate liabilities such as financial audits and other accounting issues needed to be cleaned up. Equal representation for each neighborhood was, and always will, be a top priority and is a discussion point at board meetings.
The 5 board members for each neighborhood help the organizational balance and operation. The future of the organization is still being discussed. A neighborhood visioning process launched in 2014 with consultant H3 studio will help inform the board of the needs of our community from our community. This process will help us determine our strategic plan. The work completed in 2013 by the boards of Shaw Neighborhood Housing Corporation, South West Garden Housing Corporation and Grand Oak Hill Community Corporation to create the higher capacity Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation will continue to benefit City neighborhoods and the City of Saint Louis for years to come. Thanks to all the board members (present and past) for their volunteer hours devoted to making these neighborhoods the most desirable places to live in the region.
Articles in “From the Field” represent the opinions of the author only and do not represent the views of the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis or the University of Missouri- St. Louis.
