‘It’s more than just the numbers’ Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
~ Page 7 ~
Christopher Tinson
SLU African American Studies program
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
~ Page 31 ~
Min Jung Kim
‘A dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. This makes Kim the first non-white man to be named Art Museum director.
~ Page 3 ~
Nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
Dreamline Pathways:
Introducing minority high school students to careers in health care
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
The
Of
St. Louis American Nationwide, medical school applications are up. Some refer to this phenomenon as the “Fauci effect,” crediting the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for inspiring a new generation of medical professionals. Others attribute this trend to the plethora of doctors, nurses, researchers, and other health care professionals they’ve seen battling the worse global pandemic in
more than 100 years.
Whatever the reason, nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
The good news is that medical
school applications are on the rise. But the reality is that racial and ethnic minorities are still woefully underrepresented in health care professions. While African Americans, Hispanics/ Latinos and American Indians together represent more than one-fourth of the US population, they comprise less than nine percent of nurses, six percent of physicians and five percent of dentists, according to report by
See DREAMLINE, page 21
By Danielle Brown The St. Louis American
Emily Pitts demonstrates a strong passion for implementing increased diversity, equity and inclusion practices within her corporate infrastructure.
n Emily Pitts has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner.
She has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner. Part of her tenure has involved working as a financial advisor for nine years, helping clients meet personal financial goals and objectives. She was the general partner over inclusion and diversity, where created and oversaw the company’s inclusion and diversity strategy. She launched the firm’s first Courageous Conversation Program (a protocol created by Glenn E.Singleton that works to dismantle racial disparities within systems and organizations) to aid the CEO Diversity Action Plan.
She also executed the firm’s first Cross-Cultural Development Program (CCDP), which assists diverse financial advisors in serving more clients by showcasing more confidence,
Maryville multicultural scholars alumni return
Program has grown to 150 scholars
to guide students like themselves
Sophie Hurwitz
The St. Louis American
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013. When he entered the program, he was one of “maybe about 30” students with the scholarship, which provides up to 75% of tuition and places students within a cohort dedicated to building an inclusive campus culture. Now, the program has grown to around 150 students, Gray said — a massive jump from when he began his time at the school. And Gray himself, like many other
Roslyn Croft
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Emily Pitts
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
By Chris King For
The St. Louis
‘A
dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
A conversation with Min Jung Kim, the first St. Louis Art Museum director who is not a white man
American
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, she will be the 11th director of the 142-year-old museum – and the first who is not a white man. A graduate of Wheaton College who holds a master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, Kim leaves a position as director and CEO of the New Britain Museum of American Art. She also was recently appointed chairman of the Connecticut Arts Council by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.
The St. Louis American: Why did you want to come to St. Louis to direct the art museum?
Min Jung Kim: Well, that’s an easy question to answer in that the St. Louis Art Museum is so highly regarded within the field. I have known about the St. Louis Art Museum throughout my career, and I have always greatly admired it for its extraordinary world-class collection that is encyclopedic with a great range of depth and spanning across all centuries, geographies, cultures, and perspectives. It is such a wellestablished, well-regarded
museum. I knew about it, to begin with, but it was in the process of getting to know it more during the consideration for becoming its next Barbara B. Taylor Director that I really began to dig a little bit deeper in understanding how truly remarkable the museum is. Given its standing within
the community, given its long and distinguished history, all of that notwithstanding the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum also embarked upon a diversity report and a listening project were two sets of very, very important documents among many others that really identified for me what a special and
unique museum this is.
The St. Louis American: What are your thoughts on the museum’s Romare Bearden Fellowship?
Min Jung Kim: The Bearden fellowship as you know, is one of the nation’s
Saint Louis Art Museum
Director Min Jung Kim shared the story of her journey in America and vision for the future of the institution she now leads during her introductory press conference on June 22.
currently showing that it comprises 37% of ethnically diverse visitors is also quite remarkable. Not all museums can proudly claim that. But again, with all of these accomplishments and achievements and progress notwithstanding, the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum still found the importance of the diversity report — that investigates the ways in which the St. Louis Art Museum can apply the principles of diversity and inclusion to virtually everything that the institution does, not only in terms of the collection, exhibition and visitor engagements, but everything from its finances to how its endowment investments are aligned with these diversity principles— this kind of holistic approach as well as the level of specificity that produced a 26-page report with 150 recommended action points is really very, very impressive. So, it was really everything that the St. Louis Art Museum has been doing and is poised to continue to do in many regards as the museum views the area of diversity to be of vital importance.
first and oldest pipeline programs designed to bring greater diversity to the art world, and the fact that St. Louis Art Museum has had this history and tradition for nearly three decades is really quite extraordinary. I also thought that the current St. Louis Art Museum audience demographic
The St. Louis American: What can you bring to the mix as a woman looking at this collection and programming and as a Korean that your predecessors may not have with the different perspectives you bring?
Min Jung Kim: Well, two
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Photo by Tim Parker
Continued from page 1
things. As you noted, the St. Louis Art Museum has indeed had extraordinary leaders in the past, and I think for me, this is an extraordinary privilege for me to be able to build upon the legacies of my predecessors who have really led the institution in such a way for me to be able to come into a very, very solid, well established, well-regarded institution. It is really a tribute to the great leadership that has happened in the past including most recently my predecessor Brent Benjamin.
That said, I am so honored indeed now to become the St. Louis Art Museum’s next Barbara B. Taylor Director and indeed as its first woman director in its 142-year history. And Chris as you’ve noted, I am indeed not only of Korean descent, I was actually born and raised in Seoul, South Korea until I first came to the United States at the age of 18 to attend college and then returned again in 1996. And I have been in this country since, and I became a U.S. citizen shortly thereafter.
As a woman, and now an Asian-American woman and a first-generation immigrant, I would hope to bring a perspective that recognizes that there are indeed multiple perspectives out there. In fact, it is one of the great beauties of diversity that it is a recognition of a give-and-take. It’s about moving away from history bound assumptions and preconceived notions of any one person, population, culture, history, or viewpoint as a monolith, but rather it’s about recognizing that there are multiple perspectives and stories that can coexist and really enrich our lives as individuals and as members of a community in celebrating the rich and varied complexity of the world in which we all live together. And, so, in doing so, what I hope to bring to this is to also position the museum in such a way that we can continue to
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
open ourselves up to exchange in a dialogue of the varied and multiple perspectives that I think is much needed today more than ever.
The St. Louis American: How do you privilege diversity in the large while still speaking to a Blacker constituency than many museums are responsible to?
Min Jung Kim: Visiting St. Louis specifically, one of the first things that I’m really excited about is going into the community and meeting people. I think the first period during my tenure is really going to be about meeting people, listening to people, and having a better understanding of what comprises the St. Louis community so the museum can reflect the community far more accurately and in a much more engaging way. And I think in doing that, to be able to reflect our communities will also better reflect essentially what art and culture are designed to do: playing a critical role in leaving evidence and traces of not only our previous past but as well as a continued expression and exploration of the human condition as a whole.
And it is the role of the museum to take these extraordinary objects by artists to provide further context to be able to weave together insightful stories of not only our past but that are understanding of our present and future as part of a continuum of ideas. And in exploring some of our past, also recognizing that there are multiple histories as part of that narrative. So, I think, if anything, I’m excited that as I get to know the St. Louis community and its diverse communities — and in particular its African American communities better — we continue to make room for these multiple stories and histories and perspectives to be prominently featured as part of some of the great stories the St. Louis Art Museum will be proud to present and share.
The St. Louis American: Has anyone made any introductions for you to our Asian community?
Min Jung Kim: I have indeed been very, very warmly welcomed albeit remotely by representatives of the Asian community, all of whom I
am really looking forward to meeting in person once I’m on the ground.
The St. Louis American: Are there any aspects of the collection or individual pieces that you’re particularly excited to have at the St. Louis Art Museum?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, you know with the more than 36,000 objects that the St. Louis Art Museum has in collection, I think individually every single work is really a treasure in and of itself.
I think what also makes [the collection] so extraordinary is the collective strength the collection as a whole brings in being able to make virtually endless cultural narratives possible — not only of a particular era or a particular culture or geography. I think the possibilities that exist that can transcend time and place and to be able to draw upon themes and subjects that make art evermore relevant to our society today. And so rather than the one, the fact that the opportunities exist for the many is what’s truly exciting about the St. Louis Art
Museum collection.
The St. Louis American: Are there things from your bag of tricks or best practices that going into this position you’re thinking you want to implement?
Min Jung Kim: The St. Louis Art Museum is such a well-established institution that it already has been adhering to best practices, so that part is solid. From my personal leadership capabilities based on my experience, I guess one of the things I continue to benefit from is being surrounded by incredibly smart, talented, dedicated people. As a leader I think I can only be as successful as the team that I can assemble, comprising some of the best colleagues that I know of. We all work collectively together towards the mission of a museum so that’s probably one thing.
The other thing is to always tell the truth. I think truth, honesty, and consistency are really the only ways I can operate, and that has done me well in virtually every conversation, every negotiation, every discussion because at the end of the day consistency and truth is the only thing that will prevail.
The St. Louis American: What are you reading now? What book is on your bedstand?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, which one? I’m constantly reading several books all at once. So, it’s kind of hard to tell and it really depends on whether you’re asking which book I’m reading in print and which books I’m reading by listening to the audiobook. But let’s see, I am reading The Broken Heart of America. And I am just beginning a book called DMZ Colony — not to be confused with ZMD — it’s a book by Don Mee Choi about the Korean peninsula and she’s put together a really wonderful book of prose, poetry, drawing, and photos to look back to the memory of other memories. And I’m constantly listening to various podcasts which I enjoy
very much.
The St. Louis American: Tell us a favorite podcast or two.
Min Jung Kim: As of late, I’ve really been enjoying “Revisionist History” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a great podcast where essentially he takes particular subjects, and he looks at it from a different perspective so it’s a fun podcast.
The St. Louis American: What’s your comfort music?
Min Jung Kim: Oh gosh, I am so eclectic it really kind of depends on my particular mood. It ranges from classical to jazz to opera to traditional Korean music. It really sort of ranges. It’s hard to say.
The St. Louis American: Mozart or Beethoven?
Min Jung Kim: Bach.
The St. Louis American: The Beatles or the Stones?
Min Jung Kim: The Stones.
The St. Louis American: What’s a recent vacation? Where do you go when you want to get away from it all?
Min Jung Kim: Part of my personality is that I never want to actually get away from it all, there’s so much to explore with what already is. I haven’t honestly been able to take a vacation as of late, but not that it’s necessarily a vacation, an annual trip I really love to do is to go back to Korea because all of my family is still there. So that’s something that I like to do to connect with my family and just to see the constant transformation of the country. Every single time I go it’s amazing. So much changes and happens at the same time and yet some things never change. It’s part of its 5000year history, things will always be the same, so it’s a nice mix.
Saint Louis Art Museum Director Min Jung Kim was joined (from left) by Charles Lowenhaupt, president of the museum’s board, and Keith Williamson, Centene Charitable Foundation president and search committee chair, during her introduction to staff members on June 22.
Photo by Tim Parker
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At BJC, your career will benefit from on-the-job learning and mentoring from some of the most accomplished
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Carpenters Union’s Career Connections program ramps up
Special to the American
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council
(CRC) is working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis, and a unique program is helping.
The Regional Council’s Career Connections program brings cutting-edge technical education to schools across St. Louis, helping local employers fill a skills gap in the vocational trades and offering a pathway to a middle-class career for young people in the region.
“Students and their families sometimes become so focused on earning a four-year degree that they overlook or are unaware of vocational options,” said Dr. Art McCoy, former Jennings School District Superintendent of Schools.
“Career Connections provides students an opportunity to learn about skilled trades in a way that prepares them for a successful career. It has been a wonderful addition to our schools.”
The Career Connections Program works in partnership with educators to provide students with a practical CTE education taught by skilled instructors. With more than 1,700 students in 35 programs across our region, our graduates have gone on to earn six-figure salaries as union carpenters. Local high schools include Roosevelt, Beaumont, Jennings, South Tech, North Tech and many others.
“Career Connections helps ensure St. Louis has the next generation of skilled workers it needs to continue growing,” said Al Bond, Executive
Working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis
Secretary-Treasurer of the CRC. “The program provides a leg up to students, who start their career with knowledge and skills that other apprentices don’t have, and it helps ensure a pipeline of talented workers to the local employers who hire them.”
Along with vocational train-
ing, the program also includes preparation in the skills that research shows employers value most, including: goal setting, positive attitude, punctuality, teamwork, and taking initiative. The various skills Career Connections graduates learn help make them employable, while local companies
Celebrating Diversity
remain competitive and ensure St. Louis can build high-quality, safer, lowercost construction projects.
“It is very difficult to find enough skilled workers to perform all the work we have available,” said Bill Lowery, Project Executive with PARIC. “There are projects I would love for us to bid on, but we don’t have the workers available to do new projects in addition to projects we are already committed to. We are glad to see a program like Career Connection stepping in to fill that need for skilled workers.”
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council (CRC) represents more than 22,000
‘It’s more than just the numbers,’ Tarlton diversity manager says Roslyn Croft has expanded diversity, opened up dialogue
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
The construction industry isn’t known for its diversity, but Roslyn Croft has worked to change that reality at Tarlton Corporation by not only expanding the demographics of the contractors it hires but by engaging its employees in meaningful dialogue about race and diversity.
“As we look at our contract span, it’s great to watch it grow over the years from when we first started to where we are now, but you know — it’s more than just the numbers,” Croft said.
“If someone who may not have been open to dialog a year ago finally looks at what we’re posting on our diversity dialogue teams channel and it opens their mind and they’re willing to come and have a conversation or they’re willing to have a conversation with someone in their family who may be closed-minded and may not be open to a different point of view, than that’s success to me.”
Tarlton is celebrating its 75th year in business this year and is a St. Louis-based, $200 million general contracting and construction management firm specializing in complex new construction and renovation. Croft, Tarlton’s diversity manager, has been with the company since 2009 and has worked on Tarlton’s diversity efforts since 2012.
scious bias.
may not have had that same experience. And so, we try to have those dialogue sessions at least every other month to allow people the opportunity to learn something and to try to grow from within themselves and also share their experiences.”
She said one of the biggest signs of growth in the company’s diversity effort is that she now doesn’t have to be involved in conversations on all the projects going on at the company because everyone knows that it’s their responsibility to provide inclusion and to make opportunities for people who may not normally have them.
In June, the company was named the 2021 Contractor of the Year by the American Subcontractors Association Midwest Council and in the last two months, Croft managed Tarlton’s launch of a diverse contractor registration page on Tarlton’s website and organized a Tarlton virtual subcontractor outreach event.
“I really do love what I do, and I think the biggest part of it is because I’m able to see what an impact it can have,” Croft said.
Croft maintains the com-
pany’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall. In 2020, Tarlton spent 19.8% of its total project spending with diverse suppliers – the highest in its 75-year history.
Croft also oversaw Tarlton’s launch of a diverse subcon-
tractor registration page on the website so the company can get to know more firms and the services they offer. She also chairs Tarlton’s Diversity Committee, which meets monthly to plan educational and culture-building activities and discussions for our company. She said she has coordinated training sessions on uncon-
“I think probably the most impactful dialogue that we’ve had was after the death of George Floyd,” Croft said. “We had a conversation with our team, and we probably had 70 people that joined the call, and we had several people share their experience with policing and I think that opened the eyes of some people that
“It’s little things, it may not be a big thing in somebody’s eyes, but it can make a big difference,” she said. Croft serves on multiple community and industry organization boards and committees including the Associated General Contractors of Missouri Diversity Committee, AGC of Missouri Education Foundation, St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers Diversity Committee, Missouri Women in Trades, PEOPLE Advisory Board, and St. Louis Public Schools Career and Technical Advisory Committee. She sees herself at Tarlton until her retirement, working to expand dialogue and diversity in all facets of the business.
“I feel like as long as people are willing to challenge themselves and their mindset then we have lots of space to grow in,” Croft said.
BOLD LEGACY
Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
POWERING THE QUALITY OF LIFE
We power the quality of life not only through the energy we provide, but also through our engagement with and support of the communities and people we serve in their journey to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion.
Botanical Garden encourages residents to make the most of their garden
By Missouri Botanical Garden
“There’s never been a better time for all of St. Louis to experience the Garden,” says Amanda Shields, who in February joined the Missouri Botanical Garden’s leadership team as the Garden’s first-ever director of diversity, inclusion and belonging. “And there have never been more ways to take advantage of this oasis in the city and its offerings for residents throughout St. Louis City and County.” Shields refers not only to the Garden’s status as one of the most popular attractions in the St. Louis area — it has been consistently ranked #1 on TripAdvisor’s “15 Best Things to Do in Saint Louis” list for more than a decade — but also the learning opportunities and community engagement that have helped position the iconic institution as a resource for the region, as well as one of the top botanical research centers in the world.
From early entry on Wednesday and Saturday mornings — free to all St. Louis City and County residents — to evening hours featuring live music and drinks and weekend-long cultural festivals, the Garden offers residents the perfect destination for an entire day of adventures or just a quick walk through some of the most beautiful scenery in the city. Among its 79 acres visitors can figuratively travel the world, from the secluded Mediterranean setting of the Bakewell Ottoman Garden to the expansive 14-acre Japanese Garden that
features winding pathways surrounding a picturesque lagoon where visitors can feed hungry koi fish or relax near multiple waterfalls. The nearby George Washington Carver Garden pays tribute to the pioneering African-American botanist and Missouri native whose work profoundly influenced American agriculture. A shady English woodland is just around the corner from the
Carver Garden, and a few more steps bring visitors to the towering palm trees and tropical rainforest environment inside the glass-dome Climatron® Reflecting the international scope of the Garden’s research and conservation efforts, the Climatron is home to some of the rarest plants in the Garden’s living collections, and in the world. One species on display inside the Climatron,
mauritianus, can only be found one place in the wild — growing on the side of a cliff on the island of Mauritius.
Just outside the Climatron is perhaps the most popular spot in the Garden, at least for younger visitors — the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden, where families can explore caves and treehouses, cool off in a large splash pad and enjoy
other outdoor activities inspired by Missouri’s many natural environments. St. Louis residents receive free admission to the Children’s Garden on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m.
For those who prefer the outdoor environment of their own backyard, the Garden’s William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening is an invaluable resource. Visitors
can draw inspiration from the dozens of demonstration gardens on the Kemper Center for Home Gardening’s grounds or receive specific advice from its staff of gardening experts, whose insights on thousands of gardening, landscaping, and plant care topics are also freely available online at gardeninghelp.org. For a deeper dive, the Garden also hosts hundreds of hands-on, virtual, and hybrid classes in a variety of areas, from gardening to cooking to sustainable living.
Learning opportunities are not just confined to the Garden’s campus in south St. Louis. In addition to the Garden’s other public sites — the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield and Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Missouri — the Garden sponsors and partners on community outreach programs throughout the metropolitan St. Louis area. From community beautification efforts like the Sunflower+ project that transforms vacant land to the Outdoor Youth Corps program, which provides area youth with employment opportunities and on-the-job training alongside Garden staff, the Garden is committed to helping St. Louis and its residents continue to grow. “This is a Garden for all,” Shields explains, “and especially for our neighbors throughout the region. We want to continue to find new ways to both engage the St. Louis community in our mission of plant discovery and conservation and provide residents with resources they can’t find anywhere else.”
We are committed to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth, new investment,and job creation in the innovation district extend to all parts of our community.
Nesocodon
The interior of the Temperate House
Photo by Claire Cohen
Earl Ming is Alberici Constructors’ go-to guy at St. Louis City Stadium
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
Earl Ming started playing soccer as a child, he liked it and was good at it too.
While studying engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, he played with a Georgia Tech club soccer team.
He no longer plays, but he is still quite involved with soccer, and its future in St. Louis.
Ming is a senior project manager with Alberici Constructors. Currently he is serving as project manager of all structural concrete for St. Louis City Stadium near Union Station, the future home of the MLS expansion franchise St. Louis City.
He has been a senior project manager since May, after serving as a project manager on various projects for more than six years.
“I now take on larger projects, my responsibility has escalated,” he said.
“But the day-to-day management is pretty much the same as prior.”
His day at the stadium site starts early and has an interesting twist.
At 6 a.m. a “plan of the day” meeting is held. An hour later, the entire project team gathers in the bowl of the stadium for a 10 to 15-minute session of stretching and safety discussion.
“The whole site, workers and all levels of management. We all stretch. We also have music playing,” Ming said.
Ming’s firm is part of the tri-venture of Mortenson,
His firm cites diversity as ‘core value’
Alberici and L. Keeley. From outside the stadium, it is obvious the workforce is diverse.
Ming is a member of Alberici’s Diversity Committee, which he says is “defining a blueprint to attract more minorities and women
into the crafts.”
“I have seen a lot of change, even before the committee. We still have work to do, but we’re headed down the right path.”
According to its website, “As one of Alberici’s core values, our commitment to
diversity and inclusion begins at the highest level of our corporate leadership team and is pervasive throughout the entire company.
“We foster an environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas openly to help reach their potential,
knowing they have the full support of managers and peers.”
Ming, who grew up in the St. Louis area, had an uncle who was an engineer and served as a mentor.
“But even with having my uncle as a role model, when I
was growing up, I didn’t know how to get here. We have to let students know there is an education component, to show there is a pathway,” he said.
“We have to make that bridge to our industry.”
Ming made the bridge from St. Louis to Atlanta for college, in part, because he has relatives in that metropolitan area.
After graduation, he was an intern with the Kwame Building Group and was hired as a project engineer in 2003.
During his over two years with Kwame, Ming led the Sverdrup|Parsons|Kwame Joint Venture team, which provided Program Management services for Phase I of the Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport Expansion Project.
The project included the acquisition of an additional 1,500 acres of land, demolition of commercial and residential structures on that land and relocation of seven major transportation arteries to the west and north of the Airport.
While at Kwame, Ming said he got “a better feel” of the industry.
“It’s how I was introduced to Construction,” he said.
He joined Alberici in 2005, and his career has continued growing skyward – just like St. Louis City Stadium.
“It is funny. I do have a passion for the sport,” he said.
An easy goal would be guessing that Ming and his family will be part of the crowd when St. Louis City plays its first home game in 2023.
Earl Ming, Alberici Constructors senior project manager, played soccer as a youth and on a club team in college. He is now in charge of all structural concrete for the stadium.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Heartland Coca-Cola committed to education, economic development
By Heartland Coca Cola St. Charles
It was May 25, 2020, and once again the country wrestled with the pain of racial injustices that people of color face daily….this time by witnessing a traumatizing eight-minute forty-six second video of the senseless death of George Floyd. As shock and anger reverberated, a persistent cry to address the long-standing issues of racism, social injustice, and racial biases resonated worldwide. Heartland Coca-Cola echoed these sentiments and committed to addressing these problems head on. Immediately, leadership began working on action items and communication channels used to keep employees well-informed of the Covid19 pandemic were now used to address the pandemic of racism. Heartland listened to the fears, concerns, and experiences of discrimination during companywide “We Hear You” live events on race. Experts were brought in to help educate and improve the culture of inclusion and acceptance.
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed on February 25, 2017, by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman. The Bridgman’s have always had a fervor for putting people first and serving communities. This same passion is indoctrinated into the foundation of Heartland, “We will be a positive influence and active participants in the communities in which we operate,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” These
are the mantras in everything Heartland does. Racism, inequality, and prejudices of any kind go against Heartland’s values and has no welcomed place in its business or practices.
In July of 2020, Heartland’s Chief Operating Officer, Rick Frazier announced the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Council. Justin Bridgeman, executive director began serving as the executive sponsor. Immediately, Justin’s
enthusiasm for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) was evident. He believes in the importance of embracing differences—race, political, gender, religious and more, and wasted no time demonstrating his leadership and dedication to being a conduit of change. Justin’s plan for change is not only immediate—”It is important that we put an emphasis and focus on our work in the DE&I space not just because it affects us in the
here and now, but because of the impact it will have on our future”—it’s generational and goes beyond the organization. “Heartland plans to be a changemaker in education, volunteerism, and economic development of the communities it serves.” Justin envisions Heartland having a greater impact in the St. Louis area and in helping remove the constraints of racism.
Justin understands that change within spans to
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed in 2017 by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman.
change throughout. A steering committee for diversity and inclusion was formed along with a strategic plan to properly engage in DE&I issues within Heartland.
Hometown DE&I councils were created to closely serve its Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas hometowns.
Heartland believes education is a key component in finding suitable courses of action to successfully remedy problems. Heartland began
sharing information on the history of racism and the impact it has had within the communities it serves, such as St. Louis. Internally, the “LEAD Method” was developed. LEAD is an acronym for Listening and Learning, Empower and Engage, Advocate and Articulate and Develop. This process is a guide used by DE&I committees throughout Heartland to develop educational material such as weekly diversity awareness notifications, DE&I pamphlets and posters, newsletters, focal groups, future training sessions and more.
Committee member, Robin Blanchard a warehouse supervisor states, “the growth and the support I have received has been wonderful. Diversity and inclusion are an important foundation at Heartland. This is the first employer I’ve had that has created a council for employees as a place for their voices to be heard.”
Jeff Oberman, vice president of the People Team states, “The DE&I Council provides insight and expands awareness of critical DE&I topics enabling us to have better conversations about diversity and social justice at work, as well as in our personal lives. There are many individuals and organizations giving their all to positively influence DE&I and social justice. I really appreciate how Heartland’s Hometown DE&I Councils are comprised of employees that reflect the diversity of our organization and the communities we serve.”
Justin recognizes that there is still a lot of work to do in diversity and inclusion. He and the Heartland family are committed to doing their part.
We stand in opposition to economic inequities, racism, violence and other injustices that tear apart our society. We will continue to conduct meaningful research, convene conversations across industries and pursue initiatives that advance equity, inclusion, economic mobility and resilience for all. The pursuit of those aims is at the root of our ambition as an institution and in the work we do alongside the communities we serve.
Everyone has potential. They just need opportunities to fully unlock that potential. This is the foundation of achieving greater diversity and inclusion for the Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). We still have much to do as we refine our outreach, but I firmly believe we are leading the pack in the construction industry.
When I embarked on my career as an IBEW electrician in 1990, I was one of two minorities in my class at the IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center. Today, the Electrical Connection partnership has sustained a 10-year record of diversity in apprenticeships, a third of which are minorities.
In every grade school and high school in the region there is great potential to create the next generation of electricians and communication technicians who will power everything in life and connect us in ways unimagined. It expresses itself in little ways. An 11-year-old with a fascination with how things work or a 17-year-old who likes to work with his or her hands. The Electrical Connection invests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs to cultivate these gems. We part-
ner with organizations like the Saint Louis Science Center, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, FIRST Robotics and countless school STEM programs. At career fairs, we are the bullseye for STEM careers, and anyone interested in powering and connecting the world.
IBEW and NECA also invest more than $3 million annually in training at the award winning IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center – all free of charge
in a program where students earn a living while they learn the electrical trade. The fiveyear, 10,000-hour education program’s curriculum includes traditional forms of energy, but also renewable energy, smart building and infrastructure technology, communications technology, electric vehicle (EV) chargers and more. Skills are needed, but so is leadership. We are encouraging our contractor partners to help us identify minorities who can run projects as superin-
tendents and general foreman. They have unique skills that optimize labor productivity by managing and teaching workers in ways that make the most of their abilities. In essence, they help workers climb the ladder of success. Our diversity outreach is more than workforce development. When we focus on communities that have long been ignored, we are also laying the groundwork for modernization. New urban housing and multi-family
developments can enjoy the benefits and long-term cost savings of renewable energy, such as solar. So too can office, manufacturing, retail, schools and other businesses. Bypassed communities can also benefit from improvements to communication infrastructure and smart building technologies. And while significant parts of the region are devoid of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the future tells us that EV charging stations must become a greater priority.
The number of electric-powered vehicles on American roadways is growing daily and maintenance and installation skills instruction are part of the IBEW/NECA partnership’s Electrical Connection program.
Potential is squandered when it is ignored. Our Electrical Connection IBEW/ NECA partnership believes opportunity can lift all lives by nurturing potential to create a more diverse workforce and bring modern technology to underserved communities. Learn more at www.electricalconnecton.org.
Sylvester Taylor is director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the IBEW/NECA Electrical Connection partnership.
Photo courtesy of IBEW/NECA
Sylvester Taylor
At the Missouri Botanical Garden, we are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming community within the Garden and among the region we serve and work in. Whether visiting us, taking advantage of our educational programs and home gardening help, or finding your next career, we hope that you will be a part of our Garden for all!
What would you tell someone who asked you why they should visit the Missouri Botanical Garden?
The Garden is an oasis in the middle of the city. You can enjoy nature, learn about plants and their environment, and meet people from everywhere and all walks of life.
—Ayanna Woods, Manager, Visitor Services
There is so much to experience at the Garden, from beautiful floral displays to events like Garden Glow. I’ve been to other botanical gardens and ours stands amongst the best.
—Cassandra Nelson, Senior Manager, Systems and Telecommunications
What is unique about the sense of community at the Garden?
We work on vastly different programs, projects, and goals all over the world, but we are a united front striving to meet the mission of the Garden.
—Joyce Gorrell, Sustainability Projects Manager
The Garden recognizes many cultures and in its diversity shows us what a unique community should look like.
—Alice Ransom, Garden Receptionist
What makes the Missouri Botanical Garden different from other places you have worked?
Every day, I’m surrounded by people who are just as passionate about plants as I am. We all seem to speak a unique language that connects us and brings us together.
—Daria McKelvey, Supervisor, Home Gardening Information and Outreach
I am inspired by the natural beauty of the Garden. I enjoy coming to work because I know I make a difference for my team and Garden visitors.
—Joseph Tumblin, Construction Project Coordinator
Special to The American
For years, Huxlande Petigny has dreamed of becoming a doctor. After giving birth to her daughter, Samara, however, Petigny put those dreams aside to support her family. Working in sales with no prior experience, Petigny said she had never felt more incompetent in her life. To remedy that, she earned a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance. Even with all the accolades and financial success, however, she remained unfulfilled.
Then, a car accident changed the trajectory of her life. Petigny sought care for her musculoskeletal pain from Lawrence Weiner, DC, whom she had known for more than 10 years. The two talked about Dr. Weiner’s fulfilling career as a chiropractor and how he helped people live healthier lives through the work of his own hands. Highlighting the projected growth of the profession, Dr. Weiner suggested Petigny consider a chiropractic career for herself and offered to write a letter of recommendation on her behalf.
“At that moment, I knew this might be the only chance I get in life to make my dreams a reality. I took Dr. Weiner up on his offer, and the rest is history,” Petigny said.
Petigny moved from Miami, where she was born and raised, to St. Louis with her mother, Mimi, and her daughter to pursue her doctor of chiropractic degree from Logan University.
‘Chiropractic chose me.’
Logan University student Huxlande Petigny pursues dream of becoming a doctor
a
at Logan University, is also pushing for diversity and representation
“Logan has a beautiful campus and a strong reputation when it comes to academics,” she said. “The Logan community is incredibly warm, welcoming and caring, and the fact that the library was once a place of worship resonated highly with me as well since I am a very faithful person.”
Currently in her ninth trimester, Petigny is participating in a clinical rotation at the VA St. Louis Health Care System. She hopes to dedicate her life’s work to serving veterans, a population she said is often underserved and underappreciated.
“I appreciate the VA’s focus on complementary and alternative forms of medicine,” Huxlande said. “What is most important to me is increasing an individual’s quality of life through chiropractic care.”
Luckily for Petigny, her business experience has proved to be beneficial on her journey to becoming Dr. Petigny.
“My background in business has taught me that building relationships is the very foundation to longevity and success,” Petigny said. “As a future health care professional, these skills will be necessary in not only my interactions with patients but with other health care professionals as well, such as primary care providers, physical therapists, pain psy-
chologists and acupuncturists.”
As she strives to treat each patient as a whole person, Petigny, a Haitian-American, is also pushing for diversity and representation within the chiropractic profession.
“Diversity comes in many different forms—whether its race, culture, religion, education, school of thought, gender, etc., diversity allows us the
opportunity to gain a greater perspective, which helps us to create better solutions,” Petigny said. “In chiropractic, diversity is especially important because we must be open to seeing a variety of patients with a variety of complaints to assist in their journey to good health. Furthermore, patients appreciate seeing diversity in their health care providers.”
To support the diversity and inclusion initiatives of Logan University’s Office of Student Affairs and the success of students like Petigny, Community Standards Coordinator Tim Williams implements programs that meet students’ needs and positively impact their overall experience. For example, the student affairs department recently hosted a discussion on the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status as well as a Women’s Career Roundtable, both of which were offered online so the entire university community of alumni, faculty, staff and students could attend.
While at Logan, Petigny has maintained an exceptional academic record and become an active member of the community, including Omega Sigma Phi, which furthers the development of women in the chiropractic profession, and the Student American Black Chiropractic Association. She has also worked as a class tutor and tour guide and has received numerous awards and honors, including Logan’s prestigious Founders’ Scholarship, which covers full tuition for trimesters four through ten.
Greater St. Louis is your home. It’s where you live, work and find a sense of community. It’s home to Regions too. We understand that when our communities succeed, it makes life better for everyone. That’s why we have specialized teams that work within our communities to direct resources to areas where they are needed most. As we strive for inclusive growth, we will continue to take a deliberate approach to invest in, and serve, communities of color. The people of our community inspire us, and we are committed to continue listening, learning and developing a plan of action to move toward racial equity.
1.800.regions | regions.com
Huxlande Petigny, a Haitian-American,
student
within the chiropractic profession.
By Cigna
At the heart of Cigna’s mission is the pursuit of health equity for all. But even with broadly available COVID-19 vaccinations giving us hope against the ongoing pandemic, critical issues in health care persist. The pandemic has shined a spotlight on what we have long known to be true – people with poor social determinants of health face greater barriers to good health and well-being. Unfortunately, systemic racism and discrimination play a role in these avoidable and unjust differences in health care.
Much work still needs to be done to drive meaningful, lasting change across the health care system and our broader society overall. And it needs to come from collaborative efforts between people, leaders and organizations of all kinds who share the same commitment. Together, we can work to address racial discrimination within every aspect of our lives, including our schools, communities and businesses.
“We view systemic racism and discrimination as critical health care issues in addition to human rights issues,” said Susan Stith, VP of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Civic Affairs, Corporate Responsibility, and executive director of the Cigna Foundation. “Cigna remains committed to driving efforts that make a real difference for everyone we serve, and that includes accelerating our ongoing diversity equity and inclusion and health equity strategies to address pressing social needs and build a more equitable future for all.” Over the past year, we have
Cigna remains committed to helping cure inequality
continued our efforts to create a more equal and equitable society, starting within our own organization. The recent launch of Cigna’s Enterprise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council, chaired by our President and CEO David Cordani, will play an important role in advancing and reporting out on our ongoing DEI and health equity efforts internally and externally. We also continue to host Inspiring Inclusive Conversation “listening sessions” that offer ongoing opportunities for dialogue about DEI topics – through which we have reached more
than 10,000 employees. Our efforts to create a more equitable and equal society go well beyond Cigna’s walls, and we remain committed to helping combat health disparities among our customers and communities of color. The launch of our five-year Building Equity & Equality Program last year demonstrates our expanding efforts to support diversity, equity, equality and inclusion for communities of color. As part of this, we have started piloting programs and solutions that address health disparities among African American/Black, Latinx and
Hispanic customers, who are disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continue to grow our external partnerships, including the selection of Dr. Gjanje Smith, Cigna’s first CEO Action for Racial Equity Fellow, as part of a yearlong fellowship to address racial injustice. Cigna is also partnering with Wake Forest School of Medicine to advance equity and equality through a $250,000 endowed scholarship that supports students of color as they begin their medical studies as doctors, nurses and health care workers.
“As leaders in the St. Louis
Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan.
an initial investment from Cigna, the University of Missouri-St. Louis piloted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator in 2020 as a means to close the access gap to startup capital for minority entrepreneurs. The DEI Accelerator successfully launched and supported six diverse businesses. The program will continue to grow and support eight minority-owned companies annually for the next five years.
We also continue to support the STL 2030 Jobs Plan and Access Point, a program that identifies entry-level technology jobs and aligns those needs with high school and higher education curriculums. Starting back in April, 25 students began Access Point courses at St. Louis Community College’s Florissant Valley campus. By early August, they’ll have completed 11 credit hours and will start paid apprenticeships at Evernorth, a Cigna company that includes Express Scripts. The STL 2030 Jobs Plan recently added some star power with local celebrity Nelly championing the effort.
community, we have a responsibility to drive meaningful change to improve equity and inclusion in the areas where we live and work,” said Amy Bricker, President, Express Scripts. “That’s why Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan. These programs are a powerful catalyst to ultimately create a healthier and more equitable future for underserved and marginalized communities.”
Cigna is also working to address inequality within our nation’s workforces. On a local level, with help from
We’ve accomplished a lot, but our work is far from over. We take our role as a leader in the health service industry seriously. We will drive forward through COVID-19 and the fight against systemic racism – both of which we see as critical health issues. And, together, we will continue to chart a positive path forward in every interaction with our colleagues, customers and communities.
To learn more about our commitment to equity and equality, visit Cigna.com/ ActionforEquity.
Five ways to find diverse candidates seeking employment
A Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) study found that 57 percent of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates.
n If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Diversity is also important for prospective employees who are being recruited. An industry survey found that 67 percent of active and passive job seekers said that diversity is an important factor when considering companies and job offers.
Recruiters and talent acquisition leaders are being tasked to increase workplace diversity.
“So why is it so hard to move the needle,” asks the business website ideal.com, which was established by Somen Mondal and Shaun Ricci, who serve as CEO and COO, respectively.
“Is it a pipeline issue as it’s often argued? Are unconscious biases interfering with recruitment decision making?
As with most complicated issues, it is all of the above,” they ask in an online blog.
As part of extensive online tutorial on increasing diversity in American workplaces, Ideal offers five tips to find qualified minority and female candidates.
Carefully write job posts to attract more diverse candidates If you want to attract a more diverse candidate pool, the language you use in your job posting makes a difference. A study on job postings found those using masculine-type words like “ambitious” and “dominate” were less appealing to female applicants.
Offer workplace policies more appealing to diverse candidates
Research has found that one of the best workplace policies to attract diverse candidates is flexibility. A PwC survey found that compared to older generations, Millennials place more importance on a company
culture that emphasizes work/ life balance. Offering flexibility such as work from home options and flexible hours not only helps you attract more diverse candidates, it helps prevent expensive employee turnover.
Use a personality assessment to recruit more diverse
candidates
A valid and reliable personality assessment is a great tool to measure candidates’ personality traits, motivations, and skills. Personality assessments increase workplace diversity because they do not show adverse impact, that is, personality scores do not differ for minority group members. A
study of 150 companies found that those that used a personality assessment in their hiring had more racially diverse workforces.
Use sourcing methods that contain more diverse candidate pipelines
One of the reasons why candidate pipelines can be a bottleneck for diversity is a reliance on hiring through referrals. In general, people’s networks are comprised of people who are similar to them demographically. To increase the number of diverse candidates in your pipeline, take advantage of third-party websites to post your open roles. Also, create a mediarich page of your company showcasing your culture, leadership and employees.
Seed your pipelines with more diverse candidates Research featured in the Harvard Business Review found that when the final candidate pool has one minority candidate, he or she has virtually zero chances of getting hired. However, a “two in the pool effect” represents a promising method for reducing unconscious biases and increasing diversity in the workplace. If there are at least two female candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a female candidate are 79 times greater. If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Visit ideal.com/workplace-diversity to review the ideal.com diversity assessment and the company can assist employers.
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
Increasing the pool of diverse candidates for employment is on the minds of many business owners and CEOs. Diversity on the job is essential to future success for most of today’s top firms.
Pitts
Continued from 1
competence and credibility.
Pitts also developed the firm’s first Women’s Leadership Forum, Minority Leadership Forum and Inclusion Mentoring Program and oversaw Inclusion Council and Business Resource Groups.
In previous roles, she worked with Charles Schwab, Dean Witter, and Merrill Lynn analyzing individual and corporate oversights and creating innovative ways to address them.
Her dedication to increase visibility in DEI and strengthen its central focus lays the blueprint for other Black women to follow in her footsteps. The advice she gives is to continue to develop yourself and educate yourself about DEI and the benefits of it.
“It [diversity, equity and inclusion] is beneficial to the organization that you’re with to create its growth and sustainability,” Pitts said.
“Don’t be afraid to have your voice heard, speak up, be courageous, but also do it in a way that brings people along. Meet people where they are so they can hear you. You get more done when people can actually hear you.”
Recently, Pitts was named Lindenwood University’s chief diversity officer and director of the center for diversity and inclusion. She will work with faculty, staff and students to create strategy practices and
programs to create a more diverse and inclusive university. She said she is increasing her awareness and listening to learn more about the cultural opportunities and the university’s current climate. She’s found in the past the best way to do that is through courageous conversations.
“You get a chance to hear from each other, seek to understand, be empathetic to the experiences of different people and learn how to integrate that into your everyday interactions,” Pitts said.
“I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Pitts said prior to her transitioning to her new role, the university already had several different programs in place to increase new freshmen enrollment and promote diversity.
Some of those programs and initiatives include various Black student groups that help new students adapt in a new environment, stay focused on their studies and stay connected by building a community within the university. Additional academic support, coaching and mentoring is also incorporated to ensure their success.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
They have a “Day of Dialogue” where speakers discuss campus diversity. Pitts was the keynote speaker.
Through her role, Pitts believes increasing the traffic of Black students and other people of color relies on not only assimilating through the university but also by partnering with organizations.
“I think the important thing is to make sure the message is out in the community, that the community knows that Lindenwood is very serious and committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and creating an inclusive environment on campus as well,” Pitts said.
“We want to make sure that we’re partnering with organizations or with companies to build a diverse pipeline as students begin to graduate. As far as attracting the students we just wanna make sure that we are representing Lindenwood in a way that is attractive to students of all different backgrounds and cultures so that they know that they can get an excellent education and have a community they can feel a part of.”
Pitts said she is excited to join the Lindenwood family and make a difference in the lives of young people who will be future leaders in our country.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully develop or create more inclusive leaders so that they can be great leaders within the organizations that they go off to to work for when they graduate.” Pitts said.
Enterprise Bank & Trust announces Enterprise University
n “I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Enterprise has helped shape area business leaders for more than 18 years, offering classes on a variety of business-related topics, which are
Eight-course schedule provides students exposure to senior executives Enterprise Bank & Trust’s acclaimed Enterprise University, a no-cost business education program available to local business leaders, has announced its summer weekly course schedule with topics geared toward college students. Courses cover a variety of business topics including strategy, marketing, business culture and more.
designed to both challenge and energize participants. After a successful program kickoff last summer, this is the second year Enterprise University is offering classes specifically for college-age students.
Enterprise UniversityCollege Edition courses will be held virtually and take place
weekly on Wednesdays from June 9–Aug. 4. Each hourlong class will be taught by an Enterprise Bank & Trust executive or business partner. All courses are from 4-5 p.m. CDT. Topics are:
• Making the Most of your Internship
• Strategy and Leadership
• An Effective M&A Strategy
• Marketing & Sales
• Human Resources and Corporate Culture
• Principles of Investment Management
• Leveraging LinkedIn™ in the Job Search
• Life After Your Internship Students can elect to attend individual courses of interest or all eight. Classes are offered at no cost, but registration is required and limited. For more information and to view the full course schedule, visit enterprisebank.com/eu-college.
Investing in diversity, equity & inclusion pays off for everyone.
At Edward Jones, we partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. Committing to diversity, equity and inclusion plays a critical role in creating a place of belonging, advancing our firm’s purpose and improving life for us all.
– Emily Pitts
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Commerce’s new DEI leader brings passion and commitment to her role
Special to The American Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan, has come a long way during her 28 years with the organization. She started working at the bank to pay her way through college, encoding checks at night while attending school during the day. In the years that followed, she steadily rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president of operations before being named to her new role in June.
Leading DEI efforts for a large organization with team members in 11 states is a great deal of responsibility, but Hogan is excited about the opportunity. “It’s a huge honor,” she says. “DEI is very important to me. At the end of the day, I want all the people who work here to know Commerce is a place where they can grow their careers and have all the right tools in place to help them succeed.”
Despite being new to her role, Hogan has a long history of being involved in Commerce’s DEI efforts, and she’s proud to take the reins of the DEI programs that the bank has had in place for many years. For example, she played a prominent role in the establishment of VIBE, Commerce’s multicultural employee resource group (ERG), and has been a sponsor of the group ever since.
“I’ve really had a frontrow seat to Commerce’s DEI journey, which started a long time ago,” she says. “It’s been an evolution that’s included training sessions, our ERGs
— which help our team members find a sense of belonging — and our ‘Listen, Talk and Learn’ sessions, where people can share their experiences, be vulnerable and have courageous conversations.”
She sees her new responsibilities as an expansion of the work she’s already been doing.
“It’s going to allow me to play an even greater part in building an environment for everyone, where every group is accepted, valued and respected,” she says. “I want to ensure that people have the ability to thrive and be their authentic selves as they contribute to our organiza-
tion’s success.”
Hogan says a primary element of her role as DEI director will be to help reinforce Commerce’s core values throughout the organization.
“Our values are the foundation that shapes how we live and work,” she adds. “They call out our commitment to DEI at work and in our communities. And that commitment helps us communicate openly and candidly with each other. It helps us trust each other and treat each other with respect.”
As director of diversity, equity and inclusion, Hogan will set the strategic direction
Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan
share their lived experiences. We all have to meet people who aren’t like us in order to understand them better.”
If Hogan sounds deeply passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, that’s because she is. According to Sara Foster, Commerce’s executive vice president of talent and corporate administration, Hogan’s passion is one of the qualities that made her the ideal candidate to continue growing the momentum of the bank’s DEI efforts.
“I’ve worked with Felecia for many years, and she’s always thoughtful, curious and very strategic about the way she thinks through any issue,” Foster says. “She’s always been a strong supporter of our people-development initiatives and is always raising her hand to learn more.”
and manage operational oversight of the goals Commerce has set for itself. She notes that she will work closely with the bank’s leadership and talent management teams to establish the direction the organization will take with its DEI programs, and to ensure that the bank is held accountable for making measurable progress on its goals.
Hogan says these efforts are a critical part of retaining and attracting talented people.
“People want to understand that diversity is valued,” she notes. “They want to know if we have policies and practices in place
to make things more equitable, whether our environments are inclusive, and whether diversity is celebrated, not just tolerated. Job candidates are going to look for organizations with a strong culture of diversity.”
The ultimate goal of Commerce’s many DEI programs, Hogan says, is to encourage team members to learn about other people’s experiences. “We want everyone to lean into their discomfort and diversify their circles of people they interact with,” she says. “We’ve had more than 2,000 people participate in various sessions where they
Foster says Hogan is always thinking about what else the bank could be doing to create programs that help people — especially women and people of color — find their next-level opportunity. “Through her lived experiences, Felecia can help people see past their unconscious biases and make an impact on the way we develop, promote and hire people. She’s just so perfect for this role.”
For her part, Hogan is excited about what’s ahead for Commerce’s DEI initiatives. “We have so many good things in the pipeline,” she says. “We’re very intentionally focused on how we operate internally and externally. We’re looking at how we can improve upon everything we do. I’m excited to continue the great work that’s already been started.”
BUILDING A CULTURE OF INCLUSION
At Alberici, we believe an inclusive workplace is essential to driving innovation, enhancing productivity and strengthening our community. We strive to ensure that our corporate staff and project teams represent the communities in which we live, work, and play. The Power of People makes all the difference.
BELONGING A CULTURE OF
At Mercy, we see all people as created in the image of God. We’re committed to providing a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for patients and co-workers across our healing ministry.
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Board guides our efforts to create a culture of belonging by:
• Improving health in communities of color and among the underserved
• Extending employment opportunities and training to people with disabilities
• Ensuring diversity in Mercy’s talent and leadership
• Advancing the professional development of women leaders
• Supporting the needs and careers of people in low-wage positions
If you’re looking for meaningful work and the chance to make a difference, explore career opportunities near you at mercy.net/DEI
Ayanna Baldwin Director of Benefits & Diversity Officer
“DEI is the essence of what being human means. We’re all so different in so many ways. But our differences make life fun, challenging and rewarding. Diversity is the innate trait that allows organizations to be successful. It sparks innovation and constant growth.”
Denise Hill
Executive Director, Compliance Privacy Officer &
Diversity
Officer
“DEI makes the workplace better for everybody. When people come from different backgrounds and experiences, they see things through different lenses. From a health care perspective, it’s essential because patients want to receive care from people to whom they can relate.”
Bridget Marzette-Bender Vice President, Talent Relations Center & Diversity Officer
“Diverse and inclusive workplaces cultivate diversity of thought. That’s when innovation and success start to thrive. People want a sense of belonging in the workplace because we spend more time there than with our own families. When you have a diverse organization, people want to work there.”
Binu Mathew, MD Vice President, Medical Intelligence & Analytics
“External views of an individual, such as appearance, accents, presentation styles, etc., may introduce conscious or subconscious bias — but true diversity lies in internal viewpoints. Leaders who listen, understand and assimilate individual differences help take them to a new level for Mercy’s ministry.”
Danielle McPherson
Executive Director, Managed Care Contracting & Operations & Diversity Officer
“The workforce is changing, and it’s more diverse than it’s been in the past. To stay competitive and relevant, companies must prioritize their efforts around DEI. It’s become an imperative. Differences across the board should be welcomed, acknowledged and celebrated.”
Kenton Saunders
Manager,
Patient Transportation Mercy Hospital St. Louis
“Our supported co-workers who have disabilities are as much a part of the team as everyone else. In many instances, they end up being leaders for the department and the most tenured co-workers. I can’t say enough about what they bring to our team. It’s phenomenal to see.”
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Inclusive workforce creates higher-quality productivity, less job turnover
An inclusive work culture mirrors the community the organization serves and yields many benefits for both the organization and its employees, says Angelica Ogando, founder and CEO of The Enriched Mind, LLC.
One of the key benefits of an organization having an inclusive work culture is that it has a lower turnover rate, Ogando says.
“If an organization is attracting more diverse candidates, it has people already in the organization who look like me, sound like me, and talk like me,” she notes.
“It is far less likely that I’m going to leave, especially if those other people who are like me are happy there.”
Another benefit to the organization is greater and higher-quality productivity.
“In an inclusive work culture, people feel respected and valued,” Ogando says. “Happy employees tend to give the best of themselves, generating higher-quality production. This ties into innovation. Do you have people who are different? If so, is your work environment one where people are encouraged to be themselves, be creative, and give their input?” Employees should be recognized for their contributions, Ogando says. Recognition for bringing something different to the table, such as perspective from a diverse group, can create a very empowering work culture.
On the other hand, organizations that don’t have inclusive work cultures tend to take steps backward in production and stagnate in terms of innovation.
“They have a higher turn-
A National Association of Colleges and Employers report
Diversity in the workplace is a great deal for employers who realize the intellectual, financial benefits of an inclusive work culture.
over rate because they have disgruntled employees who feel like they’re being overworked and overlooked, they are not being seen and heard, and they are not being promoted,” Ogando points out.
“These organizations create cultures in which employees are unhappy and morale is low. The organization is not being innovative because employees aren’t exchanging ideas. It is actually forcing people to leave.”
This impacts the bottom line in several ways. An inability to retain employees is costly as it requires resources for recruiting and training new employees.
In addition, the damage done by word of mouth by disgruntled ex-employees in the job market, in the marketplace, or on social media is immeasurable and difficult to contain.
Ogando says there are three main elements of creating an inclusive work culture, including:
Self-Analysis—If the organization is trying to be more inclusive, it must do a self-analysis of where it stands in this pursuit. “Are you merely checking off boxes when it comes to diversity and inclusion, or do you have a strategy in place through which you are changing the culture to be more inclusive?” Ogando asks. “It’s about becoming self-aware. It is a challenge for an organization to sit down and say it is lacking in its efforts and prog-
ress. However, that awareness will allow the organization to identify action steps and then take them.”
Education—What is true diversity and inclusion? “We think that diversity is just attracting a diverse pool and that it covers gender, race, and sexuality,” Ogando says. “This is not completely true because we forget the inclusion and equity components. We are hiring diverse people, but are
we really being inclusive? Do we welcome people who have disabilities? Are we hiring people who land on spots all along the spectrum? Are we making them feel included? A lot of companies are falling short when it comes to hiring people with disabilities—especially those with hidden disabilities— because they don’t understand and address the scope of it.”
Training Programs—
Figure out what employees need so that they feel they are valuable contributors to the organization. Do not assume that you know what each group needs; ask them.
“Create training programs and initiatives that tackle diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Ogando recommends. “Create employee resource groups in which people feel like they are being heard and understood, and someone is being an advocate for them. Train them because it is not enough to just hire diverse talent and invest in them by committing to their development and promoting them into management positions and executive-level roles.”
“Creating an inclusive work culture is not a final point,” Ogando explains. “It is an ongoing process. Once the organization undertakes its self-analysis, education, and training, it needs to assess progress internally and benchmark externally to see where it stands toward its goals. Then it needs to update its education and training to maximize its efforts in this incredibly important area.”
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
BJC hopes to build bridges, help re-energize community as a Delmar DivINe tenant
As a tenant in the Delmar DivINe, BJC HealthCare will be helping to build a bridge. Not over a river or ravine, but across a divide that has long symbolized social and racial inequity in St. Louis.
Historically, Delmar Boulevard has been a dividing line between neighborhoods with a predominantly Black population and limited access to economic, educational and health resources, and predominantly white neighborhoods that are economically well-off and well-served.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louisarea non-profit and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable apartments.
The Delmar DivINe, like the tech-focused Cortex district to the south, is intended to foster collaboration and innovation among the tenant organizations, and, crucially, to make their services more accessible for community members. The development is designed to be a catalyst in the surrounding area –building community, ending inequities and connecting a divided St. Louis.
BJC plans to open the BJC Career and Community Hub Connection Center at the Delmar Divine in December, says Terrie Hart, BJC manager for workforce diversity. “The BJC Career space will be used for the community to explore BJC careers and apply for jobs,” Hart says.
and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable
homes.”
“We’ll have rooms for candidates to use for their virtual interviews, and we plan to hold career workshops like resume writing, how to apply for jobs and professional presence.” In addition, St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Raising St. Louis program will be utilizing the space as a “community hub” — the fourth such hub for the program.
“We utilize the hubs as a gathering space for community programming,” says Greta Todd, St. Louis Children’s Hospital executive director
for diversity, inclusion and community affairs. “We offer all kinds of classes and resources, such as mothers support groups, yoga, a father’s class, breastfeeding support, resume writing and fun events like Pancakes & Pajamas or Thanksgiving dinner. It is also a place that our parent educators or community health workers can meet with families if they are still building trust and are not yet invited into their
The space may also be used for video consults, eventually.
“We are looking forward to sharing the space with Career Connection, as jobs are often one of the top needs for the families we serve,” Todd says.
The Delmar DivINe and BJC’s involvement in the project was spearheaded by local philanthropist and Build-A-Bear founder Maxine Clark. Clark sits on the Barnes-
Jewish Hospital Board of Directors and its Nominating, Governance and Diversity Committee.
When Clark came upon the vacant Delmar site several years ago, she envisioned it as a place to locate organizations, businesses and residents who could help re-energize the area.
“The entire concept for BJC’s Career space was designed after Maxine pro-
posed that it is often difficult to navigate while on our campus for those seeking employment with BJC,” Hart says. “We pitched what we envisioned BJC occupancy could look like and we have been planning towards ever since.”
The Delmar DivINe was originally slated to open in December 2020, but construction was postponed by the pandemic.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louis-area non-profit
apartments.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreamline
Continued from page 1 the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce.
For the past eight years, A.T. Still University (ATSU) in partnership with Truman State University has offered a unique and innovative program aimed at addressing the urgent need for health professions to better reflect the populations they serve. The summer program, “Dreamline Pathways,” introduces high school students to health professions. Students who are interested in the profession spend a week on Truman State University’s campus in Kirksville, MO under the supervision of resident staff and student alumni. Students gain experience and make valuable long-term connections aimed at nurturing and supporting them and helping them enroll in medical schools.
In describing the summer program, Stephanie McGrew, assistant director of diversity and inclusion coordinator at A.T. Still University, said it provides “conversion experiences, internships and mentorships that allow students to get to know what possibilities are available in healthcare initiatives.”
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well. Research has shown, McGrew added, that students are influenced as to what profession they want to pursue at early ages: “Our goal is to get students at younger ages so they know what different health professions they can consider for their career. We created this program to encourage students, to help them and coach them so they can make it a reality.”
Students are recruited mostly from city schools. They must be recommended by a principal, counselor, or other
qualified school official to be a part of the summer program. Students are exposed to a variety of health professions, including osteopathic medicine, nursing, and allied health careers such as exercise science, audiology/speech pathology, athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, and nutrition.
The program was put on pause in 2020 due to the pandemic but 23 high schoolers attended this summer. As with national enrollment, applications for this year’s Dreamline
Pathways program increased, McGrew said. During the weeklong visit, students stay in dorms with roommates and experience full campus life including access to the dining hall, rec center and other campus facilities. Each day, students participate in a variety of scheduled activities with health care professionals, professors, and alumni students and engage in real life simulations where they attempt to address problems confronted by health care professionals.
Energizing Electrical Careers for more than
High school graduates wanting to enroll in medical school must not only have high GPA’s and a solid foundation in basic sciences, they also need letters of recommendation from peers, teachers, and mentors. Dreamline Pathways gives them the opportunity to establish relationships and internship opportunities with mentors.
ATSU seems to place special emphasis on “diversity education and inclusion.” Its websites states: “By valuing the contrast differences, we’ve
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well.
Photo by Wiley Price
become more reflective of the communities we serve. Our mission is centered on service. By serving our community partners, students, and employees, we are now a more culturally proficient organization.”
ATSU has received numerous awards for its diversity work, including the “2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED)” award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the only diversity and inclusion
publication in higher education. The pandemic has underscored disparities in the healthcare field as it relates to populations and professions. Because “marginalized populations,” have suffered the most from COVID-related infections and death, McGrew said: “It’s more important than ever to introduce young minds to career opportunities in healthcare.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
IF ONLY DISCRIMINATION HAD A VACCINATION.
former multicultural scholarship students, has returned to Maryville to work post-grad.
He’s a residence life coordinator, a position that’s more essential as the school strives to re-establish a sense of on-campus community.
Gray spent the last week feverishly preparing for student leader training, which begins in mid-August.
“We’re trying to create different programming and different initiatives to really get our students to get back to being involved,” he said. “I think last year we had a lot of students who kind of missed that.”
That doesn’t just mean social programming — pizza nights and so on, the sort of thing Gray says “people think res life usually does” — but also building a residential staff made up of students who will understand and respect the culture of others.
“We have passive and active programming that does pertain to diversity and inclusion work,” Gray said. One of the most basic elements of that work is cultivating a very diverse Resident Assistants [RAs] workforce.
“Oftentimes we have a lot of our RAs that are part of those underrepresented communities,” he said.
“Because we understand that representation matters.”
Many of those RAs are, in fact, part of the same multicultural scholarship program that brought Gray to Maryville. Another alumna, Chinyere Turner, is now the university’s program coordinator for diversity and inclusion.
“I see her as a big sister,” Gray said. And for both Turner and Gray, the multicultural scholars program — even in its early stages — was pivotal to their time at Maryville and helped make them want to come back during their postgraduate careers.
Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
Gray remembers the feeling of support from staffers and fellow students during his time as an undergraduate.
“When you’re a multicultural scholar, you automatically have that kind of support system from the diversity and inclusion office,” he said.
Though some moments were difficult, he said, having that system helped him get through it.
“When you do have those moments where you’re like, oh wow, does anyone know where
I’m coming from? You have those people who can definitely relate to where you’re coming from...especially when it comes to being at a predominantly white institution like Maryville is,” he said.
After Gray graduated from Maryville, he completed his postgraduate studies at Old Dominion University, then worked at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. The experience made Gray realize something special about Maryville. He said the
school administration’s willingness to listen to the concerns of minority students and work towards improving campus culture.
“I’ve worked at other universities...it’s not often you get that!” Gray said.
“So to actually get that out of the university that I’m an alum of, it makes you feel great, because it’s like, oh wow you actually weren’t all talk when I was a student, you actually want to do that.”
Many of the organizations
that were getting off the ground during Gray’s tenure as a student remain at Maryville — the Association of Black Collegians, for example, and the Latino Student Alliance.
“When we see that those organizations are still being successful in creating fantastic programs...it can help us with being like, I didn’t do this in vain,’ Gray said.
But the school is still working towards becoming a more deeply inclusive place.
Residence life, under the leadership of people like Gray and Turner, is a big part of that effort. They are trying to create gender-inclusive housing options on campus, and working closely with Maryville’s administration to do so.
“And the awesome part is that we have an administration...where they want to say okay, what can we do to make this possible, and how do we push this forward?”
Our perspective
Maryville’s Jonathan Gray, a residence life coordinator for the university speaks to students Wed. July 11, 2021 in Walker Hall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Transformation Through Inclusion
We believe quality healthcare should be both local and personal— because every community, and every individual, is unique. To fulfill our purpose of transforming the health of our communities, one person at a time, we rely on a dedicated team of employees whose diverse perspectives and experiences mirror those of the members we serve.
To learn more about how you can join us, visit jobs.centene.com.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
A Business Priority
AUGUST 19 – 25, 2021
Mapping inequities
Using geospatial
By Dana Rieck For STLMade
When Kemba Noel-London tells people she’s an athletic trainer who is working toward a doctoral degree, they’re surprised – most athletic trainers practice in the field rather than continuing on in school.
When she tells the people that as part of her Ph.D. program, she’s using geospatial data to assess inequities at the intersection of athletics and public health, they’re even more surprised. Geospatial data is most often associated with tech.
“Nobody really talks about applying geographic information systems to sports and to sports medicine,” laughs Noel-London. “That is not the first thing people think when they think GIS (geospatial information system).”
n Using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
But using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
“I think applying that spatial context brings a different flavor to the conversation of equity,” Noel-London says.
”And I think also incorporating athletic trainers into that conversation when we’re talking about sports is something that I’m trying to do very intentionally so that when we’re talking about sports and access to sports, we’re also talking about that this needs to be safe, so we need to talk about access to athletic trainers too.” As a former national athlete for Trinidad and Tobago who tore her ACL at the age of 17, Noel-London knows personally how sports-related injuries can affect all aspects of someone’s health, and how important rehabilitation is. The negative experience she had with her ACL injury and rehab drove her to become an athletic trainer so she could help others have better care. After graduating with her master’s degree in athletic training from Saint Louis University, she worked at the University of South Carolina for a year before heading back home to her native Trinidad – and then hopped on a plane to Scotland three days later, to accompany the national youth
See MAPPING, page 32
Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) brings diversity to the Design and Construction industry by mentoring and exposing minority/underrepresented and under employed men and women to career development in construction. We are working to build the foundation for change.
As a SLU student, Kemba Noel-London had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region.
Photo by Michael Thomas
We need you, a lot .
We thrive best when we’re surrounded by people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and identities. And when we thrive, our communities do, too.
You can’t make chicken noodle soup with just chicken, or cookies with only chocolate chips. The Save A Lot team is the same way—a handful of diverse ingredients that come together to be something greater than we could ever be alone. We can’t be our best selves without you here, bringing everything that makes you special. We need you a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
CCDI, St. Louis Job Corps connecting minorities to construction career paths
By Clayco
At 20 years old, Shutaun Williams is one of the first St. Louis Job Corps graduates to participate in the Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) program, a nonprofit founded by Clayco in 2015 that provides career development opportunities to minority men and women who are underrepresented in the construction industry.
After completing St. Louis Job Corps’ Facilities Maintenance Pre-Apprentice training program in March of 2020, Shutaun had a difficult time finding work during the pandemic. Through his instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, Shutaun was connected with CCDI to assist with career placement and help to secure reliable transportation. Clayco subsidiary Concrete Strategies hired Shutuan full-time as a first-year apprentice carpenter this past January.
“I got involved with Job Corps because after coming home from living with my dad out of town, I didn’t want to just not do anything, so I decided to check out the program because I heard a lot of good things about Job Corps,” said Shutuan.
“My experience there was good and the best thing about the program is that it’s free. My instructor, Mr. Roosevelt Robinson, helped other students and me by always pushing us to do better and keep us on track. Making sure we got there on time, finishing what we started, and staying focused. Also, he opened my eyes to what I could receive as a reward by working hard and staying focused.” Through the CCDI men-
toring program, students are matched with an industry professional to help guide and support them from high school through career placement. In Shutuan’s case, the mentor was
a part of St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a vocational instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, you are more than just an instructor—you are a counselor, mentor, and role model,” said
Roosevelt Robinson, a Home Builders Institute instructor within St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a former student [of St. Louis Job Corps], I am also a success story. As an instruc-
In your Community, and in your Corner
tor you must be patient and willing to help and learn from people from different parts and walks of life. This job takes passion and with passion you can tell what the best solution is for the students.”
CCDI’s new partnership with St. Louis Job Corps will create another strong and diverse pipeline of talent to help fill a growing labor shortage in the construction industry. St. Louis Job Corps has 15 Career Technical Training Programs and six are in the construction trades. The program also draws students from St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County; most Job Corps participants hail from St. Louis City and north St. Louis County, the areas of CCDI’s focus.
Dr. Dave Baker, a longtime advocate of CCDI and partner at North Technical High School in Special School District, took a new part-time position this year at St. Louis Job Corps. “CCDI has become integral in the northern portion of the St. Louis region in regard to ensuring a diverse and competent workforce for the construction industry,” said Dr. Baker. “CCDI has taken on the task of connecting young men and women interested in the field of construction to the companies who will mentor and eventually hire them.
Young people need more validation of their hard work and good decisions; CCDI and its partners are providing that validation.”
CCDI hopes to continue to build productive partnerships with educational institutions, contractors, subcontractors and nonprofits with aligned missions. Together, these partnerships strive to create more success stories for young people like Shutaun who make up our future workforce and are the backbone of our great city. This article was provided by Clayco.
AARP St. Louis is creating real, meaningful change. We’re proud to help all our communities become the best they can be. Like providing family caregivers with tips to take care of loved ones, helping to make our communities more livable and virtually hosting fun, informative events.
AARP is in your community, and in your corner. Get to know us at aarp.org/stlouis /aarpmissouri @aarpmissouri
Clayco founded its nonprofit Construction Career Development Initiative program in 2015 and it continues to provide career development opportunities to minority men and women. Its mentoring program matches students with industry professionals to help guide and support them from high school through career placement.
Photo courtesy of Clayco
By MoDot
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS) program.
After spending 16 years in federal prison, Cotton was granted clemency by President Obama. He enrolled in Save Our Sons for a fresh start. And, after completing the program, he participated in SOS/ MoDOT career fair and on-thespot interview and impressed human resources and maintenance representatives. He interviewed for a seasonal position but was offered a full-time job with MoDOT in the Maintenance division. He currently works in the Signing and Striping department.
Never missing a day at work, Cotton contributes his success to a great support system, including his supervisors, James Henson and Mike Love, MoDOT, and SOS.
“From the very first day Johnnie came to work for MoDOT, he was eager to learn and had a great attitude,” says Mike Love, Signing and Striping Supervisor at MoDOT. “He is always wanting to learn new tasks, and he has a great attitude and work ethic. He does a great job for us.”
Tydrell Stevens, Director of SOS, speaks highly of Johnnie Cotton and how he has given back to his community. “He has been back several times to speak with other men at Save Our Sons about the diligence needed to move forward in life. He has also spoken with the Regional Business Council members about what Save Our Sons and MoDOT has done to change his life,” Stevens goes on to say.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Road to the future Hard work, dedication spurs life U-turn
So often, ex-felons or either overlooked or are considered too great a risk for employment. Because of this and other preconceived notions, companies fail to realize the potential in these individuals. The Missouri Department of Transportation looks for qualities each individual has and judges them on their character and potential for success. Today, Cotton has the opportunity to receive
development training through the Maintenance Leadership Academy for career advancement and a potential leadership position with MoDOT.
“MoDOT gave me the chance to get my CDL Class B license and sent me to St. Louis Community College, and I am working on my Class A right now,” says Cotton. With a full-time position, benefits, and a pension plan, this father of four has his whole
life to look forward to. Cotton goes on to say,
“Working for MoDOT for 19 months, I have had the chance to find God in my life, my fiancé, looking for my first house, and having a stable life; something I can call mine. In just over three years, I will be vested with MODOT, and I will receive a check the rest of my life when I do retire. Hard work pays off when you have help behind you. It’s
up to you to prove yourself and work hard at whatever you do. Never give up when you have so many people helping you. Thanks to MODOT and the Urban League, I will never give up. I plan on going as far as I can.”
Johnnie Cotton was also featured in the Enterprise Bank & Trust’s 2020 Community Impact Report: https://www. enterprisebank.com/impact.
MoDOT supports equality
program.
and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, or disability. Anyone interested in applying for a position, visit our website: https://www.modot. org/careers For more information, please contact Shirlyn Myles at (314) 453-1811 or shirlyn.myles@ modot.mo.gov.
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS)
By Ymani Wince Of STLMade
Black people who hike
New hiker encourages other Blacks to find peace and purpose in parks and on trails throughout the region
Since March 2020, many people across the St. Louis metropolitan area have found solace in nature. Whether that meant flocking to historic St. Louis fixtures such as Forest Park or venturing further out to destinations like Don Robinson State Park, Missouri saw a rapid increase in its residents stepping into the outdoors.
And for good reason. The transition of working in-person to at-home was a culture shock for most Americans. Keeping children entertained and educated was a struggle for parents. And the usual destinations for escaping and socializing, from movie theatres to restaurants, were no longer options. So with stay-at home orders in effect during the spring of 2020, everyone was eager to just get out — for exercise, fresh air and a change of scenery. And for two local hikers, they found more than they expected on the trails.
One of them, Debbie Njai, stepped into the world of hiking for the first time shortly before the life-altering events of March 2020. “I went on my first hike in August of 2019,” Njai says. “I was going through a lot personally, and hiking was something always in the back of my mind that I wanted to start, but I didn’t really know how to get started.”
With the help of a good friend who had outdoor experience, Njai says she was encouraged to go on her first hike at Castlewood State
Park in Ballwin. While the trail was a brief 1.7 miles, Njai remembers feeling like the hike was exactly what she needed. The beauty of the park provided therapy, and so Njai began hiking every Sunday for the next 40 weeks.
“When I was hiking, I noticed a couple of things,” Njai says. “I didn’t see anybody else on the trail that looked like me. I was so in love with hiking, and I was
trying to share it with people that I knew and looked like me.” The other thing that she noticed was that her invitations to family and friends to join her were not met with enthusiasm. That’s when Njai realized hiking was a need for the community, not just her own network. The group Black People Who Hike was born. Historically, Black people have been excluded from the conversation and
representation of people who enjoy the outdoors. People of color were not allowed equally into the National Park system until the 1950s. During that time, the National Park System had no regulations of its own regarding segregation in its parks. Instead, it abided by local laws and regulations of the states parks were in. In Northern states where segregation was not enforced, there were no
segregation facilities on park grounds. But in states that were formerly part of the Confederacy, segregation was enforced. Of those 11 states, Missouri was included. Even if Black Americans were allowed inside national parks, there was no guarantee of safety, especially during the Jim Crow era.
“This doesn’t apply to all people of color, but Black people typically have this fear of spending time outside,” Njai says. “Majority of the parks that we visit are in rural areas where it may be unsafe to travel, or be out there alone, so that does limit our access.”
Providing the space and encouragement for Black people to begin hiking starts with community, Njai says.
She believes having a group of people that represent one another creates a feeling of safety and trust. People have come to hike with Njai’s group and have realized that trails further away from the city can become a barrier. She says people tell her they’d never try hiking if they had to go it alone.
“In Missouri, 87 percent of Black people live in nature-deprived areas. So when you talk about access, it starts with where you live,” Njai says. To combat this, Njai recommends the AllTrails app, where users can see parks and trails in their area and beyond, as well as locate groups such as Black People Who Hike.
“Try a short trail to start with, and then look on the app to find something super scenic,” she says. “Maybe
it has a waterfall or nice overlook. And then, just create everlasting memories.”
Creating Black People Who Hike was a simple venture for Debbie Njai to find other Black people who enjoyed the outdoors like her. But the movement has created something much larger than a local group. With nearly 30,000 Instagram followers, Black People Who Hike has evolved into a movement around the world. The group has expanded to include any and every outdoor activity, including kayaking, swimming, running, visiting pyramids in Egypt, and more. The platform began with three followers. But each week, more people joined at a consistent rate for almost a year. When stay-at-home orders were announced, Njai made the pivot to virtual hiking sessions, eventually creating Black Hikers Week online, which included weeklong virtual events on Instagram. That was the moment that the page’s presence exploded, adding nearly 10,000 followers in one week.
But for Debbie Njai, the community she’s built was not about gaining followers. It started with a search for self and a need for calm in the chaos. “I feel happy. I feel calm and at peace,” she says. “Hiking allowed me to find myself, and unapologetically be myself and walk in my purpose. I know that what I’m doing is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Melissa Powell, LaShaye Giles and Debbie Njai take a break during a hike.
Photo by Michael Thomas
Let’s make a difference together
Join us at Norwood Hills Country Club Sept. 10–12
Friends and neighbors —
Ascension and the Ascension Charity Classic, presented by Emerson, are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion — today and always. When professional golf returns to St. Louis in September, our goal is to bring economic growth, charitable investment, and greater opportunities to north St. Louis County through support of our official tournament charities — Marygrove, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Alonzo Byrd Director of Business Development and Community Engagement, Ascension Charity Classic
SLU African American Studies program gains full departmental status
By Sophie Hurwitz of the St. Louis American
The African American Studies program at St. Louis University has been around in some capacity since the early 1970s.
It was only in 2021, however, that the program was made into a full academic department—thanks both to student and professor advocacy, and to the social movements that swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd.
“I think this moment speaks to the seriousness of the University’s approach toward intellectual production of the African diaspora and will help our faculty and students contribute to the intellectual and social aspects of Saint Louis University,” said the program’s director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., who will become the new department’s first chair. In an interview with the American, Tinson described the 40-year path the program has taken to department status. The program is small, but mighty: it includes four tenured professors and cross-lists courses with professors from 9 other departments. One of those four “core” professors, Vice President of Diversity and Community Engagement Jonathan Smith, passed away on Juneteenth. Smith commented on the program’s new designation in early June: “I have had the great fortune to work for every chair and director of African American Studies at Saint Louis University,” Smith said.
“I am humbled. And I honor and respect and love the work that each of them did to bring this department into the current moment.”
The change from “program” to “department,” which might seem only nominal outside academic circles, means big things for African American Studies at SLU: the department now has control over more of their own hiring, can tenure more Professors, and can exert more impact over the curriculum at the University as a whole.
While the George Floyd protests are what pushed the university to finally bestow departmental status on the African American Studies program, the program has been at the center of social change and advocacy efforts there since at least 2014. During the Ferguson uprising, SLU students and professors could be found in the streets, and brought their protest to their home campus, too.
“Our students started looking at the universities,” Tinson said. “They always do. They say, I’m a student here, what are we doing? That’s always the energy that happens.” In 2014 and 2015, this led to the well-known “Clocktower Accords”: an occupation of SLU’s campus by massive numbers of students, which pushed the University to further its commitments to diversity and inclusion. One of those commitments, Tinson pointed out, was to direct more funding into African American studies. The accords do not mention departmentalization specifically, because, Tinson said, “community members, they didn’t really know to ask for something like that. But they identify African American Studies as part of the transformation that the university should embrace to bring us more into the center of the campus, rather than the periphery.”
Tinson came to SLU as a full time faculty member in 2018, at a time in which he said the activist energy on campus seemed to have hit a lull: in the aftermath of the Ferguson and Stockley protests in 2014-15 and 2017, students and community members were tired. “You guys had already gone through the fever pitch of Mike Brown, the Stockley trial…and when I got here, I kind of expected that same kind of energy,” he said. That energy emerged, though, in the summer of 2020, as protests proliferated across the United States and the globe.
Now, Tinson said, the program will be able to expand its offerings—and will be able to reiterate to its students that African American studies is, indeed, “not peripheral” but is a crucial field of study.
“When you’re seen as a legitimate intellectual enterprise with a move like this, it lets the students really have faith in what they’re studying in your class, rather than them thinking that this is just an optional view,” he said. Now, the department’s classes on subjects ranging from African diasporic literature to afrofuturism to the global influence of Black culture to the prison-industrial complex to African American psychology will be offered as a part of a framework that allows this field of study to take a central place within the university.
“It also affords us the opportunity to play a more active role in the educational needs of the greater St. Louis region,” Tinson said, “partnering with local schools and colleges, and delivering region-wide programming that extends beyond our campus for years and decades to come.”
“I think…we caught ourselves in a moment where we couldn’t turn away. Many of our students and faculty were participants in many of the movements, the efforts to call attention to things like police brutality. Close the Workhouse, locally, but also nationwide, just the attention on police brutality,” Tinson said. And in that atmosphere, the already-written proposal for the departmentalization of African American studies was passed unanimously. I got a lot of good questions, but I didn’t get any pushback, and I didn’t get any stubbornness or unwillingness to engage,” Tinson said of the university’s administration. “They were ready to listen. We got unanimous support from the trustees. But I think it wouldn’t have been as accelerated were it not for Minneapolis.”
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Mapping
Continued from page 25
netball team. It was a full-circle moment for her work with young national athletes. But even as an athletic trainer, she felt she wasn’t doing enough to better the health care system as it relates to youth sports.
“I realized there were skills that I did not have to answer the questions I had,” NoelLondon says. “And the best framework I thought to do it was through public health because it was representative of things that were going on in the wider health care system.”
As a SLU student, she had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region. For her doctoral research, she wanted to see if that was in fact true, and if so, what factors contributed to it.
“To explain how I use geospatial, I say that everything within American society is not an accident,” Noel-London says. “There have been systems and policies in place that have shaped the way that the society looks, and in St. Louis, the way that the city and county are made up.”
The idea of using geospatial data came from one of her professors at SLU, Enbal Shacham, Ph.D., who has used geospatial data in health care research in a number of areas including tracking the spread of COVID-19. Noel-London used GIS to map out the variety of sports available in the region’s school districts.
“I created something called the Sport Diversity Index, which is looking at the variety of sports that are available to different school districts,” Noel-London said.
She examined the funding of various schools and districts and compared that to the proportion of rent-occupied housing as a proxy for state and local tax contributions. NoelLondon hypothesized that in school districts located in areas
that are majority rent-occupied, there would be a lower number of sports programs and sports medicine that were offered because of the smaller amount of property tax collected.
“And it was disheartening to be right — it was one of those times where I really wanted to be wrong,” she said.
While Noel-London used GIS to conduct data and analysis to provide insight into the local youth sports scene, she also has years of experience,
having worked closely with the students as both an athletic trainer and head of the Athletic Training Club at Roosevelt High School.
She says her experience with those students is why she researches these societal inadequacies and pushes for a more equal shift in athletic resource distribution. A particularly impactful experience she had as an athletic trainer was with a student who wanted to play basketball in December, but
came to her with an arm that he had broken months ago – but was still wearing in a sling, and hadn’t received rehab for his injury.
“His arm was locked at 90 degrees because there was miscommunication between him going to therapy at the hospital and then his mom was also working multiple jobs. The time they scheduled therapy didn’t work for her, so then he just didn’t do therapy at all,” she said.
She was able to help him recover in time for the basketball season.
“That experience for me was like this is why I do this, this is why I think it’s important to examine things like schoolbased health centers and how we can place athletic trainers within them to increase access in a really cool and interesting novel way that is designed for public health,” she said. Roosevelt High School also houses Nahed Chapman New
American Academy, which helps immigrant and refugee children adjust to St. Louis before enrolling in mainstream school. As head of the athletic training club at Roosevelt, Noel-London also worked with many refugee students from Nahed Chapman, kids she believes she was able to connect with on a deeper level even though the way she came to St. Louis was very different than the student refugees’ experience.
“I think it’s very reassuring when you walk into a place and somebody looks like you but also sounds different to everybody else,” she said. “There’s a certain camaraderie — and I experience it as well.” She’s glad to be able to help these students when they’re injured.
“To come here and now, you sprain your ankle, but you have somebody who’s there to actually take care of you and help you get back to playing soccer a lot faster is such a great and comforting thing to have in a space and a country that is kind of always telling you that you don’t belong. For me, as an immigrant and an international student, that was a new layer of this profession and working in that space that was also really fulfilling.” After using geospatial technology in her public health research, Noel-London sees geospatial data as a natural part of her future work in public health.
“To think that our profession, and the things that I do, are not impacted by space, would be me willfully ignoring a whole history and ignoring all of the other research that suggests that public health is influenced by space and context,” said Noel-London. “I think using GIS, we can help figure out some problems, figure out some patterns, but would also help solve them, too.”
Dana Rieck wrote this piece as a freelancer for STLMade before joining The St. Louis American as a full time news reporter.
THOMPSON COBURN PROUDLY SUPPORTS DIVERSITY AND THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN BUSINESS IMPERATIVE
Kemba Noel-London works with members of the Roosevelt High School Athletic Training Club.
Photo by Amelia Flood, courtesy of Saint Louis University
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
BioSTL: Building an equitable and wholly-inclusive innovation ecosystem
By BioSTL
For more than a decade, BioSTL has been working to address the inequities in bioscience and innovation in the St. Louis region, and the work has only progressed as the racial uprising across the country in 2019 demanded a renewed effort to address systems of inequities.
BioSTL began building a holistic ecosystem approach starting in 2008, bringing together 81 leaders and practitioners from organizations throughout the community with a goal to increase diversity in the biosciences. Over the years, the non-profit dedicated to building St. Louis’ innovation economy, has continued to learn, build partnerships, and further build on its mission of economic growth in a way that increases equity and reduces economic disparities with new trainings and supports.
For the entire ecosystem to thrive, there must be a systems approach supporting youth and families, as today’s youth will be tomorrow’s innovators. And, for the entire bioscience and innovation ecosystem to be wholly-inclusive and provide an opportunity for all to succeed, BioSTL continues to provide new support through
its ecosystem initiatives:
• BioSTL Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy works to empower underrepresented talent throughout the entrepreneur lifecycle.
A key pillar of support is training, providing business concepts, skills development and personalized advising to entrepreneurs to further develop and scale their business.
As a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Heartland Challenge grantee, BioSTL has funding to launch a new training program to help address the systemic challenges entrepreneurs face. The new training program will focus on providing mentorship, training, and access to capital for Black, Latinx, women, and foreignborn small business owners and entrepreneurs with early-stage businesses focused on health and wellness, plant and ag science, or food and nutrition. BioSTL will welcome a local minority serial entrepreneur, who will develop and launch this new training program.
glaring gap in the amount of minority founders supported,” said BioSTL Program Manager Lindsey Harrison. “I am excited to launch a new program that will specifically support underrepresented entrepreneurs in STEM. We will also help meet one of the largest challenges facing minority-led startups and provide access to capital to support their business development.”
learning opportunities for St. Louis PreK-12 students. With this valuable tool, navigating the world of extracurricular STEM learning just got easier for families to locate specific STEM programs that are the perfect fit for their kids. The portal is available at blueprint4. com/stem.
Bioscience Workforce
Collaborative to transform St. Louis’ talent into a strength of the region for the bioscience ecosystem. The Workforce Collaborative will focus on four initiatives:
• Bioscience Skills Match Framework Investment
• Career Fund • Skills-based Hiring Framework
• Workforce Policy Advocacy Network
platform.”
“BioSTL has successfully supported bioscience founders for decades, but there is a
• STEMSTL is a collaborative consortium committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM learning and employment opportunities for all learners in the St. Louis Metro region. To help reach its mission to collectively develop and deploy quality systems-level changes that will advance STEM learning and career opportunities, in July 2021, STEMSTL launched Blueprint4STEM. It is a free, easy-to-use search tool that connects St. Louis area families to out-of-school-time STEM
“By aggregating the STEM programs in one database, we identify STEM gaps that exist throughout the region,” said Kate Polokonis, Interim Executive Director, STEMSTL. “Armed with this information, STEMSTL, as the ecosystem backbone, is positioned to help drive funding and partnerships that will eliminate gaps in informal STEM learning, in an effort to build a system in which all students, regardless of race, geography, or socio-economic status have access to high-quality extracurricular STEM programs.”
• BioSTL’s Workforce Strategy is launching the
“Understanding that diverse and inclusive teams are critical to the future of the bioscience sector, BioSTL is building a bioscience workforce collaborative to foster equitable talent development and deployment efforts through partnerships between academic and training institutions, community organizations, and industry employers,” said Justin Raymundo, Manager of Regional Workforce Strategy, BioSTL. “Through these multi-stakeholder partnerships, community leaders will help build critical infrastructure for an industry-responsive and industry-accountable workforce development
• St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective is a cross-sector regional collaborative supporting advocacy, equitable capacity building, and access to resources to improve the journey of entrepreneurship for women and Black and Brown entrepreneurs. The Collective has conducted community engagement of focus groups and 1:1 conversations to guide the development of a new initiative that will focus on removal of structural barriers, increased access, and creating new pathways through practices and policies designed to remove systemic factors causing inequities in the number of new businesses starts, business ownership, and economic outcomes in St. Louis.
BioSTL continues to lead this work knowing that there is no real systems change without engaged community partners and continued learning and development. We all must be open and willing to move past what was and what is and embrace change – creating an ecosystem where all have the opportunity to learn, innovate, and succeed.
Mizzou biz school announces inclusion, diversity and equity director
By Casey Baker Trulaske School of Business
Trulaske School of Business Dean Ajay Vinzé recently announced the hire of Erika Aaron as the inaugural director of inclusion, diversity and equity at Trulaske, at the University of MissouriColumbia. Previously, Aaron was a faculty recruitment specialist with the MU Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity.
At Trulaske, Aaron will be a strategic leader in bringing best practices in inclusive
excellence to all areas of the Trulaske College of Business. In her new role, she will develop, manage and support initiatives that promote a diverse and inclusive community in the college; provide
Aaron
training and programs to support the needs of faculty, staff and students; and offer recommendations for innovative best practices in the IDE area to all college constituents.
Aaron brings a rich career history to this new role. Before joining the university, she was a global marketing and communications consultant with Community Consent; corporate director of community engagement and communications for Waste
Management in Atlanta: associate manager of national consumer marketing programs for Coca-Cola in Atlanta; and marketing manager in the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network Division at Motorola in Schaumburg, Ill.
Kate Polokonis
Lindsey Harrison
Justin Raymundo
Erika
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
-MLK
At Dierbergs, we believe that getting to know someone’s story is the first step to building an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong.
Together, we can make an impact.
Lindenwood launching ‘Diversify the Pride’ major initiative
By Lindenwood
Located in the heart of St. Charles, Lindenwood University has a rich history of connection to the community. With a focus on the future and enthusiasm for disruptive innovation, Lindenwood strives to be a leader in the higher education ecosystem and intentionally differentiates itself from competitors.
Recognized by Colleges of Distinction for commitment to equity and inclusion, the University has intentionally selected diversity as a vital component of the school’s forward trajectory. As part of Lindenwood’s new five-year strategic plan set to be unveiled this fall, the University has named Diversify the Pride as one of six strategic initiatives and continues to transform the traditional model of higher education.
Diversify the Pride is led by Senior Vice President of Human Resources Dr. Deb Ayres and Dr. Shenika Harris, associate professor of Spanish and teaching and learning specialist for the Lindenwood Learning Academy. As a campus-wide initiative, the committee’s work focuses on ensuring that Lindenwood is an attractive place to work and to learn for all people. The committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges. These characteristics make each individual unique and deserving of respect, acceptance, engagement, and inclusion in all that Lindenwood offers.
The first two initiatives
launched by the Diversify the Pride committee focus on expanding the diversity of applicants for Lindenwood employment opportunities across campus and enhancing the culture of teaching and learning. The R.I.S.E. Project, created by Lindenwood Learning Academy’s Director of Faculty Development, Dr. Kristen Norwood, aims to provide faculty with the knowledge and tools they need to elevate learning for a diverse student body.
Through the R.I.S.E. Project, Lindenwood will establish a shared framework for effective teaching and provide faculty development focused on improving rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement in course design and instruction. The project launched to faculty at the start of the fall semester, and included a keynote address by Dr. Saundra McGuire, author of “Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student
Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation.” As an educational institution, Lindenwood utilizes its classrooms as a platform to embrace diversity. The R.I.S.E. Project provides faculty with tools and resources to create an effective learning environment for all students regardless of their identities, backgrounds, levels of preparedness, or abilities. Examining four aspects – rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement, the R.I.S.E. Project better
The Diversify the Pride committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges.
enables faculty as advocates for diversity. Resources, workshops, and roundtable discussions engage professors in meaningful conversations to share best practices across campus. Additionally, each academic college has named a R.I.S.E. scholar who will champion these efforts in their respective programs.
Outside of the classroom, Lindenwood expanded resources for the campus community to explore their understandings of diversity,
equity, and inclusion. In March 2021, Lindenwood hosted its inaugural Day of Dialogue. Students, and employees examined their individual and institutional roles in creating a shared community during this virtual campus-wide event. Participants engaged in small group discussions exploring ableism, ageism, race, scholarly engagement, and university processes and procedures. Dr. Claude Steele served as the keynote speaker, and Mrs. Emily Pitts closed the day with an enthusiastic call to action that resonated with participants. Pitts profoundly impacted the Lindenwood community and established herself as an ideal candidate for Lindenwood’s Chief Diversity Officer, a position she began in July 2021. Pitts joins a community dedicated to advancing the campus and transforming the University into a more diverse and inclusive place for all. Aligning with work started by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce comprised of students and employees, Pitts will work closely with the group as planning for the second Day of Dialogue begins. Lindenwood University, founded in 1827, is an independent university offering more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in diverse areas of study and traditional and accelerated formats, including online. Lindenwood is dedicated to providing real experiences, promoting academic excellence, optimizing resources, and delivering a high-quality experience with the goal of successful student experience leading to a lifetime success.
Webster U. online course helps educators cope with COVID-19, racial challenges
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
Of The St. Louis American
Sometimes, out of chaos comes creativity.
Such is the case for two Webster University professors, Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren. The professors have launched an eight-week online course for K-12 educators, called “Social Justice and Inclusive Learning.”
Its goal, according to Webster University, is to give teachers the opportunities and tools to meaningfully “address systemic, personal and societal influences that impact culturally proficient instruction.”
The idea for the course, according to co-designers and co-instructors, Flewellen and Warren, came to them after the spread of the Coronavirus and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policemen last year.
“We were thinking in terms of how Webster can show up once again and lead critical conversations that are needed at a time when we’re faced with some serious racial reckoning,” Flewellen explained.
“We wanted to figure out what we can do, not only for the internal community at Webster but the entire St. Louis region as well.”
Combined, Warren and Flewellen have worked in the arena of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for more than 30 years. Among their various roles in the field, Flewellen serves as chief diversity officer at Webster University and Warren is an adjunct professor and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Belleville Township High School District 201. Both knew that long-term
University professors
damage to Black youth whose communities were hit especially hard by COVID-19 and police violence needed to be addressed. Also, educators should be better prepared to recognize, understand and tackle the racial trauma that disproportionately impacts students of color.
When designing the program, no one could definitively predict when the COVID19 pandemic would end. Therefore, their priority was to craft an online course that
enabled educators to be safe, while learning the tools and responses needed to address issues of diversity and inclusion in the classroom.
The three-credit-hour, eightweek course, is designed for educators seeking their undergraduate or graduate degrees.
“We ask the students (teachers) to tap into themselves first,” Warren explained.
“They need to understand their own cultural biography before they aim to understand the cultural situations or make-
to say or what to do. We want teachers to have an open heart and open mind when they’re approaching students to help them see diversity as an asset and not a deficit.”
The professors note that “diversity, inclusion and equity” have been industry buzzwords in recent years.
Several organizations, businesses, schools and universities have hired “diversity officers” to help navigate the complex world of equity and inclusion. It’s a positive step, Flewellen stressed, but not enough to meet the damaging and fluctuating racial challenges teachers face in today’s classrooms:
“Some organizations hire people of color simply because they’re people of color,” Flewellen said.
“I’ve been doing this work for 20 years and it’s not just because I’m a Black, gay man that I’m able to check the ‘I’m able to do this’ box. My partner is responsible for human resources and DEI training for school districts. Professor Warren and I are educators. We’ve been in this lane for years working within educational settings not in corporate spaces; two entirely different lanes.”
up of their classes. We ask them to do their own cultural reflections first.
“It’s an inside/out approach; If you don’t do this work first then you can’t be effective in facilitating a welcoming respectful environment for students.”
Activities are designed to “push reflection and guide teachers to be better prepared to facilitate conversations,” Flewellen added.
“We didn’t necessarily set out to have a toolkit of what
The professors emphasize that the course was not just designed for white educators who teach students of color.
“Black educators have to deal with the trauma of race, too,” Warren explained. “So, to have to teach it can be burdensome to some.”
“We all have ‘stuff,’ even Black folk,” Flewellen added.
“Internalized racism is so deep and so systemic that it even impacts the way black folk view black and other people of color. We are part of a larger society that’s fed the
same messages that our white peers are fed and sometimes it may seep into our inner, deepest thoughts and we are unaware of how or when they may play out.”
Ironically, the online course has been introduced in a chaotic political and social environment. There’s widespread pushback against the idea that racism is a social construct embedded in legal, business and educational systems and policies. This hotly debated hypothesis has been loosely defined as “critical race theory” and legislatures, mostly conservative, are drafting bills seeking to ban its use in classrooms.
“This only further underscores the need for these conversations,” Flewellen countered. “This type of thinking emphasizes the need for roles like mine across the board of institutions, particularly academic institutions.”
Although the course was designed to be implemented in a world impacted by the coronavirus, Warren and Flewellen believe it will be relevant and useful in a post-COVID world as well.
“Even when this global pandemic ends, one thing we know for sure is that the other pandemic is not going away anytime soon,” Flewellen said.
“The need for this course is obviously more important than ever. It’s being offered at a time when everybody wants to figure out what they can do.
“We’re simply telling educators you can become more culturally proficient in your delivery of instructions by enrolling in this course.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
Webster
Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Fellowship advances a generation of museum leaders
By Renee Franklin Chief Diversity Officer
Saint Louis Art Museum
Much of today’s discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion within museums and cultural institutions focuses on offering one-off programs and events rather than examining organizational structures. If museums indeed want to be welcoming and inclusive institutions reflective of all Americans, they must make systemic changes through intentional commitments all levels. That’s why the Saint Louis Art Museum is focusing its diversity efforts on staffing and leadership. Increasing the number of people of color working in professional positions influences critical operational decisions at museums, from the art on the walls and programming to community collaborations and board representation.
The underrepresentation of people of color in leadership or professional roles in museums is not news to those working in the museum and cultural arts fields. However, over the past several years, organizations like the Alliance of American Museums and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have provided quantitative data that all point to the same thing: more museums must have the will to change and become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.
To meet the goal of advancing truly transformative inclusion, in 1992, the Art Museum established the annual Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship. Nearly 30 years later, it is among the earliest and longest-lasting efforts in
the art museum field to focus on increasing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Named to honor African American artist Romare Bearden (1911–1988), the Fellowship prepares outstanding museum professionals from historically underrepresented groups—particularly people of color—to work in and lead the field.
The paid, fully benefited Fellowship aims to develop fellows’ skills, networks, and expertise to advance them into art or cultural careers of their choice. All fellows receive individualized mentoring and training in functional areas throughout the Museum from senior museum staff, fostering confidence-building critical to entry-level museum professionals.
Today, 90 percent of Bearden Fellows are working in prominent positions across the arts and cultural field, with program alumni holding a range of leadership positions in the art world as curators, educators, and development directors at prestigious museums and universities, includes the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the University of Texas at Austin, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, among many others. The Bearden Fellowship began with the wish of philanthropists Adelaide and Daniel Schlafly to create opportunities for African Americans. The Schlaflys wanted to ensure that early-career professionals who were underrepresented in the art museum field had an opportunity to gain work experience that would position them to pursue profession-
al positions in art museums nationally. Together the Art Museum and Schlafys were innovative, forward thinking and intentional in trying to do their part in leveling the playing field through the Bearden Fellowship.
Continuous funding was one significant contributing factor to the Bearden Fellowship being one of the oldest museum Fellowship programs. Mr. and Mrs.
MoDOT supports equality and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions alone without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin or disability.
community an innovative approach to developing their resources to successfully bid on federally funded highway projects. For more information visit: www.modot.org/ecr
Schafly anomalously funded the program 100 percent for the first four years, after which funding has been funded from a restricted fund from the Schaflys and supplemented by the Museum. In 2020, the Museum received a generous gift from the Frost family to establish a Romare Bearden Graduate Fellowship Endowment and is offering a challenge to match up to an additional $100,000 in contri-
butions from others received through December 31, 2021. Until the Fellowship is fully endowed the Museum will continue its funding.
Three decades later, the Bearden Fellowship continues to meet the needs of emerging museums professionals, and this month the Fellowship will see yet another transformation as we welcome our incoming Fellows. The Fellowship will expand from a one-year
• The minimum requirements for certification in the DBE program ar e:
training program to a two-year training program. A new fellow will begin work each year, which will allow first-year fellows to work closely with those completing their second year of the program. The Art Museum is gratified by the impact the Bearden Fellowship has had on the field, and recently shared its experiences through a case study available at the museum’s website, www.slam.org. The document, which was developed with support from the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI), funded by the Ford Foundation and Walton Family Foundation, provides guidance to museums and other organizations that seek to create new, or to refine existing, fellowships that lead to greater diversity in the field. When museum staffing better reflects the changing demographics of America, so too will the art collections, programming, membership, volunteers, and stakeholders. A diverse staff contributes to the welcoming and inclusive culture that museums desire as they cultivate new audiences, search for ways to remain relevant to future generations, and increase revenue. The Bearden Fellowship was initiated to advance the hiring and training individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds for museum work. Bearden Fellows, without exception, credit the Fellowship as being seminal in refining their career goals and most importantly, enabling them to envision themselves as museum professionals. Each Bearden Fellow working at an institution is another opportunity for a community’s story to be shared.
• The for-profit business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) who has a personal net worth of less than $1.32 million.
• The business owner must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States.
• The firm must meet the Small Business Administration’s size standard and not exceed $26.29 million in gross annual receipts.
Romare Bearden Fellows convene at the Saint Louis Art Museum for the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship. Back row, left to right: Alona Cooper Wilson (1994–95), Vanity Gee (2012–13), Danielle Burns Wilson (2008–09), Sherri Williams (2009–10), Kimberley Jacobs (2013–14), Rochelle Caruthers (2011–12), Michelle Moseley Young (2010–11). Front row, seated left to right: Alisa Swindell (2007–08), Jordia Benjamin (2014–15), Jennifer Doyle (2005–06), Yvonne Osei (2016–17), Courtney Baxter (2015–16).
Photo by Tim Parker
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Erin Brooks helps students become superior optometrists
By Jessica Rogen UMSL Daily
There are not enough hours in the day for Erin Brooks.
Whether she’s animating the physiology of a breathing lung in PowerPoint, creating a play about kidneys for her students to perform or relearning optics from the inside out to teach students in a different way, the assistant clinical professor of optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis often finds herself up into the wee hours of the morning almost seven days a week.
Her goal is to reach students in ways that will engage their attention, instruct conceptually and ultimately help them become superior optometrists.
“I want my students to be successful,” Brooks said. “I use all these different tools to help them see things. ‘Oh, they’re not understanding this. Let me see how else I can fix this. Like, what else can I do?’” Brooks, who earned her BS in chemistry, OD and MS in vision science at UMSL, has taught in the College of Optometry since 2011. She’s devoted to her students’ success, offering intensive tutoring for those struggling in school or who don’t pass boards. She’s also passionate about the profession and known for her efforts in UMSL Eye Care’s Pupil Project, which addresses visual learning disabilities in children.
Specifically, it asked why only 2 percent of practicing optometrists and 3.2 percent of students are Black when 13.4 percent of the U.S. population is Black and what could be done to increase the presence of underrepresented minorities.
“It’s important for patients to see people who look like them be their doctor,” Brooks said. “Just like some people want female doctors because they are female, and African Americans often want AfricanAmerican doctors because they feel that we’ll understand them better.
“If you look at the history of our country, and how sometimes minorities have been treated in health care, there’s a lack of trust. I think that trust is hard to build back. It’s easier to start with, you see me, and I look like you, and you’re more comfortable.”
Born to one white and one Black parent, Brooks initially couldn’t see herself as an optometrist but encouragement from her father, a liking for her family eye doctor and a visit to UMSL’s Pre-Optometry Club inspired her. As a doctor, she’s done significant work with students in Girls, Inc. – a junior high outreach program for minority girls – and in outreach at schools in Missouri and Illinois.
But even for Brooks, participating in the article and hearing about the experiences of one of her students awakened her to the importance of representation. “I think I’m unique because I never grew up thinking I was a minority,” she said. “Maybe it’s not fair
Earlier this year, Brooks became known to an even larger crowd when the American Optometric Association featured her on the cover of its magazine, AOA Focus. The story, titled “Optometry’s Reflection,” examined racial and ethnic diversity within the optometric profession.
Being on the cover of the optometric profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Erin Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. who can see that optometry is a viable profession for people of color.
to say I didn’t think I was a minority. But I grew up thinking that that wasn’t fair to put me in that box.”
Going through high school and the UMSL Bridge Program, Brooks was one of the only mixed-race students and felt that her experience stood apart from both her Black and white peers. “I’ve been told a lot of times I’m not Black enough,” she said. “It’s hurtful. I’ve also been asked a lot of times what I am, which is really fun. But I was not raised to see myself as a
minority, and I think that was a good thing for me because I didn’t see the barriers that other people might see. I didn’t realize those barriers existed.”
Those barriers came home this year after learning that one of her students had decided to attend UMSL because of Brooks and Assistant Clinical Professor Angel Novel Simmons. The student had met the two during the admissions process and felt like she belonged.
Hearing that hit Brooks hard. She had bowed out of the
admissions committee since due to her other obligations. She rejoined. “I’m back on there because it’s important for our students who interview,” Brooks said. “She chose UMSL because she saw people like her. That changed things for me, and yes, the article definitely changed me.
“Optometry schools have very few minorities in them. It’s really hard for us to recruit, and it’s hard for them to feel like they belong when you have, you know, two people in the class or no people in
the class who are minorities.”
That’s why being on the cover of the profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. The experience was also empowering for Brooks herself, especially doing the cover shoot. She spent several hours with the photographer, who worked hard to capture the significance of the subject.
“I felt there was this power kind of posing that that he was trying to accomplish,” Brooks said. “Not just you’re posing for this magazine, but you’re showing minorities in power, and that’s important for our patients, for our students, especially the girls because they get to see STEM careers, and I think that optometry is a very valid, viable career that doesn’t take quite as long as medical school to get through.”
Brooks has received positive feedback about the cover and the article from a wide group that spans her students and peers at UMSL to researchers and academics and administrators across the country.
Though she already devotes much of her time to outreach, the experience has left her wanting to increase her efforts. She’s planning on getting into more schools to share her passion for optometry. “I love getting people excited about stuff,” Brooks said. “A lot of people go to optometry school because they have a family member who did it or someone who they know who did it. They’re not going to find optometry school, for the most part, on their own. I love helping people understand what optometry really is.”
Photo by Paul Nordmann
New Cortex DEI VP hopes to change ‘male and pale’ perception
Natalie Self joined innovation hub July 6 as VP of equitable economic impact
By Karen RobinsonJacobs The St. Louis American
Intentional.
That’s how Natalie Self describes her mission in the newly created post of vice president of equitable economic impact with Cortex, an innovation and technology hub in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood.
As one of the main forces at Cortex pushing a message of diversity, equity and inclusion across the board, Self sees progress as a goal that will require deliberate effort from everyone in the organization.
“We have to do work in a very intentional way to ensure that the job opportunities, the entrepreneurship training opportunities, the wealth-building opportunities ...can be accrued to folks across the region, and especially ...to Black and brown St. Louisans and other St. Louisans who have been historically left out of economic development opportunities in the region,” said Self, a Chicago South Side native who has been in the Cortex job since early July.
Sam Fiorello, Cortex’ chief executive as of last year, “was really clear that the work of Cortex now is to take the assets and deploy them in a way that ... the benefit accrues to everyone in the region, but particularly Black and brown folks,” Self added. “That’s why my position was created.”
Born in 2002 as a joint effort of Washington University in St. Louis, BJC HealthCare, the University of
Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Cortex Innovation Community is an innovation hub where workers help technology find commercial uses. Self, 34, said the early years of the hub were spent on designing and building out the 200-acre project, which is run as a nonprofit. Her role now, she said, is to help move the region beyond the notion that workers in the hub are largely “male and pale.”
Officially, according to a Cortex news release, Self’s role is to “lead organiza-
n “If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
–
Natalie Self, Cortex vice president of equitable economic impact
tion-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation; build and advance a talent development strategy for Cortex; and work with the Cortex team to develop systems for supporting
organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.”
“What this position allows is for someone whose full-time job is to think strategically and intentionally about not just doing programming, but really
Natalie Self, shown speaking in 2018, recently joined the Cortex Innovation Community as vice president of equitable economic impact. She now directs its organization-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation.
served as executive director of STEMSTL, a regional collective committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM education and employment opportunities locally, sees her task as to change both the reality of inclusiveness at Cortex and the perception.
“I think when people think about Cortex, they think about white guys and lab coats,” she said. “And the reality when you walk around here is not like that... We have to continue to tell that story.”
Self, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Social Justice from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, said she plans to craft ways to connect applicants of color in the region with “high quality, well paying, way above living wage jobs, with, frankly, low barriers to entry.”
how are we going to spend all of our assets: people or money or facilities, or relationships,” said Self, just days into her new job.
Earlier “there wasn’t someone who had really the kind of the bandwidth to do that,” she said. “So I see this as a double or triple down on that initial investment.
“And my CEO has literally said to me, ‘you’re making the decisions, you tell me what we need to do, where we need to move money, how we need to do things differently.’” she recalled. “I mean, that is just ... irresistible.”
Self, who previously
“We want that perception to change because Cortex, in partnership with other organizations, has really, in five years I hope, that we have demonstrated that Cortex is able to work with partners in a radically different way.
“If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Photo by Lance Thurman / Startup Missouri
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Bouldin-Jones to receive Webster
U. award for service to humanity
By Webster University
Kim Bouldin-Jones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17. We wanted to know what motivates her to serve and what it means to be honored for her volunteerism.
First, we asked Webster University Chancellor Elizabeth (Beth) Stroble to share why Bouldin-Jones, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Webster in 1987 was chosen for this honor.
Q: Chancellor Stroble, how does Kim Bouldin-Jones exemplify Webster’s values represented by the Loretto Award?
A: The Loretto Award is presented to a graduate who has given significantly of themselves in service to humanity and social justice. Kim has, and continues to, make an impact on the world by dedicating her life to improving the health and welfare of underserved people at home and in the developing world. Kim’s commitment to meeting an unmet need epitomizes Webster’s mission and values and is indeed worthy of the Loretto Award.
Q: Kim, why do you place such high importance on serving others?
A: My grandmother was the person who influenced me the most. She was a person that always was helping people. She was always the first one that people called. And so, I’ve always tried to emulate my grandmother in that way.
Q: Did you have any other influences?
A: I think my mom was my biggest professional influence because I saw how hard she worked and all the things she accomplished in her career in education. I also saw the things she was able to accomplish despite her race and gender.
Q: How do you live out your desire to serve others?
A: It’s important to me to feel like I am giving something back to the community – and the community can be large
as in the world community, or small as in the local community. I’m on three working boards currently: Global Youth Leadership Institute, Webster University School of Communication Advisory Board and Doorways Interfaith Residence. All represent a passion of mine.
Q: Why did you start your nonprofit, Medical Facility Aid?
A: I previously worked as an educator and disease specialist in HIV and global
disease prevention. In 2003, moving to full-time job at John Burroughs School in St. Louis, I was taking a break from that work. But I quickly found myself in Africa again, working with a doctor to do HIV prevention. On that trip, I realized that the medical infrastructure of hospitals there were in serious disrepair. I came back to the States, and I thought, “I’m going to help these hospitals find a way to pay for a roof, or plumbing, or whatever they need.” I couldn’t find any organizations
Kim BouldinJones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17.
that did that work, though. So, I decided to start a nonprofit called Medical Facility Aid. And we decided we were going to help medical infrastructure in rural communities, in the developing world.
Q: Tell us about one of your Medical Facility Aid projects.
A: The first hospital I went to in Africa serves a region of about 7 million people. There was one hospital, and they had 250 beds, with NO running water. That’s what
drew me into thinking about the lack medical infrastructure in the developing world. What I managed to accomplish was helping the hospital get running water. It took a long time, but we actually did it. It’s been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
Q: Was learning the importance of serving others something that was reinforced at Webster University?
A: While I was at Webster University, I discovered I really enjoyed helping people because Webster encouraged community service work. I really enjoyed working with people and being around different people and diverse atmospheres and environments. It just kind of stuck with me all these years.
Q: What does that mean to you to be recognized by Webster University with the Loretto Award?
A: I don’t see anything that I’ve done as being extraordinary. This award was a complete shock. But at the same time, it really is nice to be honored by Webster, because I think it shows that trying to help other people is a good thing. Sometimes people notice. I really appreciate that Webster has noticed.
(Kim Bouldin-Jones currently teaches health and works in the Counseling and Wellness Department at John Burroughs School, in St. Louis. She continues to support the goals of Medical Facility Aid. She lives in O’Fallon, Missouri, with her partner, Mike, and her three children).
At Commerce Bank, we recognize that workplace diversity makes for a stronger company. We value, embrace and leverage the variety of perspectives that come as a result of our individual differences. Our inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, innovation and productivity that allow us to better serve the needs of our customers and communities, now and in the future. Our differences
PBS announces effort to increase DEI on screen, behind camera
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
African American filmmakers in the region served by KETC [Channel 9] in St. Louis could benefit from a future Public Broadcasting System [PBS] initiative designed to cultivate this “underrepresented” segment of the film business.
Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, announced on Aug. 10 that the network would make a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment” to support the work of underrepresented filmmakers through the nonprofit Firelight Media’s Groundwork Regional Lab.
“The effort will put 40 fledgling filmmakers in partnership with local PBS stations,” Kerger said during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.
Groundwork Regional Lab supports “diverse, emerging documentary filmmakers living and working” in the U.S and U.S.-controlled territories, according to its website.
Kerger said the program is part of an overall push to recognize and strengthen diversity and inclusion throughout the network and its shows.
She said, while the network has a “long legacy of attempting to reflect our country and the diversity of it, I think we don’t always look as carefully in the mirror and recognize that there may be areas where we are not doing our best.”
“I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
Cecilia Loving has joined PBS as senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and will report to Kerger.
Loving had been serving as a deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer for the New York City Fire Department. “PBS is one of the most trusted institutions in America, impacting people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics. My goal is to build upon PBS’s strong foundation through transparency, trust, and ongoing collaboration with employees and key stakeholders across the public media system,” Loving said in
n “I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
– Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO
a release. According to Kerger, PBS will require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agree-
ments, series renewals, and direct-to-PBS programs.”
For General Audience and PBS Digital Studios content, producers must submit a plan that outlines: A description of how the
Cecilia Loving was recently named Public Broadcasting System senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and says PBS impacts “people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics.” The network will now require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agreements, series renewals, and directto-PBS programs.”
For each area of reporting (e.g., above-the-line, belowthe-line, on-screen talent, etc.), producers must indicate whether DEI goals outlined in the plan were met, surpassed or missed. When goals were not met, producers must provide details on which aspects were found challenging to address and why. This is due within 45 days of completion of principal photography.
A final report addressing the project’s successes and challenges related to DEI must be turned in after final reporting/delivery.
For all PBS KIDS proposals, producers must submit a written overview of how their projects and staffing efforts support the values outlined in PBS KIDS’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which recognize that the work of accurately reflecting a diverse audience on-screen requires a commitment to embracing diversity and inclusion behind the camera as well.
“All children should grow up believing that the world is full of possibilities, and so are they,” said Linda Simensky, PBS KIDS head of content.
production includes perspectives of underserved populations. This should include content subject matter, on-screen talent and key editorial personnel/behind-the-camera staff. This must be completed prior to pre-production. Diverse representation for production team members, including above-the-line talent (directors, writers, producers, creators) and belowthe-line positions. Again, completed before pre-production.
“When children see authentic, positive representations of themselves in media, it has a measurable effect on their self-esteem and long-term success.
“PBS KIDS and our partners believe that authenticity doesn’t happen by accident, but rather through intentional efforts affecting all areas of production—and that the resulting content is made richer and more impactful in the process.”
ST. VINCENT GREENWAY CONNECTS!
This section winds through the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and beautiful St. Vincent County Park.
New connection under construction NOW from St. Vincent County Park over to the Rock Road Transit Center.
Design with neighbors is underway to connect it all together, through the heart of Pagedale, finished by 2025.
Construction of a new section from the former Eskridge High School site to Trojan Park starts this fall (with local contractors!)
This section connects the Missouri History Museum at Forest Park through Ruth Porter Mall Park and on to Trojan Park in Wellston.
Whether you take a walk, go for a run, push a stroller, roll a wheelchair or ride a bike, this greenway is for you — more coming soon!
With 128 miles of greenway paths and counting, there’s always something new to explore!
Photo courtesy of PBS
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Team members at Save A Lot reflect on COVID times
By Save A Lot
Listening and giving back to the community are the keys to career success for Save A Lot team leaders, Laura Farr, Quinn Woodard and Walter Lloyd. Each of them works to keep the lines of communication open for their teams as well as the customers and neighborhoods they serve. For Laura Farr, store manager at 91 North Oaks Plaza, listening to her team over the past year and half has been vital. With many of them concerned about their health and safety while working, communications has been her focus.
“Taking time each day to talk with them about safety protocols and let them know I heard their concerns was important to me,” Farr said. “I wanted to let them know their concerns were valid and
I was going to do what I could to help them.” This tactic of listening and responding to her team allowed her to hold onto the same crew throughout the initial phases of the pandemic.
That same strategy of keeping lines of communication open is what Save A Lot Store Manager Quinn Woodard said helps him connect with the community surrounding the store located at 3645 Page Boulevard. “I remember when I saw one of my regular shoppers back in the store after being gone for several weeks. I asked her how she was doing, and she said she was happy to be out of the hospital after recently recovering from COVID. Just being back to her normal routine meant so much to her, so I knew I had to recognize her loyalty to the store,” Woodard said. During that store visit, Quinn gave
Laura Farr
her a gift card to show his appreciation for her continued support and wish her well in her recovery.
“Being able to give back to the community that supports the store is one of the best parts of working at Save A Lot,” said Walter Lloyd, store manager at 8000 St. Charles Rock Rd. During his three years with Save A Lot, he’s
been able to donate food and water to several organizations. “I try to do what I can when it comes to giving back to churches and community groups that come to my store looking for food and other supplies.” Knowing the positive impact, he has on his community keeps him enthusiastic about coming to work.
Woodard and Farr both
agree that Save A Lot’s commitment to serving local communities with quality and value and promoting from within is what makes working at Save A Lot so fulfilling. During her 11 years with Save A Lot, Farr has had several opportunities to learn and grow. “I started out as an assistant manager. I worked hard and tried to treat everyone well,” Farr said. Her commitment to team building and communication was quickly recognized, and she was promoted. One of the opportunities she most appreciated during her career so far with Save A Lot, was the opportunity to travel to Alabama to assist with new store openings and help build a solid store relationship with the community. “The opportunity to open a brand-new store and let people know about it was one I won’t soon forget. It was great to
connect with a new community and help people there,” she said. Woodard echoed Farr’s sentiments about being empowered do so what is right for the community and his team is what he appreciates about working at Save A Lot. “I not only get to be myself and lead a team of people, but I have others right there with me supporting my success as I grow as a store manager. The support of others is really important,” he said. In his five and a half years with the company, Woodard says he’s been able to partner with countless churches, community groups, including the Urban League to give back whenever he can. He understands the value of being part of the neighborhood and plans to continue building on those strong relationships for years to come.
Building an inclusive pipeline into the water industry
By Missouri American Water
In the 1980s, Renee Lawrence did not see many women or people of color in the water industry, let alone the engineering field. Today, she and LaMarr White of Missouri American Water aim to widen the pipeline by inspiring future generations of STEM leaders.
There is one problem…the talent pipeline for the water workforce is running dry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates “roughly one-third of the
water sector workforce [will be] eligible to retire in the next 10 years.” This is despite the industry supporting more than 200 different occupations “ranging from skilled trades like electricians and technicians to financial, administrative and management positions,” according to The Brookings Institute. Creating a pipeline of diverse candidates is not only important to the community but also imperative for the country.
Both Lawrence and White prove there are traditional and non-traditional ways for peo-
ple to enter the field.
Lawrence, a senior project engineer for Missouri American Water, studied electrical engineering at the University of Kansas. Born to Acme W. Price, Jr. and Roberzene C. Price, two St. Louis Public School educators, it was engrained in her to pursue leadership positions.
engineer was meeting Bruce Aiton, Missouri American Water’s engineering director at the time. From the time I sat down to interview with him, he respected my perspective and made my transition into the company an easy one,” Lawrence said.
“What got me excited about my role as a project
“As a person of color, at first I didn’t see folks that looked like me, but now there’s diversity within the engineering department. I saw
diversity improve for women in engineering, too. I was used to being the only one,” she explained.
For White, it took time to consider the water industry his calling. “I thought it was just a job until I became a field service representative…then I realized it’s a career,” said White.
“My perspective started to change when I saw other people in higher positions. I realized if I was going to make a difference then I had to sit at the table and be a voice. I had to impact change where I was.” White held various posi-
tions within the company ranging from a utility worker in the 1990s to becoming an operations superintendent by 2020. He explained he saw the tides turn when he joined different committees within the company to effect change.
“If you have a passion, your passion will lead you to your purpose,” White said. Throughout the years, they both used their platforms to give back to the community. White dedicated his time to Housing 180 and inspired the company to donate resources
See WATER, page 47
LaMarr White Renee Lawrence
Walter Lloyd Quinn Woodard
Hospital leader discusses her vaccination story
By Gina Calder, FACHE, MPH President of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and Progress West Hospital
When I heard about life-protecting vaccines being made available to health care workers, I did not trust it. I
Water
Continued from 45
and Every
Lawrence
and
her
the
mittee
Missouri’s chapter of the American Water Works Association and mentoring future STEM leaders through the St. Louis Science Center’s YES program. She often invites the children to annual industry conferences to create a talent pipeline.
“I like making those connections before they enter the trade or go to college,” Lawrence said.
To keep safe, clean, reliable drinking water flowing, both Lawrence and White agree that it is imperative to catch children while they are young and get them interested in science.
“You don’t always need a four-year degree. Often, an associate’s [degree] or attending a trade school can help a young person enter the field,” she said.
White uses his position as the head of the company’s North Service Center to foster outreach and education about the water industry.
“Being present at career days and job fairs plants the seed of possibility, to education and to provide an opportunity for our community,” White said. He asserts that anyone interested in the field should obtain a mentor to help them navigate their career.
was among the first to receive my vaccination invitation and ignored it. As a young Black woman, I had a long list of “what if” questions. At best, I would wait to see how the pandemic and/or vaccine data played out. At worst, I would let fear and misinformation cause me to put my life
“This is a field for a person with a civil servant’s heart,” says Lawrence. “It is not a loudspeaker position, or a job with a sexy title, but there’s a
and the lives of others at risk.
I remember talking with my sister, who is my best friend and a physician, as we wrestled with this decision together. She said if we got vaccinated our family, friends and
Gina Calder
sense of pride when you drive down the street and can say ‘I built that. I am supporting my neighborhood.’” Creating an environment
teams would be much more likely to also get vaccinated. I realized that the vaccine was a powerful weapon in our battle against COVID-19. And, fear was a tool that was helping COVID-19 continue its rampage.
where everyone can bring their whole selves to work is at the core of Missouri American Water. Named one of America’s Top Corporations
I realized I could not both be a “hero” in the fight to conquer COVID-19 and be on COVID19’s side of this battle. I had to choose.
Armed with answers from those I trust, my own personal research and prayer, I chose to be vaccinated and continue to encourage others to do the
same. As a result of the courage of those who went first, we know much more about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines than we did in the earlier days of the pandemic. Because it was not an easy decision for me, I can fully support others on their own journeys so we can go far together.
by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council for supplier diversity and included in Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, the company remains committed to supporting current and future diverse leadership within the water industry. This article was provided by Missouri American Water.
Make a new world happen
Our diverse workforce inspires, builds and delivers business results from idea to outcome.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion A Business Priority
• A special publication of the St. Louis American newspaper •
Dreaming big
Empowering at-risk youth with skills to set their life on course
By Cheryl Baehr STL Made
Michael Woods stands on the sidewalk directly in front of an abandoned, burned-out duplex in North St. Louis’s Hyde Park neighborhood, giving his crew a pep-talk as if they are headed into a big game. His team – a group of five high-school aged kids dressed in jeans, sweatshirts, sneakers and matching orange and yellow construction vests – are indeed going into a physically and emotionally demanding situation where the stakes are not just high, but have the potential to change the course of these kids’ lives. He needs to make sure they understand what they are getting themselves into. Now, however, he’s focused on one young woman’s ill-fitting vest.
sures and untucks the back fabric from one of the armholes, getting her all straightened out. “There you go. Now you’re good.”
n Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship, scholarship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves.
“These are supposed to be your brothers, and they’re going to let you go around looking like this?” Woods laughs as he adjusts the clo-
For Woods, making sure the kids that go through Dream Builders 4 Equity are prepared to go about their lives goes far beyond straightening up a work uniform. When he and his business partner, Neal Richardson, founded the organization in 2017, they recognized they had a chance to have a meaningful impact on at-risk youth by empowering them with the skills to set a course for their lives. Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves and in their neighborhoods, thereby effecting change both at the individual and community levels.
See DREAMING, page 51
Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Michael Woods and Neal Richardson knew a new approach was needed for real estate investment to make lasting change in disinvested neighborhoods. They created Dream Builders 4 Equity to connect with communities and positively impact youth while transforming homes, blocks and lives.
Racism Bigotry Inequality Discrimination Has no home at Purina
any where.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreaming
Continued from page 49
In retrospect, Richardson and Woods seemed destined for this work. Richardson, vice-president and director of Business Impact Group for U.S. Bank, has spent the past fifteen years in real estate, finance and community development, working to build up under-resourced communities. Coupled with Woods’ background in real estate, entrepreneurship, writing and mentoring, the longtime acquaintances realized they had the knowhow to make meaningful change in their communities. They also had the drive to do so; both men acknowledged the difficult path they had to get to where they are in their careers and wanted to use what they’d learned to make things a little easier for those coming up today.
“We were feeling that our success was great, but how do we give that to younger people at an earlier age?” Woods says. “We had to bump our heads so many times to get to where we are today. How can we provide these services to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth? What we actually did is take our lived experiences and bottle it up into a program called Dream Builders 4 Equity.” Dream Builders 4 Equity is a nonprofit that aims to give youth from underserved communities the tools they need to escape poverty in the form of job skills, personal development training and wealth accumulation. The organization does this through a three-prong approach that includes a summer youth academy, a real estate program and a book publishing program. The operation centers around skill-building through real estate development and construction wherein participants get on-the-job paid training in the industry from minority contractors through rehabbing homes in North St. Louis City. However, the students do not simply walk away with the skills and a paycheck. Equity earned from the sales of these homes goes back to students in the form of scholarships, which gives them a stake in the outcome. As Richardson explains, it’s a bigpicture approach that builds both monetary and social investment in the people and the communities that need it.
“It’s really a holistic program that’s provided for our students to be ready for the jobs of the future, but also, it creates opportunities for them to impact the community,” Richardson says. “When we show up to a neighborhood, we don’t come from a place of, ‘this is what we want for this community.’ We really believe in economic and equitable development principles of centering the community’s voices and elevating those
voices in order to achieve their desires and their dreams. We listen, we learn, we partner with the community organizations. We work with the youth that we’ve already trained and developed, and we go out into those communities to make a difference and make an impact.”
Both Richardson and Woods recognized that North City’s disinvestment problems are not just about property values; they’re about
disinvestment in people and communities. By rehabilitating properties – and empowering the communities’ youth in the process – they hope to change the narrative about the area. If people see real investment happening, it builds momentum for more investment and generates excitement.
Hyde Park is their test case. The North City neighborhood, centered around the storefronts of Salisbury Street, is
characterized by stunning, three-story brick buildings that rival in their splendor the manses of Benton Park and Lafayette Square. However, unlike those South City jewels, much of the area sits in disrepair, the product of decades of disinvestment that Richardson and Woods hope to turn around. Over the next five years, Dream Builders 4 Equity, in partnership with the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, is executing a $5 million community development plan, investing in 25 homes that they will rehab for first-time homebuyers; 25 home renovations for seniors; a chess park; a daycare center and a 6,000 square-foot building they plan to turn into an educational hub and the center of their operations.
“It all ties into what the community wants and what they need,” Woods says. “Again, we’re hiring the young people from the community. We’re also engaging the contractors from the community. And then we’re also making sure that each community member has a say on what happens and how it happens, so we’re not doing a development to them, we’re doing a development with them.” Richardson and Woods believe Dream Builders 4 Equity’s comprehensive and community-centered approach has the potential to not only change Hyde Park; it has the potential to transform similar communities throughout St. Louis and beyond. This is why they are being intentional about every facet of the organization – they feel a responsibility to get it exactly right so that they can build on what they create in Hyde Park as a model for the future of community development.
Editor’s note: Neal Richardson recently became the director of St. Louis Development Cooperation.
“If you are given a forum to express how you feel and help guide advancement, you have the ability to make a real difference.” Our formally chartered African American Business Resource Group brings African American associates together at Enterprise Bank & Trust to create community and opportunities for improvement and engagement. Read our Community Impact Report to learn how the group got started and the goals they are working toward at enterprisebank.com/impact
Read the report at
Contractor Robert McCully with Michael Woods and Neal Richardson after a successful day on the job. Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Scott Air Force Base is woven into many parts of the region
By Eric Schmid St. Louis Public Radio
Scott Air Force Base is well known as an economic anchor in the Metro East, with connections to the surrounding communities where many active-duty personnel and their families live. The base also has less obvious, but equally deep, connections to other parts of the St. Louis region, like its robust medical community.
A prime example lies in the Air Force’s Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, C-STARS, which trains and exposes Air Force medical personnel to scenarios they’ll likely experience when deployed. Every two years, medics travel to a large U.S. hospital where they participate in medical simulations and shadow local medical professionals, said Maj. Stephen Ray, the deputy director of C-STARS St. Louis. The Air Force also has such partnerships in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Omaha and Las Vegas, he said. “The kinds of injuries that we see in our military hospitals, we only see when we’re deployed or when we come to readiness places like this,” Ray said. “These are the places, like St. Louis, that our medical personnel need to stay current.” In one recent simulation at St. Louis University, a group of nurses and one doctor balance caring for two “patients,” one whose left leg is in a tourniquet and another who’s suffered a blast from an improvised explosive device. The patients are mannequins, but the medics don’t treat the injuries any less
seriously. “The simulations are designed based on feedback from the field,” Ray said. “The instructors, like myself, and others at different sites across the country have gotten together and said, ‘What patient injuries have we seen that we need to replicate here?’”
While C-STARS officially is run from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Scott played a role in the program’s establishment 20 years ago. The initial idea for the program came from Col. Michael Hayek, a doctor who developed a medical skills
training laboratory at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis County, Ray said. In 2000, Hayek pitched the idea to Dr. Paul K. Carlton Jr., the surgeon general of the Air Force at the time, who committed to expanding the model, he added.
C-STARS St. Louis was established a year later at SLU Hospital thanks largely to the relationships Carlton built while at Scott Air Force Base between 1988 and 1991, said Dr. Carl Freeman, the trauma medical division director at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital. “He realized that Air Force
personnel needed further trauma training and reached out to SLU to work with the university and the hospital,” he said.
Freeman, who served 21 years in the Air Force, experienced how crossing between the medical and military environment aided him as a young surgeon. “It allowed me to have exposure to trauma patients, including ones that are shot and correlate the care I provide here to overseas,” he said.
Since retiring from the military in 2016, Freeman sees the medics from the Air Force
More direct involvement in Illinois
Air Force medics treat a life-size mannequin during a Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills simulation at St. Louis University. Active-duty medics must undergo such training every two years.
and Missouri Air National Guard who rotate through the hospital. The unfortunate reality of gun violence in St. Louis provides an important perspective for the medics who shadow doctors in the emergency department, he said. “The major thing people say they take away from this is how to take care of a very sick patient and not be scared,” Freeman said. “A lot of these people have never seen these type of injuries, and it’s really important for them to learn how to take care of them and not be distracted by the injury.”
Scott is also closely involved with St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s three-year family residency program. Eight of the 14 residents the hospital welcomes each year are on active military duty, said Dr. Marjorie Guthrie, who directs the program. “Having the residency partnered with the United States Air Force does give us more manpower, and more manpower means more patients seen,” she said. St. Elizabeth’s also gets instructors from Scott adding a layer of depth to the hospital’s courses, Guthrie said. She added that the military has a good focus on alternative medicine with some of the faculty from the base bringing expertise on acupuncture and osteopathic manipulation, for example. While some Air Force members use the medical facilities on base, others turn to what’s available in the surrounding community. Scott’s proximity also broadens the type of people residents care for, something Guthrie said is important for family medicine, since those doctors are trained to treat a wide age spectrum. “If you think about resident education as an opportunity to see diverse health care systems, then being exposed to the military system is just one of them,” she said. “You’re not just working with underserved patients, or you’re not just working with military patients. You get a good, broad variety.”
SIUE is building a legacy of equity and excellence. We are actively engaged in cultivating an equity-minded campus ecosystem, dedicated to shaping a changing world.
SIUE is nationally recognized for its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Under the visionary leadership of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jessica Harris, PhD, SIUE is committed to operationalizing inclusive excellence at all levels of the institution.
Photo provided by Saint Louis University
Jessica Harris, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity,
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is ‘all in’ on DEI
By Karlos Ramirez President & CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan
Louis
St.
St. Louis is full of possibilities. In order to reach our full potential as a region, we need to double down on diversity, equity and inclusion. While we’ve made significant strides, there is more work to be done. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (HCC) of Metropolitan St. Louis has a mission to improve business
opportunities for Hispanic firms and professionals, thereby improving the economic development of the St. Louis region. Improving business opportunities for ALL is an imperative, particularly for minorities, who disproportionately have less access to capital and mentoring that they need to succeed.
Rising tides lift all boats, and too often, we come up short in our policies, which can leave some behind without intentional efforts by third parties. The HCC is one of those
third parties and I am proud of the role we are playing. We have a dedicated team that provides counseling to small businesses at every stage of planning, funding options, and educational resources. Examples of our programming include:
• Contractor
Connect – industry experts educating and empowering small construction businesses.
• Restaurant Training – where to start and best practices for restaurants.
• Working Women annual event –providing inspiration and resources to working women.
• Hispanic Leadership Institute – leadership development program, one track for high school students and a separate track for business
professionals. We believe that it’s imperative for businesses and non-profits to have a plan and regularly evaluate that plan to determine if adjustments are needed. Too often, organizations are stuck in their day-today execution and unable to plan their future.
The HCC couldn’t do what we do without allies and are proud to work with corporate and strategic partners throughout the region. The HCC also has many non-Hispanic members that are attracted to our
programming and interested in marketing to Hispanics, the fastest growing demographic in the region. As a region, we are making strides, but there is more hard work to do, and we must do it TOGETHER. Being an inclusive region in business can impact education, representation at decision making tables, and more. One group’s success does not come at the expense of another but makes the entire business community stronger. Our time is now, St. Louis, it’s time for action.
It
takes all of us
We all have a history. A story. We bring with us life experiences that shape who we are and make us better.
At Spire, we know our individual stories only make us stronger as a whole. That’s why we’re committed to an inclusive work environment where all that makes us unique is embraced, encouraged and valued.
Because it truly takes all of us—our backgrounds, our perspectives and our experiences—to move forward.
Karlos Ramirez
Together we can make an impact
The
By Dierbergs For The St. Louis American
For more than a century, Dierbergs has prioritized supporting the communities we serve and the people that live in them. As our environment continues to evolve, we recognize we have much to learn about the impact of these changes and how Dierbergs can positively contribute to making a difference within our company and in the community.
We believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
So, we listened. As we did, it only reinforced how important it is that our associates feel they can bring their own unique version of themselves to work and the powerful and meaningful impact a diverse workforce can make.
The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Wendell, a store director, who has developed his career at Dierbergs over the last 21 years:
“I am from St. Louis and graduated from University City High School. University City was extremely diverseeven back in the 70s and 80s. My graduating class was about 60% white which really allowed me to experience diversity and understand [my environment] at an early age.
I attended Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri. As an 18-year-old, it was a tough transition. I knew very few people and was suddenly faced with many social issues that I hadn’t confronted before.
Many townspeople didn’t like Blacks and they let you know it- I was called names and I didn’t know why. I hadn’t done anything to them; I was just simply going to class. The first few months did not go well with my roommate. He moved out after 10 days simply because I was Black. But it was fine. I understood that. Not everybody makes those adjustments. Shortly after I joined a fraternity, and the foundation of service and acceptance helped me grow and come alive in
n “For those that look different than me, if I take the time listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine.”
– Wendell, Store Director, Dierbergs
new ways. [I found] a voice that I didn’t know I had. It helped me understand that I have to work with people in order to make this a better place. My life began to change;
I grew up and became more mature.
Later, as an assistant store director at Dierbergs, a customer called me an “Obama boy” because we didn’t have a spe-
At Dierbergs, we believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
bag for him to make myself present and I said “I see you got the bottle while you were looking for. Glad we could help you out.” I was not trying to be controversial, but at the same time, I was trying to express a point that “no matter what you say, no matter what you do, I’m going to be professional, and I’m going to do the right thing.”
cific $9 bottle of wine. When I did not find the wine in the back, he said “that’s just great Obama boy. I asked, “what do you mean by that?’ He yelled “you know what I mean by that,” and the entire store stopped. For someone to yell that, he must have felt pretty comfortable, so I asked him to leave. We didn’t have what he was looking for and he was not a customer who was behaving acceptably. He came back within 5 minutes, which was concerning. He had a different bottle of wine. I proceeded to
At Dierbergs, we have all sorts of individuals who work and shop with us, and you never really know what is on a person’s mind, or why they feel the way they do. Having some of these challenges in my life helped me understand where they’re going and how they’re feeling. I can redirect misunderstandings and mistrust into a place where other people of color can begin to grow and understand. Just because they feel a certain way doesn’t mean they’re the only one who’s ever felt that way, and many of us have succeeded regardless. For those that look different from me, if I take the time to listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine. You might find that my story, in many ways, doesn’t differ quite that much from yours. Yes, my skin may be different, sometimes my talk may be different, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care any less, or don’t want the same things that you want. I’m willing to go get those things, and I’m not going to put down anybody in the process. I’d rather bring you along with me.” What’s your story? Together, let’s make an impact.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Ascension Charity Classic brings professional golf to North County
The St. Louis American Staff
When word began to leak in the summer of 2019 that professional golf would be returning to St. Louis, the expectation was that it would take place at either Bellerive or Old Warson, two West County courses with a long history of hosting major golfing events.
But at a press conference in October 2019 at Norwood Hills Country Club in Jennings, Ascension executive vice president of marketing Nick Ragone explained why golf’s newest professional event would be taking place at the historic North County golf course.
“We want the Ascension Charity Classic to stand for two things,” he said before a packed ballroom of media, community and civic leaders.
“First, we want this to be a ‘tentpole’ event that stimulates and encourages additional economic and charitable development in North St. Louis County, and second, we want this to be the most charitable tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions schedule.
This isn’t about golf, it’s about giving back to North St. Louis County and encouraging others to do the same.” For those familiar with Ascension, one of the nation’s largest Catholic healthcare systems and headquartered in St. Louis, it came as no surprise that the ministry would create a signature brand event in an underserved and neglected part of St. Louis with a focus on giving back to area charities.
“Our Mission, quite literally, is to serve underserved
areas and advocate for a more just and compassionate society,” Ragone noted in his remarks that October day. “As a region and community we’re only doing well if we’re all doing well, and as corporate and community leaders it’s all our responsibility to make sure we’re investing in growth and opportunity for all St. Louis. That’s what the Ascension Charity Classic is all about.” Now called the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson, after the Norwood neighbor came on board as presenting sponsor, the tournament has been set up so that all net proceeds will be distributed to North County charities, beginning with the
What:
Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson
When: Sept. 9-12, 2021
Where: Norwood Hills Country Club, Jennings, Missouri
Tickets and more information: ascensioncharityclassic.com
Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, and Marygrove, a residential facility for neglected and abused children based in Florissant.
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000 to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
With the tournament moved up in the schedule this year to the first week of September, excitement continues to grow with additional sponsors and partners joining the effort –and the recent announcement that legendary golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson would be competing in the “Legends Charity Challenge” at the inaugural event, with proceeds going to First Tee of Greater St. Louis and PGA REACH, two organizations committed to making golf a more inclusive and diverse sport.
to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
“It shows the level of engagement and commitment by Ascension, Emerson, World Wide Technology and the other corporate partners that in an especially challenging year for charities and communities, the tournament was still able to give back so generously,” said Michael McMillian, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.
“Just imagine how this event will make a difference once it has been played. It will be a game changer for the community.”
As the St. Louis region continues to rebound from COVID, the Ascension Charity Classic will be a unique chance to showcase the strength and diversity of North St. Louis County as the tournament is aired live nationally for all three rounds. “We love that the nation will be able to see something that we’ve known for a long time – that the St. Louis community is committed to investing in our entire region and that by doing so, we foster hope and opportunity for everyone,” said Dr. Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Which reflects Ragone’s original declaration on Oct. 8, 2019, at the press conference at Norwood Hills: “Giving back to the community is more than just providing care and healing the sick,” he said. “It’s also about long-term investing in our communities, and encouraging others to invest in the community, so that we can bring about a more just, inclusive and equitable society. It’s incumbent upon all of us to make a difference.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Missouri School of Journalism wins national diversity award
Award recognizes journalism, mass communication programs achieving equity and diversity goals
By University of Missouri-Columbia
The Missouri School of Journalism is the recipient of the Equity & Diversity Award by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). This national award is one of the highest honors in diversity and inclusion. The annual award recognizes journalism and mass communication programs that are successfully achieving equity and diversity goals. Programs must display progress and innovation in racial, gender and ethnic equality and diversity over the previous three-year period.“The Missouri School of Journalism strives to be a place where all people feel valued, where their talents can be developed, where personal and professional growth is nurtured. A place where all have an opportunity to be heard and respected,” said Dean David Kurpius. “I am thrilled our efforts are being recognized by AEJMC.”
Judges noted the School’s sustained commitment, efforts, and investment in diversity and inclusion activities. Among the judges’ comments:
• “Mizzou has really worked hard to try to change the tide that has existed there in terms of people’s perspectives.”
• “They look like they are invested.”
• “The School has been intentional and forward-thinking in trying to bring forward those persons who represent
As part of the efforts of the Diversity and Inclusion committee, the School works to bring in diverse speakers to engage with J-School students. Jemele Hill (center) a staff writer for The Atlantic and a former ESPN correspondent, columnist and host, spoke with various student groups about mentoring, internships and having passion for your job.
where they are trying to go in its efforts to diversify. We found the School’s progress in hiring diverse faculty and its specific initiatives in programming and mentorship particularly impressive.”
Renewed Commitment
In 2016, the School’s faculty and staff recommitted to the importance of developing a more diverse and inclusive culture. Goals included hiring and retaining more diverse faculty,
diversifying and establishing an inclusive curriculum, and providing mentoring opportunities for historically underserved students.
To help support these efforts, MU’s Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity has partnered with the School to help strengthen its IDE efforts in a competitive hiring marketplace. Campus leadership provided permanent funding for one-time new faculty lines as well as additional incentives such as spousal
accommodations to attract diverse minority candidates. These resources allowed the School to accelerate its plans for diversity and inclusion. Through intentional recruitment and hiring, the School increased its percentage of faculty members of color from approximately 11% of faculty in 2015 to 23% today. Representation of African American faculty members increased from less than 3% to nearly 9% of all faculty. To change culture, hiring commit-
tees within the School routinely request diversity statements from candidates to ensure that prospective faculty understand the School’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity.
Faculty committee work
For the past three years, the School’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Cristina Mislán, regularly review the School’s diversity and inclusion strategic
plan to address ever evolving understanding around inclusion, diversity and equity in higher education and the workplace. To ensure the School is making progress toward its IDE goals, the Committee solicits input from faculty, student leaders and staff on an annual basis. This feedback keeps the plan fresh and relevant.
“It’s important to be recognized for our efforts in making the school more inclusive, diverse and equitable,” said Mislán. “We have a long road ahead, but as a community we are committed to engendering an institution that trains responsible scholars and journalists, one that will enhance journalism and mass communication education.”
Embedded in the curriculum
In the classroom, diversity and inclusion are part of the core of what students learn. All journalism students are required to take a CrossCultural journalism course to provide context and tools for students as they report, edit and generally communicate in a complex, diverse and changing society. In the School’s hands-on, real world newsrooms and agencies, information about the race of an alleged criminal, a person’s age, membership in certain groups, photo depictions and the like all provide teaching
Construction is a team sport that relies on diverse talent
Ralph Powell Jr., expanding opportunities in construction community
By Ralph Powell Jr. Director of Diversity at McCarthy Building Companies
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to play and watch sports.
Growing up, I shot hoops with kids in my neighborhood, was a competitive high school athlete, and cheered on both of my older sisters in Division 1 college basketball. Through sports, I experienced the thrill of competition and the power of teamwork. I also learned that the most successful sports teams rely on a diverse group of players, each of whom brings unique talents, skills and experience to the group.
Since joining McCarthy Building Companies as a project engineer in 2003, I’ve discovered those same principles are just as true for the construction industry. During my 18-year career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on dozens of commercial construction projects—from hospital expansions to school renovations. Through those experiences, I’ve honed my skills in managing complex construction projects, built long-term relationships and continued to advance my career. Recently, I’ve stepped into my newest role as Director of Diversity for McCarthy’s 28-state Central Region. In this position, I will draw on my field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community. This includes building and nurturing relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses to
In his new role as director of diversity at McCarthy Building Companies, Ralph Powell Jr. (pictured in the blue shirt) is drawing on his construction field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community.
mentor, support and help them succeed. I’ll also drive diversity initiatives for major building projects across the St. Louis region.
My work is part of a national Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program that leverages best practices from every McCarthy region. Our team’s priorities are to promote inclusive hiring practices; equip and empower employees to grow their careers; and continue to expand our sup-
plier diversity and community engagement programs. In short, I will continue the excellent work of my predecessor, Monica Bailey. As the first— and longest-serving—full-time diversity director among St. Louis contractors, she helped advance McCarthy’s commitment to an inclusive work culture by helping teams recognize the benefits of diverse perspectives. In doing so, she paved the way for McCarthy and other firms to build rela-
tionships with diverse businesses and help position them for success.
As the largest contractor in St. Louis, McCarthy believes we have a unique responsibility to help foster a diverse, thriving community of local businesses. Having a strong team of qualified industry partners supports innovation and creativity that not only drive better solutions for our clients, but also is good for our community. And as our region
continues to face a construction labor shortage, it’s important to attract the next generation of construction workers who will build St. Louis’ future schools, hospitals, research facilities and infrastructure projects.
I probably wouldn’t have discovered construction as a potential career if my brotherin-law hadn’t introduced me to it. As a teenager, I spent a couple of summers working as a laborer for his newly launched small construction company
and also had the opportunity to shadow him as he interacted with clients and ran the business. He encouraged me to pursue a construction management degree and played an influential role in my eventual career path. For that, I’m extremely grateful. Now I have the opportunity to pay it forward by serving as a role model to young people who may be unsure what opportunities are available to them. I want them to envision what’s possible by meeting someone who looks like them and has progressed from an entry-level position to Director of Diversity at St. Louis’ largest general contractor. When I look back on my construction career, my favorite memories are the relationships I’ve built with clients, coworkers and trade partners. I just love the team aspect of the job—working together on tough challenges, overcoming obstacles, celebrating the completion of a successful project and having fun along the way. In my new role, I’m privileged to focus on expanding those relationships, with the goal of ensuring that our project teams reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
In many ways, my role is similar to that of a sports team coach: a motivator, a communicator, a strategist and an advocate who helps players achieve their full potential. Ultimately, I want to build bridges that strengthen the entire St. Louis construction community. Because, at the end of the day, we are all part of the same team.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Mizzou’s Perry wins national award for achievement in diversity and research
Earnest Perry, associate professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research, has been chosen to receive the 2021 Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The Barrow Award recognizes outstanding individual accomplishment and leadership in diversity efforts for underrepresented groups by race and ethnicity. “Thank you to the Minorities and Communication Division and the Commission on the Status of Minorities for this award,” said Perry. “This is not just for me. It is for the Missouri School of Journalism and to those who work every day to infuse our programs with the tenants of diversity, inclusion and equity.”
“Dr. Perry’s dedication to and strong work in the area of inclusion, diversity and equity has benefited numerous students, faculty and staff,” said Dean David Kurpius. “His ability to understand the complex systems that are core to a functioning university and school and then address inherent ineq-
Award
Continued from page 56 opportunities about not discriminating when reporting or developing campaigns.
Alumni/student connections
uities systematically forms the core of his work and is why he deserves this recognition. I am honored to have him serving as associate dean and I am proud of his significant and ongoing work.”
Perry’s co-edited the book, “Cross-cultural Journalism: Communicating Strategically About Diversity.” It was developed out of the first required journalism diversity, equity
The School’s desire to advance a culture of welcome, respect and acceptance is one that is embraced by alumni, as well as the news and communication industry. Their involvement as speakers, mentors, recruiters, supporters and more benefits future leaders and the profession at large. In 2019, Associate Professor Ron Kelley launched a pilot mentoring program for junior and senior minority students
and inclusion course in the country. Adopted nationally at other universities and now in its second edition, the book is designed to teach college students to critically think about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the work of journalism and strategic communication with a strong connection to the history and context of this work in our society.
“Dr. Perry encourages dis-
who are matched with minority journalism and strategic communication alumni. The goal of this program is to provide guidance’s to students for retention and professional development. The mentorship will continue after graduation to help students make the transition from college to their professional careers. As Kelley noted, the first years of a new career can be daunting, and
cussion in classes—sometimes lively, always respectful—and he challenges students to analyze their own assumptions about the way they think about differences among people,” said Kurpius. “Both undergraduate and graduate students have flocked to him for classes and advising. His mentorship—the hidden teaching work—is significant and ongoing.”
Perry’s research interests
the mentors help navigate any potential challenges faced.
“The participation from alumni of color has been great and we are thankful for their willingness to give back,” said Kelley. “Many of them have said they wished they had a program like this when they were in school.” There is also strong support – both financial and mentoring – for various student identity-based
Earnest Perry is the 2021 recipient of the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity and Research.
center on African-American press history, specifically the Black Press during the first half of the 20th Century. Perry has also done research on the media’s role in serving underrepresented groups and the lack of ethnic minority journalists in the mainstream media. He currently chair’s AEJMC Publications Committee and previously served on the Standing
Committee on Teaching and as chair of the Standing Committee on Research. He also served as president of the American Journalism Historians Association. Perry has published articles on history and media management in several journals including American Journalism, Journalism History and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. His professional career includes stints as a reporter for newspapers in Illinois, Connecticut and Texas. He has also served as a consultant to news outlets in Texas and Missouri on issues such as newsroom management, reporting in ethnic minority communities, news writing and editing.
Dr. Lionel C. “Lee” Barrow, Jr. served as an advertising executive and civil rights activist and retired as the dean of 10 years from the Howard University School of Communications in 1985. During his life Barrow chaired various committees and commissions that worked to increase the number of women and minority students in the communications field.
organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), Women in Media, and the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM). These organizations provide students with various opportunities and resources that will help propel their careers forward.
“The Missouri School of Journalism is committed to creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable culture, one that enriches the lives of our faculty, staff, students and our communities,” said Kurpius. “Such transformation is a never-ending process, but it’s a challenge we welcome each day with a fresh commitment.”
Lewis Rice diversity outreach includes honoring late Black legal pioneer
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
St. Louis law firm Lewis
Rice has posthumously honored the region’s first Black legal partner, Larry Deskins, with two annual scholarships for members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups starting in fall 2022.
Deskins became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985. He was a corporate attorney who remained with the firm for over 40 years. He died in March 2020 after a long illness.
Attorney Ronald Norwood said the scholarship is just one of several “next level” efforts on the firm’s behalf to encourage the success of a diverse pool of lawyers in the region.
Norwood serves as chairman of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI). He joined Lewis Rice in 1988 as a litigation associate.
“We felt as a firm that in honor of Larry Deskins and the exceptional contributions that he made not only to Lewis Rice but to the St. Louis legal community, serving as a trail blazer, an advisor to corporations large and small in the St. Louis region that it would be a fitting tribute to establish these scholarships in his honor,” Norwood said.
The Lewis Rice Scholarship in Honor of Larry L. Deskins will award two $7,500 scholarships to first-year law students at Washington University, Saint Louis University or
Firm has launched several inclusion efforts
University of Missouri law schools who are members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups in the legal profession starting in fall 2022. But that’s not the DAI’s only recent effort, according to Norwood. They’re also establishing a Lewis Rice HarrisStowe State University internship beginning in the summer of 2022.
This will be a paid, fourweek internship to a qualified Harris-Stowe State University student from an economically or academically disadvantaged group who is interested in a career in law.
“[This will] provide an opportunity for them to come in to work with our firm, to get acclimated with the practice
of law, to learn from lawyers about the business of law,” Norwood said. “And to hope they entice them into continuing on that track.”
A 2021 Missouri Bar report stated that voluntarily collected demographic information shows just 12% of Missouri lawyers are racially or ethnically diverse, compared to the nearly 22% of Missouri resi-
Larry Deskins (left) became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985.
Ronald Norwood (right) serves as chairman of law firm Lewis Rice’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI).
in diversity and if all of the businesses become proactive as a relates to diversity, we’re going to be a better society and we’re going to be a better region.”
Norwood said a third action in the Next Level program has implemented works to incentivize lawyers within the firm to become more active in diversity and inclusion efforts. Lewis and Rice is offering billable credit hours for attorneys who engage in activities such as serving on the Diversity and Inclusion (DAI) Committee, a bar association or affinity group dedicated to diversity and inclusion and participating in activities designed to recruit, mentor and retain underrepresented attorneys and staff.
“We felt we had done a lot of positive things as a firm and as a committee,” Norwood said. “Our view is that we don’t want to rest on our laurels, we want to continue to move that needle and continue to progress in a positive way to be an example to law firms and other corporations of what a genuine commitment to diversity is.”
dents who reported ethnic and racial diversity in the last U.S. Census.
“I think the important thing is that if corporations and law firms like ours double down and become more committed in diversity efforts — whatever they might be — that is the important thing … because if all of the law firms come together and become proactive
In November 2017, Lewis Rice received the Corporate Diversity Award from The St. Louis American. In addition, Lewis Rice’s Management and DAI committees last year joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a group of more than 350 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners committed to building a more open and diverse legal profession.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Diversity is key to mission of Council of Construction Employers
Offers ‘earn while you learn’ program
By CCE
The Council acts as the management arm of the nationally renowned St. Louis Construction Cooperative labor/management organization that strives to Build Better Together. One of SLCC’s finest accomplishments is the Careers in Construction manual which lists each construction craft along with its entry requirements and contact information: https://stlouisconstruc-
tioncooperative.org/construction-careers/ Diversity Efforts and Inclusion
Part of CCE’s mission is to collectively address issues that concern the St. Louis commercial construction industry. Working together with our union trades partners we provide first-class, accessible training opportunities through our various apprenticeship and training programs. We’re also engaged in efforts to promote the development of minority and women craft workers through the Building Union Diversity (B.U.D.) program. CCE also supports the efforts of the Regional Union Contractors Center, a business incubator designed to assist minority and women-owned businesses build and maintain successful construction companies. Several member organizations have built their own models to increase inclusion; like the CHAMPIONS Program, a partnership between Plumbers and Pipefitters Local #562, the Plumbing Industry Council and the Mechanical Contractors Association. CHAMPIONS is an intensive, six-week program that introduces participants to the technical aspects of the trades. Graduates are guaranteed a minimum of one year employment as a pre-apprentice by one of the participating CHAMPION contractors.
The St. Louis Electrical Connection, a partnership
between Electrical Workers Local #1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), has named Sylvester Taylor as its new Director of Diversity to continue to strengthen the bonds it has established with under-served communities in St. Louis.
A recent effort that will provide more transparen-
cy and help lift the veil of mystery regarding careers in construction is the St. Louis Construction Career Center, located at 6301 Knox Industrial Dr. 63139, inside AGC of Missouri’s Construction Training School. The Career Center operates as a single point of contact for information about careers in the various construction trades, as well as architecture, engi-
neering and construction management. The Career Center also helps bring into focus the career paths available, the admission requirements for those programs and individualized support to help in the process.
Sometimes a job-seeker doesn’t meet the requirements of a particular trade but the Career Center may be able to steer that candidate to a pro-
gram that’s right for him or her.
COVID-19 dramatically curtailed opportunities to spread the word about the Construction Career Center. Career and Job Opportunity Fairs were cancelled during the pandemic, substantially reducing outreach but our efforts continue. We expanded our partnerships with other St. Louis area career organizations and we’re developing virtual opportunities to ensure that future construction industry professionals can be placed in meaningful careers.
Learn while you learn Union construction training programs do not charge for their services. There are no fees. Program participants do not incur student loan debt. In fact, pre-apprentices and apprentices actually work to earn wages and benefits while not in the classroom or training facility.
We believe that a more diverse and inclusive workforce, along with higher wages and fringe benefits, provides better, safer working conditions and helps elevate the standard of living for the entire St. Louis community. Come investigate the high paying careers in the construction industry. Contact Sergio Munoz at (314) 644-1525 or smunoz@stl-cts.org to discuss a construction career and determine your best strategy for advancement.
St. Louis Symphony’s diversity efforts boosted by $200,000 in grants
By Jeremy D. Goodwin St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra is stepping up its efforts to reach out to Black audiences and musicians.
The organization will use $160,000 from the Bayer Fund to support a cluster of programs called IN UNISON. They include the orchestra’s IN UNISON Chorus, which focuses on works by Black composers, and Peer To Peer, a mentorship program for young African American musicians.
The League of American Orchestras is contributing $19,500 to related efforts. The money is earmarked for anti-bias training for the organization’s personnel and an ongoing review of practices that would increase diversity among the organization’s patrons, musicians and other employees.
“How do we recruit? How do we form the talent of the St. Louis Symphony — whether it’s on the board, whether it’s on staff, among our volunteers, in our orchestra, in our choruses,” said President and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard. “And how do we serve the community?”
A growing partnership with the Black church The roots of IN UNISON stretch to 1992, when the orchestra formed the chorus in partnership with a handful of Black churches, whose members populated the group. The network of churches has since grown to 33.
Orchestra musicians play chamber recitals in churches throughout the year. Last month a string quartet, brass quintet and members of the IN
UNISON Chorus performed in celebration of Juneteenth at Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in the Midtown neighborhood of St. Louis. Education programs under the In Unison umbrella
Church last year.
include six scholarships for African American college students studying music in St. Louis, and the Peer to Peer program, in which four Black musicians in middle school and high school are paired with members of the SLSO Youth
Orchestra.
The duos meet regularly for coaching, to attend SLSO performances and occasionally play with orchestra musicians. The organization received a one-time donation to expand the program to 16 student
pairings for the 2020-2021 season.
From onstage to the office St. Louis Symphony created a committee on its board of trustees to explore diversity, equity and inclusion in 2016, Bernard said. A separate task force made up of orchestra members and administrative staff formed during the 2020-21 season. Musicians, administrative staff and board members have participated in an initial anti-bias training. The orchestra has made strides in terms of gender parity. In 2014, Bernard said, it became the first major symphony orchestra in the U.S. to feature a majority of female musicians. But there is a pronounced lack of racial diversity among the organization’s leadership, which is not unusual among the largest arts organizations in St. Louis. Bernard, Music Director Stéphane Denève, board chair Steven L. Finerty and 39 of 44 total board members are white.
“The work will never be done. This is an evolution. It’s an investment in the future, forever. In five years we’ll look back and in 10 years we’ll look back, and some things will take more time than others,” Bernard said. “It’s about, how do you continue to stimulate the flow of ideas that doesn’t just come from me or my music director or board, but the people who come from St. Louis.”
The programs and partnerships give orchestra leaders a chance to solicit suggestions from Black St. Louisans, Vice President and General Manager Erik Finley said. “We can’t do it on our own. We don’t know enough,” Finley said “We have to really listen to our churches, listen to our partners, listen to all of the diverse corners of our community.”
Malena Smith, a graduate fellow with St. Louis Symphony’s In Unison program, performs with orchestra members at New Sunny Mount Missionary
Photo by Bob Olimpio / St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
St. Louis native serves as a member of U.S. Navy’s ‘Silent Service’
By Rick Burke Navy Office of Community Outreach
A St. Louis native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) one of the world’s most advanced nuclear-powered submarines. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High School graduate, joined the Navy four years ago. “I joined to fight the fight that no one else can,” said Davis.
According to Davis, the values required to succeed in the military are similar to those found in St. Louis. “My mother told me that once you start something to see it all the way through,” said Davis. “Be authentic and always be yourself.”
Fast, maneuverable and technically advanced, submarines are some of the most versatile ships in the Navy, capable of silently conducting a variety of missions around the world. There are three basic types of submarines: fast attack submarines (SSN), ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and guided-missile submarines (SSGN).
Fast attack submarines are designed to hunt down and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships; strike targets ashore with cruise missiles; carry and deliver Navy SEALs; carry out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions; and engage in mine warfare. Their primary tactical advantage is stealth, operating undetected under the sea for long periods of time.
The Navy’s ballistic-missile submarines, often referred to as “boomers,” serve as a strategic deterrent by providing
an undetectable platform for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. SSBNs are designed specifically for stealth, extended patrols and the precise delivery of missiles. Their design allows the submarines to operate for 15 or more years
between major overhauls.
Guided-missile submarines provide the Navy with unprecedented strike and special operation mission capabilities from a stealthy, clandestine platform. Armed with tactical missiles and equipped with
superior communications capabilities, SSGNs are capable of directly supporting combatant commander’s strike and Special Operations Forces requirements. Each SSGN is capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, plus a comple-
ago.
ment of heavyweight torpedoes to be fired through four torpedo tubes.
Serving in the Navy means Davis is part of a world that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strength-
ening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“It’s important because of our versatility,” said Davis. “We can do missions from being out on the front lines and leading an assault, or we can be on the other end doing reconnaissance.”
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
“What our undersea forces accomplish every day is vitally important to our nation’s defense,” said Vice Adm. Daryl Caudle, Commander, Submarine Forces. “Our Submarine Force is a critical part of global maritime security and the nation’s nuclear triad. Every day, our submariners are at the tip of the spear, forward deployed and ready - from the depths, we strike!”
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Davis, as well as other sailors, know they are a part of a service tradition providing unforgettable experiences through leadership development and world affairs. Their efforts will have a lasting effect around the globe and for generations of sailors who will follow.
“Serving here is an accomplishment,” added Davis. “I’ve achieved a goal that at first, I never thought I would achieve. When I was young, I never thought about joining the Navy or being on a sub, but here I am and now I am a part of a tight-knit family atmosphere.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High graduate, joined the Navy four years
Photo courtesy of Jaelen Davis
New director of St. Louis Development Corporation says economic justice is the priority
By Corinne Ruff St. Louis Public Radio
Just a short time ago, it was announced that Neal Richardson was hired as the new director of St. Louis Development Corporation, replacing longtime stalwart Otis Williams who recently retired.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones touted Richardson’s credentials in a statement, noting his 14 years’ experience in community and economic development. “Neal Richardson understands that equitable development is more than just brick and mortar. From his time leading the
Business Impact Group at U.S. Bank to his work as president of Dream Builders 4 Equity, I know Neal will encourage forward-thinking, holistic development that opens up opportunities for families across our city,” she said.
Richardson said his vision for the department focuses on economic justice — “which is really addressing the historical barriers, the economic inequities and closing the racial wealth gap, and creating opportunities for everyone to participate in the economic system within our region,” he said. “That’s how we grow together in a stronger and more strategic way.”
He said the focus needs to be on revitalizing neighborhoods in north St. Louis, which have been neglected by developers for decades. The work is personal for Richardson, who grew up in the Lewis Place neighborhood, which is just north of Delmar Boulevard and the Central West End neighborhood.
Over the past four years, he’s built up a place-based model for equitable development through an organization he co-founded, Dream Builders 4 Equity.
The nonprofit works with
Neal Richardson
community groups to identify and rehab dilapidated homes in distressed neighborhoods, including Hyde Park. It also provides jobs for minority contractors and young people. Richardson said his vision for economic development has the potential to dramatically transform people’s lives in neighborhoods that are most in need of investment.
“When you invest in wealth-building opportunities for our youth and for our underserved communities, you will have a reduction in
crime because you’re creating opportunities for people to really think about their future, and not worry about surviving every day,” he said. “We have to create an environment of a thriving mentality, rather than just survival to make it to see the next day.”
Richardson said he plans to use the Equitable Economic Development Framework recently developed by the St. Louis Development Corporation as a jumping-off point. He said there are many strategies that could be implemented, but he wants to focus on using the framework to create a new action plan around four
priorities:
• Equitable and inclusive real estate development.
• Neighborhood revitalization.
• Business empowerment.
• Workforce development. Richardson said his biggest challenge will be to bring politicians, business owners and residents from across the region together to work toward a shared vision. “But in order to do that, we must do it with the focus on economic justice and addressing those historical barriers and gaps that have prevented everyone from having a seat at the table,” he said.
FCB Banks offers a diverse team with diverse products
By FCB
FCB Banks has been serv-
ing the St. Louis area for three generations, under local family ownership and management.
After originally opening banks in New Baden and Albers as early as 1901, customers quickly associated FCB with quality service, competitive rates, and personal customer care. FCB is a full service bank with 16 convenient locations in St. Louis and the Metro East. We are located in the heart of the Florissant’s shopping center point, across from The Shoppes of Cross Keys and are pleased and excited to continue serving Florissant and the surrounding communities.
Our staff at FCB Banks - Florissant has expertise in financial services dating
back to the 1980’s, including decades of leadership in management, lending and community service. Our team has serviced communities all across the St .Louis area from South County to St. Louis City to our current home in North County, resulting in broad experience with every type of customer regardless of their social-economic condition, education or class. With a multi-generational and multi-cultural staff, we are able to connect with and assist our customers at every stage of their financial journey. Since opening our location in Florissant, the team has made it a priority to be involved with community engagement efforts, centered on financial empowerment by partnering with many community and social services organizations.
Lending with a personal touch
FCB is proud to offer knowledge and expertise in a wide range of loan products by being able to assist a variety of homebuyers. Whether a first time homebuyer or the repeat homeowner looking to finance their dream home, we specialize in providing lending options including down payment assistance, real estate investment lending, and smaller loans than traditionally available. The FCB Florissant Loan Officers, Jeannine Murphy and Bria Williams, are eager to help you every step of the way, by fostering a long-term relationship focusing on your goals. We are here to guide you through the entire process and assist you in determining what solution best
fits your need. FCB’s lending solutions are comprised of numerous financing options with competitive rates and low fees. As a bank, we believe community development and stabilization is paramount. Therefore, we have unique programs specifically designed for low and moderate income residents, in communities where there is a need. We have solutions for the homebuyer no matter who you are.
Full service with a diverse product suite
Our knowledgeable and friendly staff is here to build strong relationships with each of our customers, welcoming them to our FCB Banks family. FCB offers more than the standard checking or savings account. Our suite of products
has been developed to meet the needs of every type of accountholder from second chance banking to the financially savvy depositor. In addition to main stream accounts, we also offer onsite bill payment service and postage stamps to help save time waiting in lines. For our customer still desiring savings clubs, we offer Vacation and Christmas club accounts.
FCB offers Investment Services and for those interested in alternatives for accounting; we have a Tax and Bookkeeping department to provide tax services for individuals and/or bookkeeping and payroll services for business owners.
FCB understands that the way customers choose to bank has evolved over the years.
The modern technological conveniences allow for electronic means to transact business and
move money so that customers do not have much need to visit the bank. To accommodate the ever advancing platforms in money management, FCB offers online banking and bill pay, and mobile banking with mobile wallet payment options which include Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Within the Online Banking module, customers have the ease of transferring funds person2person. To closely monitor debit card activity and early fraud detection FCB offers Card Force, a tool where you can turn your debit card on or off plus receive alerts every time your debit card is used. Visit fcbbanks.com or stop by our location for more information. At FCB Banks - Florissant we’ve got you covered…a diverse team with diverse products.
Applications for St. Louis med schools soar, part of the ‘Fauci Effect’
COVID pandemic reshaped future plans for many college students
By Kendall Crawford St. Louis Public Radio
Audra Youmans was just six months into her freshman year at St. Louis University when the COVID-19 pandemic sent her back home to Fenton. But the transition didn’t stop her from learning. As she began volunteering with unhoused communities, she witnessed the impact of the virus, including packed hospitals and widening health disparities.
All of which gave her a clearer vision of what she wanted for her future: to be a doctor.
“I really got to see how that impacts people on a real world, real person level,” said Youmans, a pre-med student. “And that’s what drove me further into fully deciding that this is what I’m going to do.”
Youmans is just one of many whose ideas for their future were shaped by the pandemic. She’s part of a
national movement of young people inspired to pursue medicine — a phenomenon dubbed the “Fauci effect.” Nationwide, medical school applications jumped 18% for this fall, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The trend is mirrored locally with applications for this fall up by about 22% at Washington University and around 28% at St. Louis University from the previous year. Valerie Ratts, Washington University Medical School dean of admissions, said many students likely observed the need for more physicians last year. “Medicine was important, and it became obvious from all the things happening with COVID and what we were all visualizing — this thought that maybe this is a calling, maybe this is something that I want to do,” Ratts said. Zoe Floyd has wanted to
pursue medicine since she was 8 years old, but it was the COVID-19 pandemic that opened her eyes to how
invaluable the work is. “It reinforced the fact that health care will always be something that’s important. Doctors,
physicians and nurses will always be in demand, and there will always be someone who needs your help,” said Floyd, who plans to attend SLU as a pre-med student in the fall.
In addition to the example set by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, medical school admission officers say the surge may be attributed to students having fewer options. In other years, students might have taken a gap year to travel or seized other opportunities before applying to medical school. “None of those opportunities existed last year. With everything shut down, they decided to go ahead and move on and apply to med school,” Ratts said.
The result was a competitive season of applications. With only 100 spots at Washington University and around 175 at St. Louis University, medical school
The journey towards equity
admission officers had to make difficult decisions last year, Ratts said. Despite the long hours of reviewing applications, Hiral Choksi, St. Louis University Medical School dean of admissions, was elated to see more people interested in medicine. She believes it’s a sign of what’s to come. “Everyone has their own health to be looked after, and to have more people who are there to help serve the community is the best thing we could ask for,” Choksi said.
Youmans will begin her application for medical school next summer — which she hopes will lead to a career as a primary care doctor working with the unhoused. “The pandemic really showed the disparity that is in our community right here in St. Louis,” she said. “That’s really where I want to jump in.”
By Rodney White Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Nestlé Purina PetCare
At Purina, we recognize that the path to equity is continuous and respect that each accomplishment along the way will not eliminate the hurt and hurdles seen and unseen.
Through the lens of empathy, transparency and hope, we strive to be a company that cares for each of our associates and embraces their individua contributions because of our differences, not in spite of them. For the first time, this year, we celebrated Juneteenth as a company holiday and are
heartened to see it deemed as a national holiday into the future.
Equity became a central tenant of our diversity and inclusion work as we transitioned from Diversity & Inclusion to Diversity, Equity &
Rodney White
Inclusion. We are actively seeking and supporting more diverse partners – from community organizations and nonprofits to influencers, creatives and agencies. And we are more consciously working to showcase and empower better representation in the veterinary and pet welfare communities to ensure there is a place for everyone in pet care, from pet adoption to the vet clinic. Progress continues to be made, but there is still much work ahead. Our path from education to equity is continuous, and the journey is far from over, but I am proud to acknowledge that we are further along than we once were. And we will continue making progress one step at a time. Because for our associates, families and pets, the truth remains that “No one of us is as good as all of us.”
Sheila R. Grigsby, PhD, RN, MPH, APHN-BC
College of Nursing Fellow for Community Engagement
Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Missouri–St. Louis
Dr. Sheila Grigsby is a community engagement fellow at the University of Missouri–St. Louis who focuses her teaching and research on community health nursing and holistic care with the goal of reducing health disparities in the St. Louis region and preventing chronic disease in the African American community. Grigsby received the 2020 Pillar Award for Health and Wellness from her community partner, 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis, for her work leading nursing students through preventive health screenings in area barber shops.
Effecting positive change and transforming lives
Zoe Floyd, a recent graduate of Metro Academic and Classical High School, celebrates her admission into St. Louis University’s Doisy College of Health Sciences.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
New research finds widening educational inequality in year of COVID
By NNPA Newswire
NWEA — a not-for-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students released today new research that highlights a challenging year in education with most students making lowerthan-typical learning gains in math and reading. The research examined MAP Growth assessment scores from 5.5 million U.S. public school students in grades 3-8 between fall 2020 and spring 2021 and found:
• On average, students across most grades and subject areas made learning gains in 2020-21, but at a lower rate compared to pre-pandemic trends.
• 2020-21 outcomes were lower relative to historic trends. Gains across 202021 were at a lower rate and students ended the year with lower levels of achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points).
• Achievement was lower for all student groups in 202021; historically underserved students (e.g., American Indian and Alaskan Native, Black, and Latino and/or students in high poverty schools) were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades that NWEA studied.
“As our nation continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its impact on every facet of our lives, this new research from NWEA illuminates just how devastating the academic consequences have been for our nation’s children. While
all students have suffered from interrupted instruction, students of color and students from low-income families — who are more likely to receive virtual instruction but less likely to have access to sufficient broadband and devices necessary to access virtual learning — have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s academic burden. It is vital that policymakers, school leaders, and educators act on this crucial research to ensure that students who need the most support receive it,” said Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, in response to the new research.
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts. Attendance, school engagement, social-emotional well-being, family environment, community support, unemployment rates, evictions and other factors should all be looked at holistically to inform actionable plans that are specific to the needs of their own communities as we start the long road to recovery.
“It’s important to remember that academic achievement is only one dimension of students’ education and these data alone cannot paint a complete picture of how young people fared this past year. For instance, our results
cannot speak to the many ways students, families, and teachers have shown incredible resilience and adaptability in the face of immense challenges that completely upended normal life,” said Dr. Karyn Lewis, senior research scientist at NWEA and lead author of the study.
One thing is clear from the national data: students of color and/or those experiencing poverty were impacted at greater levels, exacerbating pre-existing inequities and calling for urgency in focusing resources.
“The data sets from the NWEA study confirm the profound impact COVID-19 had on families and students. They also highlight the stark inequities that existed before March 13, 2020 — the pandemic grossly exacerbated the disparities we see in the educa-
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts.
ty-focused organizations and voices are speaking up even louder now to support our educational community in the long path ahead.
“These data show in very stark terms just how much the pandemic took a toll on learning for all students, especially for students of color and those living in poverty,” said Deborah Delisle, CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education. “Congress is making an historic investment in education with COVID relief funding. It’s time for states, districts, and schools to use that money to create systemic changes that impact students now — and for generations to come — and make our education system more just for every student who walks through our doors.”
tion sector,” said Dr. Michael Conner, Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools in Middletown, CT. “However, the data sets also call for the holistic redesign and transformation of an operating model that can finally ground the principles of innovation, creativity, and equity in every fabric of our schools. At this juncture, we have permission to be bold, creative, innovative, and experimentative for acceleration and recovery. There has not been a time in our industry where we can reimagine the traditional industrial model that historically marginalized students. This is the opportunity where systemic change in the context of policy, investments, and organizational practice can shift the trajectory of every student we encounter.”
While these inequities are
not new, the level of funding now available to help address the need is, providing a critical moment to support those communities most impacted. Along with the new research, NWEA released a series of policy recommendations to advocate for deploying the unprecedented federal funding to communities and student populations most impacted by the pandemic, including investing in school counselors and nurses to address mental health and social-emotional well-being of students, tutoring and extending instructional time, professional development geared at meeting the needs of diverse learners and redesigning state accountability systems to better align with recovery plans. NWEA is not alone in this advocacy. Like minded, equi-
“It comes as no surprise that the shift to distance learning proved challenging for many students, parents, and teachers, but the eye-opening numbers from the NWEA study show the true extent of the impact on student learning, particularly on underserved students,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS. “While many Latino households continue the struggle to recover from the effects of the pandemic, a particular focus must be on ensuring that students can succeed regardless of their racial/ethnic and economic background. As we prepare for the upcoming school year, it is critical that our leaders prioritize investments in our schools so that our students are equipped with the support and resources they need to succeed. Only then can we continue to make progress in bridging the achievement gap.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
St. Louis needs Black-owned businesses to ‘win’
We are in this together
By Kathy Osborn President & CEO Regional Business Council
You always know who’s winning by looking at the scoreboard; the same holds true in business. A successful team puts points on the board, but a quick check of the score reveals that, comparatively speaking, Blackowned businesses in our region are still very much behind in terms of their ability to grow and thrive. And this isn’t just a problem for Black business owners, it’s a problem for all of us. We know that cultivating a diverse workforce adds a competitive advantage for a company, and that diverse companies create a competitive advantage for a region and an economy. For St. Louis to grow, we need to diversify our portfolio of successful businesses, and invest in the ability of Blackowned companies and their leaders to build capacity. There is a difference between participating and winning. Far too often, calls for economic and racial equity result in action that marginally improves the status quo. It is not enough for Black-owned businesses to simply exist. For
them to fully realize their economic potential and benefit to the region, they need to be able to scale up, generate wealth, and serve as economic catalysts in the areas they serve. For the sake of our economy, we don’t only need Black-owned businesses to participate, we need them to win.
Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part. This is why the
n Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part.
Regional Business Council (RBC), a consortium of 100 CEOs of large businesses in the St. Louis region, launched two initiatives aimed at building the capacity of Black-owned businesses. Coaching, mentoring and connections have made a profound impact on most successful businesses. In our experience, we find that something special happens when you put two business leaders together and create opportunities to share ideas. This year, the RBC launched the Black Executive Leadership Initiative, pairing twenty RBC CEOs
from successful companies with the CEOs of twenty local Black-owned businesses who will meet throughout the year to provide high-level business advice and perspective aimed at helping grow their business. This initiative was launched simultaneously with our Inclusive Procurement Initiative, which gives RBC members and their teams the tools needed to diversify their corporate spend and specifically do more business with Black-owned companies. At the end of the day, you can provide a business with all the coaching and information, but it won’t mean as much unless people actually buy their products. From bottled water to uniforms, people and companies make choices about where to spend their money every day, and we want to encourage our members and companies across the region to consider the power and potential impact their corporate spend can have for local Black-owned businesses.
Despite how it might look sometimes, we’re all in this together. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We share a community and an economy, and our collective fate is intertwined. And the fact is that if we want our region to grow, we need to focus on growing Black-owned businesses.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Donald M. SuggsPublisher & Executive Editor
Kevin Jones - Sr. Vice Pres. & COO
Editorial
Alvin A. Reid - News Editor
Danielle Brown - Community Reporter
Sylvester Brown - Deaconess COVID Fellow
Karen Robinson-Jacobs - St. Louis American / Type Investigations / Report for America Business Reporter
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JoAnn Weaver - Health Reporter Dana Rieck - Staff Reporter Wiley Price - Photojournalist
Production
Mike Terhaar - Art Director
Melvin Moore - Graphic Designer
Sales / Marketing
Janice Brown - Acct. Executive
Jessica Jones - Acct. Executive
Pam Simmons - Acct. Executive
Angelita F. Houston - Classified Ad Mgr
Digital
Dawn M. Suggs - Interim Digital Director
James LeBine - Web/IT/Promotions Coordinator
Jennifer Sarti - Dow Jones News Fund Digital Intern
Administration
Robin Britt - Controller
Cathy Sewell - NIE Manager
Kate Daniel - Manager, Publisher’s Office
Mary Easter - Receptionist
Felicia Pearson - Operations Support
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Kathy Osborn
Ready, set, launch
McCrary transitioned from radio to tech thanks to skills she gained through LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program
By Ymani Wince and Lauren Harms Milford STLMade
For Je’Nell McCrary, getting to her career in tech
wasn’t straightforward. For one, she had long held the dream of becoming a radio and media personality. She’d enrolled at Florissant Valley Community College, where she was involved with the campus radio station, and learned about media and broadcast journalism. In her free time, she enjoyed building websites and being creative with social media. Upon graduating college, she was offered a position with a St. Louis-based radio station. As years passed, and McCrary felt she’d gone as far as she wanted with radio, it was time to make a choice. She could either stay in her role in the media, or she could obtain new skills for a different role. “I started in radio right after college, where I stayed for five years,” she says. “In that last year and a half, I felt like I wasn’t being an artist anymore.”
Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.”
While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
That Googling session led McCrary to the world of technology, a universe filled with languages she’d never spoken, including Python and JavaScript. She learned about LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization that offers free train-
ing, mentorship and job placement for people looking to work in the technology sector.
LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program welcomes anyone who identifies as female and offers eight tracks for participants to choose from, including front-end web development, data analysis and the one that McCrary was drawn to, user experience.
McCrary entered the CoderGirl program with the hope that it would unite her with a purpose-filled position where she could use the skills
n Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.” While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
she already had, along with those she’d learn through the program. “I feel like when people think of tech, they think of coding and men who are nerds
that know everything,” she says. “It’s simply not true.”
With CoderGirl, she was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their
With CoderGirl, Je’Nell McCrary was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their career trajectories.
career trajectories. In fact, that’s the one thing she really wants people to know — that there are lots of job opportunities in the tech industry that don’t require highly technical skills, like the role of scrum master that she now holds at Centene Corporation. On her social media accounts and in life, she finds herself explaining what a scrum master is frequently these days — and how others can follow in her footsteps. “I would consider it most like a coach,” she says. “I’m a coach
and a mentor to software developers. The goal for the scrum master is to make sure the team is running smoothly and is agile.”
“You can be a scrum master if you work at McDonald’s,” McCrary says with a smile when talking about how soft skills transfer to roles like hers. Particularly in a field that may feel exclusive to those who are unfamiliar with it, she wants everyone to know that there’s a job in tech for them. “There are lots of roles in tech that don’t require hard technical skills,” she says.
While the decision to leave radio was difficult, and the months-long CoderGirl program tested her endurance, the desire to do meaningful work that mattered to her helped McCrary push through the moments of discomfort to finish the curriculum.
The benefits of completing the LaunchCode program far outweigh the feelings of despair and sadness she once had in her former career. For one, she was able to reach her goal of living the adult life she’d imagined for herself. Since starting a career in tech, she has moved into her own place, and has dreams of traveling once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The skills she learned through CoderGirl and in her role as scrum master have been useful to her in unexpected ways, too. “I use so much of what I learn from my position in my everyday life,” says McCrary. “I’m even helping a lot of my friends with how to communicate.”
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY,
Photo by Michael Thomas
Study reinforces a brighter outlook when America leads world in energy production
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NewsWire
According to a new study, America’s natural gas and oil industry will need to serve as a vital driver of the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
The industry counts as critical to every sector of the U.S. economy and supports millions of jobs across all 50 states, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that compiles the latest available government data.
The 134-page study, which explores the economic impact of the oil and natural gas industry, revealed that the business supported 11.3 million jobs and contributed nearly $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019.
The study authors reported that the impacts are the result of three channels:
• Direct impacts from the employment and production within the oil and natural gas industry.
• Indirect impacts through the industry’s purchases of intermediate and capital goods from a variety of other U.S. industries.
• Induced impacts from the personal purchases of employees and business owners both within the oil and natural gas industry and its supply chain, as well as from the personal spending by shareholders out of the dividends received from oil and natural gas companies.
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
“Every state in the nation has a stake in continued access to U.S. natural gas and oil reserves, which are critical for the nation’s economic recovery,” the study authors wrote.
In short, as the nation continues to recover from the pandemic and the economic downturn that resulted, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as an engine for longterm growth.
“The industry continues
n In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
to create good-paying jobs and deliver reliable American energy to enterprises, including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, education, and more, in communities across the
nation,” researchers concluded. According to the findings, in 2019, the natural gas and oil sector directly and indirectly:
• Supported more than 11.3 million total jobs or 5.6 percent
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
of total U.S. employment.
• Generated an additional 3.5 jobs elsewhere in the U.S. economy for each direct job in the U.S. natural gas and oil industry.
• Produced $892.7 billion in labor income, or 6.8 percent of the U.S. national labor income.
• Supported nearly $1.7 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product, accounting for 7.9 percent of the national total.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
The U.S. Energy
Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
“This represents an opportunity for the U.S. to meet the world’s rising demand for affordable, reliable fuels with homegrown natural gas and oil,” American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers wrote in an email.
“That said, America’s economic outlook depends on federal and state policy proposals that incentivize resource development, modernize energy infrastructure and streamline burdensome regulations,” Sommers maintained.
“The nation’s hard-fought energy security and GDP growth are at stake, even as the natural gas and oil industry continues to drive the nation’s post-pandemic recovery.”
Sommers continued:
“As America’s economy comes back, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.
“Every state across the country – both blue states and red states – rely on American energy to fuel each sector of the economy and support millions of U.S. jobs.
“This study reinforces that America’s economic outlook is brighter when we are leading the world in energy production, and it serves as a reminder of what’s at stake if policymakers restrict access to affordable, reliable energy and make us more dependent on foreign sources.”
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Fifteen years ago, St. Louis native Rosalind Reese noticed a troubling brain drain -- young, talented people of color were leaving St. Louis “in droves,” due to a lack of opportunity, perceived and actual.
Next month, Reese, director of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience leadership program, expects to welcome one of the largest cohorts in the 15-year existence of the program, a year-long focus on developing each participant’s leadership capacity.
Reese, who has been with the program since its inception, hopes to see the program expand and perhaps give aid to young people just launching their careers.
Whether expanding in number or expanding in mission, Reese said the Fellows Experience, which now has more than 870 alums, has more work to do.
“I think now that the focus [worldwide] is definitely on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is still needed,” said Reese, who grew up in North St. Louis. “Although we’ve made some tremendous strides, we still have a long way to go.
“When you look at the CEOs and the C-suite market, we’re still lagging behind as people with those titles,” she added. “So you’ve got some
Leadership program keeps local talent close to home
Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience program anticipates one of largest cohorts in its history
people who have made it, but we still have a very long way to go. And so we continue this work, still trying to get folks in those positions.”
So far the program, which operates under the Greater St. Louis Inc. umbrella, has helped prepare the fellows, most of them St. Louis residents of color, for C-suite posts, entrepreneurship or service on boards of directors. It focuses on “professional development, relationship building, and civic engagement,” according to its website.
Participants must be nominated by their employers, who agree to pay the $4,250 tuition, and they must be ethnically, racially, or gender diverse midto senior-level professionals, working for at least 7 years, be demonstrated leaders in the community and have a college degree or equivalent skill and abilities, the website said.
The largest previous cohort was 105 fellows in the 2018 to 2019 year.
For the upcoming year, which begins in September, Reese said about 100 future fellows are on board from 27 companies with 10 of those companies first-time participants. Not bad for a program Reese wasn’t sure would be welcomed in town.
“When we initially launched, we weren’t sure how receptive the business community would be to a program that was geared to people
of color,” she said. “It had never been done here. It was launched specifically to attract and retain people of color.
“At the time it was launched people of color were leaving St. Louis in droves because they felt that St. Louis was not open to or was not really focusing on people of color. They didn’t have the same opportunities as our white counterparts and so they decided to go elsewhere to look for opportunities.
The inaugural session, from 2006 to 2007, had 21 participants and 15 companies.
After participating in the program Reese said she’s seen “people grow to all levels.”
“They have been promoted to CEO, and, and other C-suite positions,” she added. “They have also taken the information back to their organizations and used it on their individual teams. Not only [has] the individual ... been impacted, but the companies as well,
“The return on investment for the [sponsoring companies] has been phenomenal.”
This year, health care giant Centene alone has about two dozen participants.
“We understand that our workplace diversity makes us a stronger company,” Centene said in a statement. “We value, embrace and leverage the vari-
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
ety of perspectives that our individual differences provide in strengthening the Centene culture.
“The St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellows Experience Program is one of the tools the organization has leveraged to support this commitment for over a decade.
We recognize that fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, promotion, innovation and productivity of all employees, which allows us to transform the health of the community one person at a time.”
Reese said the program also focuses on “myth-busting,” --
countering advice handed down through generations among some families of color that may be harmful to a participant’s career, such as only speak when spoken to.
“When you don’t speak up, when you don’t show up, you miss opportunities,” she said.
Looking ahead, Reese said she would love to see an early-career version of the program designed to keep recent college graduates from making early career mistakes. That will take financial and human resources, but it’s on Reese’s wish list.
Reese said she is proud of what the program has accomplished to date and its role in keeping some of the region’s brightest minds closer to home.
“A lot of these people don’t realize how powerful they really are,” she said after rattling off the accomplishments of several program alums. “During the course of the year, they know that the power’s within them, but they have to learn how to activate it, and how to be intentional in activating that power that they have within themselves. Once they know that it’s okay to do it, you see, the brilliance just starts shining all over the place.”
“They just needed a push.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Building bridges
Natissia Small reduces barriers for St. Louis youth to pursue higher education
By Nancy Stiles STL Made
It all started with a college tour.
As an undergraduate at Southeast Missouri State University, Natissia Small worked as a campus tour guide, giving her a firsthand look into the students (and their parents) considering higher education, and what resources they were missing.
Today, Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
“The Bridge Program focuses on those student experiential activities that are really critical for students to be able to have strengths in and to be able to help them to navigate all of those different arenas that surround the college transition process,” says Small. Bridge provides services to students whether they plan to attend UMSL or not, and Small estimates there isn’t an institution you can think of that hasn’t had one of the program’s graduates. Ultimately, Small and her team want to reduce or remove barriers to secondary education, especially for underserved communities.
“As we continue to look at what’s happening in this moment in society,” Small says, “we have to make sure that we’re doing this for every single student from a range of academic backgrounds, whether it’s public, private or homeschooled, from every racial and ethnic and socio-
economic group. Creating this type of opportunity for students and parents to partake in this program has been really key. That’s one of the things that motivates me the most in doing this work.”
The UMSL staff of five serves more than 5,000 St. Louis-area students and families each year, with the help of community school partners. Since 2003, 100% of Bridge’s students have gone on to attend college – a staggering success rate that speaks to the team’s dedication.
UMSL debuted this groundbreaking program in 1986, and Small began working as a counselor in the program in 2003. Its biggest component is the Express Scripts Saturday Academy: From March through October, high school students attend a 10-Saturday workshop series focused on math, science, written and oral communication as well as career development and college planning, including financial aid and admissions.
Bridge also offers a Summer Academy for high school students, recently launched a Middle School Academy, and even offers a four-part Parent Academy. It facilitates after-school math and science clubs at several high schools, most notably the NextJenn STEM TEAM at Jennings High School, whose members have participated in several competitions.
Though a little over half of Bridge’s graduating seniors attend the Saturday Academy, there are even more specialized programs that work to expose students to an array of post-grad options. Eyes on Diversity, for
Dr. Natissia Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
example, provides hands-on activities around optometry.
The Advocacy Leadership Program demonstrates “the impact of adverse childhood events and how students can be future change agents” by exposing them to a number of related career paths, such as child welfare, education, and medical or legal advocacy.
The program is open to all students in the St. Louis region, and Small’s team works with partners at K-12
well in the Bridge program, and has seen many of her students reap the benefits of Bridge’s unique curriculum.
“One of the great things about the Bridge program is it’s not just about teaching curriculum or content, it’s teaching students how to think critically and how to advocate for themselves – how to see themselves in a different light,” says Taylor.
This kind of education is particularly helpful for students who may struggle with traditional classroom instruction or feel that they’re not “good” at school. “There’s brilliance in all types of students and that’s what the Bridge program helps kids to see, that there’s space for everyone and different avenues to take to achieve your goals,” says Taylor. “Sometimes the journey isn’t a straight one.”
Bridge went virtual due to the pandemic, and though the team is excited to be back in person, the pivot to virtual learning has allowed Small to reach students in rural areas in Missouri and beyond. For Small, this is an exciting look at what Bridge could become over the coming decades.
schools from Festus to Francis Howell. “There’s certainly a lot of word of mouth that has been taking place over a number of years,” says Small. “Our coordinators are actually going into the school buildings, presenting to students and parents. That’s an amazing partnership, and we’re very grateful that our schools trust us and provide that opportunity.”
Kelly Taylor teaches in the Hazelwood school district as
“I see Bridge continuing to grow leaps and bounds among the St. Louis community,” she says. “I would love to see our Bridge program reaching to our rural communities and provide the same access opportunities for them; I would love to see us maximize opportunities throughout the state. I think the opportunities are really endless.”
However, educational support is just one aspect of the program. The team strives to focus just as much on what Small calls “socio-emotional wellbeing.” “Oftentimes we
focus very much so on the academic needs of students, and we don’t really pay attention to the fact that there’s this other component that’s just as critical for us to address, and that is the whole student,” Small says. “Being able to provide families with access to counseling – whether it be through an avenue that we offer here on campus or in the community – is really important. You cannot focus on the whole student if you don’t include that other aspect.”
Ultimately, this holistic approach aims to set students up for lifelong success, not just in academia. Small stresses that Bridge is so much more than a tutoring service.
“It’s not only providing them with the critical academic skills that they’re going to need when they enter college, but it’s also reaffirming the work that they’re being taught in their high schools,” she says. “And for many it’s helping them to have a leg up in the coursework that they’re being taught while they’re in high school.” “That’s one of the other amazing things about the Bridge program: It is focusing on students to matriculate to a college that’s a great fit for them,” Small says, noting that about half of the graduating students do choose UMSL. “And other students are attending institutions that we maintain partnerships with to make sure that as students from the Bridge program matriculate there, that they’re going to be provided with the same resources that we would provide them if they were going to choose UMSL. We’re very proud of that.”
Photo by Michael Thomas
Diversity: A Business Imperative
For Diverse Business Accelerator, bigger is better
Greater St. Louis Inc. Program to grow this year thanks to more than $400,000 in grants
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer of Greater St. Louis, Inc., takes a regional view when assessing the impact of Greater St. Louis Inc.’s four-year-old Diverse Business Accelerator.
Community business growth, she said, translates into a healthier economy for the region.
“We’re about growing, scaling [and] advancing diverse and women-owned businesses,” said Patton, who has been working on issues related to diversity for nearly two decades.
“That’s really what we want to see at the end of the day: the ability to grow revenue, and the ability to add employees.
“Then that creates a situation where everybody wins with the fact that we are growing the regional GDP.”
The accelerator, one of two signature DEI programs operated by Greater St. Louis Inc., is a 12-week program designed to help mid-tier businesses scale up. Of the nearly 30 businesses to complete the program thus far, most have been owned by people of color and women.
An offshoot of a former St. Louis Minority Business Council effort, the program is open to businesses headquartered in the 15-county, bi-state St. Louis MSA that have at
least 51% minority ownership with annual revenue of at least $500,000 and have a growth plan that demonstrates the business’ capacity to increase revenue by 10%, and add at least three employees within 18 months after graduating.
Thanks to grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, totaling $400,000, the program is able to waive the normal $1,000 tuition for each semi-annual cohort through 2024.
Through the program, participants are assigned a mentor and given coaching on everything from human resources and legal affairs to accounting and marketing.
“We’re going to look at all those pieces and the pieces that they need to improve,” Patton said. “It is really looking at the business, and [asking] how do we create the growth, how do we scale it, how will we advance it within the ecosystem?”
Separate funds from the World Wide Technology Foundation allow the program to offer a pitch competition with a large, non-equity cash prize. For each of the first two years of the competition, the prize was $10,000.
“This year we will have the opportunity to offer a $25,000 pitch prize,” Patton said of the competition, in which participants present their business growth and development ideas to a panel of regional potential investors.
In 2019, former U.S.
n “At the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
– Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and president of the Greater St. Louis Foundation
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross noted minorities owned an estimated 29% of classifiable businesses, which were growing at twice the rate of non-minority businesses. At that time, they employed more than 6.3 million Americans and generated more than $1 trillion in revenue.
Patton pointed to different stats, laid out in a 2019 opinion
piece on LendingTree.com, that showed St. Louis’ minority business development efforts lagging by several measures.
The piece ranked the 50 largest U.S. metros in their ability to nurture and grow minority-owned businesses. St. Louis ranked dead last.
It called the rate of longterm success for minority-owned businesses in the
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
Gateway city “dismal,” noting that just 27.3% survive past six years in business, nearly half the rate of the second-worst city, Kansas City, Missouri.
Only 18% of minority-owned companies in the region had annual revenue greater than $500,000, the report said.
“If we had less racial disparity in our community, we would have added thousands more businesses, which would have employed thousands of individuals,” Patton said.
The ‘hiring’ part of the equation is especially important in communities of color.
“What we know about small business, minority-owned business, is they tend to hire
in their communities, and they will tend to grow in their communities,” she said, “which will mean that the communities will thrive and flourish. So at the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
Bryon Pierson is a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, a website that helps college-bound students apply for financial aid, scholarships, grants and off-campus housing. Pierson, who once had more than $60,000 in student debt according to the company website, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
The program also helped Pierson hone his pitch and get helpful feedback.
“Thanks to DBA, I was able to craft a pitch that led to me raising over $70,000” and adding nine full- and part-time employees, Pierson said in a statement.
Greater St. Louis, Inc. is accepting applications for the program through Aug. 27 at https://www.greaterstlinc. com/diverse-business-accelerator-application/
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
By Art Holliday News Director, 5 On Your Side
How 5 On Your Side will handle police booking photos, or ‘mug shots’
For decades, it has been standard practice in many newsrooms when someone is arrested to use the booking photo released by law enforcement, commonly referred to as a mug shot. It is sometimes debatable what that photo really adds to the story.
KSDK 5 On Your Side is mindful of the effect mug shots have on anyone charged but not convicted, especially people of color. Booking photos can reinforce negative stereotypes and become a barrier to housing and employment, regardless of whether the person is convicted of a crime. In the digital age, a mug shot can last forever
online, even if someone is acquitted or the charges are dropped. If the only time our audience sees a Black face is in a mug shot, it can have a cumulative and negative effect.
KSDK has the duty to seek and report positive stories in our more diverse communities, and we believe making sure mug shots are used for specific reasons represents positive change. While this policy is primarily about booking photos, commonly referred to as mug shots, it could apply to any image or photo of someone suspected of a crime.
KSDK has adjusted its guidelines that determine whether we will use a mug shot. The biggest difference in our updated plan is the requirement that a news manager has to be involved in
the booking photo decision.
One individual will not make the decision. Instead of using mug shots simply because law enforcement makes them available, KSDK will be thoughtful about minimizing harm to people accused but not yet convicted of a crime, while protecting the public and giving viewers information to keep them safe.
We’re explaining our policy in the interest of being transparent with our news audience.
1. News manager input: Use of any mug shot requires talking to a news manager.
2. Be fair and minimize harm: When KSDK covers
initial criminal allegations, we will minimize harm and be thoughtful when using mug shots. Part of our decision to use a mug shot will hinge on whether KSDK intends to follow the story until its conclusion. If charges are dropped or a suspect is acquitted, would we run an update story? If not, we should not use the booking photo. We will still publish mug shots in cases of high news value; for example, if the person is a public figure, such as an elected official, or when a crime is especially high-profile.
3. Danger to the public: Mug shot use could be justified if there is danger to the
public. Police may believe the suspect of the crime is still on the loose and it is important that our audience know what the suspect looks like.
4. Additional victims: Mug shot use could be justified if police have arrested a suspect, but officials believe there could be additional victims and the public needs to know what this person looks like to determine if they too may have been harmed by the suspect.
5. Digital and social media: KSDK staff will not use mug shots as the main image on a story or social media unless it meets the “danger to the public” or “additional victims” criteria. Viewers will have to click on a story to see a mug shot that meets our other use criteria.
6. High profile case: Use
of a booking photo could be justified if a crime has become a national story or regional story. KSDK will give consideration to the age of the accused and the severity of the crime.
7. Follow-up coverage: Before we continue to use a mug shot, we will consider other photos or video available, so that use of a mug shot is not necessary.
8. Common names: If John Smith or Bill Johnson is suspected of committing a crime, using the booking photo might prevent confusion because the names are so common.
Art Holliday is the News Director of 5 On Your Side. He is reachable at aholliday@ ksdk.com.
Art Holliday
The St. Louis American Staff
In November 2020, Schnucks launched a supplier diversity program, designed “to promote supplier participation reflective of the diverse communities throughout the Midwest in which Schnucks operates.”
The program, which has now been running for almost one year, had the initial goal of identifying local suppliers “that are at least 51 percent owned, operated and managed by individuals that are: disabled, LGBT, military veterans, minorities and/or women.”
In July of that same year, during a national reckoning on issues of diversity, inclusion, and racial justice, Schnucks announced partnerships with several local Black-owned restaurants, including Cathy’s Kitchen, Royally Baked, Bold Spoon Creamery, and Ms. Piggies’ Smokehouse.
Specialty Deli Category Manager Andy DeCou and other members of the Schnucks team sought out local restaurant owners who were interested in partnering with Schnucks to reach more customers. “At Schnucks, we’re committed to supporting our neighboring restaurants at a time when many are struggling because of pandemic restrictions on space and occupancy,” DeCou said. “After reading ‘Black-Owned Restaurants
Schnucks works with diverse vendors, local Black owned restaurants
to Support in St. Louis Right Now’ in Feast Magazine, we called these restaurateurs and invited them to sell their unique offerings in our stores.”
Both the supplier diversity program and the Black owned restaurant partnerships are part of Schnucks’ overall diversity and inclusion plan, titled
“Unity is Power.” Schnucks’ website states that the mission of the Unity is Power program is as follows: “We are creating a workplace where our Black teammates, as well as teammates of Color and diverse backgrounds, feel they belong and can grow their careers because they feel
valued, and can see a path forward in our company through intentional inclusion in new management development programs.”
One of the Black vendors whose products are being sold in Schnucks stores is Joshua Danrich, also known as Mr. Fresh, who is just 12 years old.
By Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American
Danrich and his mother say their products have a social mission, according to their website: “Our mission is to use this platform to promote emotional, mental, physical, and financial maturity, as well as self-esteem and self-confidence in African American boys.”
The scents are $7, and are sold in several
tions. Schnucks employs nearly 15,000 people across 100 stores in Missouri, Illinois,
and
by
and have a
are
Like People? Like Driving?
Part-time driver positions start at $17.50 an hour. Health insurance offered following 90 days of employment.
Applicants must be positive, reliable individuals with solid work experience and a clean driving record. Applicants must also pass USDOT physical and drug test, and with ACT assistance, obtain IL CDL B license with air brakes and passenger endorsements. ACT is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.
Cathy Jenkins (center) is the owner of Cathy’s Kitchen in Ferguson. Shown here with her daughters and employees. Micah (left) and Cathy L. (right).
Schnucks loca-
Indiana, Iowa
Wisconsin. They
owned
the Schnuck family,
corporate headquarters based here in St. Louis.
BUILDING A MORE DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE
THAT'S OUR BUSINESS.
We’re the Regional Business Council. Our members include CEOs of over 100 of the area’s leading businesses, generating over $65 billion in revenue and employing over 120,000 professionals. RBC members are passionate about St. Louis and giving back. Our strength, resources, and expertise allow us to act quickly to significantly impact areas of need as they arise. Improving the St. Louis region is a big job, but that’s our Business.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are at the core of everything we do. Whether it's helping attract, develop and retain our region's talent, promoting the opportunities and benefits of skilled careers, supporting minority-owned businesses, or working with key partners, the RBC and its members are committed to advancing equity in our region.
Sue McCollum, Vice Chair
Tony Thompson, Vice Chair
Jimmy Williams, Vice Chair
Kathy Osborn, President & CEO
Vic Richey, Chair
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion A Business Priority
‘It’s more than just the numbers’ Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
~ Page 7 ~
Christopher Tinson
SLU African American Studies program
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
~ Page 31 ~
Min Jung Kim
‘A dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. This makes Kim the first non-white man to be named Art Museum director.
~ Page 3 ~
Nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
Dreamline Pathways:
Introducing minority high school students to careers in health care
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
The
Of
St. Louis American Nationwide, medical school applications are up. Some refer to this phenomenon as the “Fauci effect,” crediting the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for inspiring a new generation of medical professionals. Others attribute this trend to the plethora of doctors, nurses, researchers, and other health care professionals they’ve seen battling the worse global pandemic in
more than 100 years.
Whatever the reason, nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
The good news is that medical
school applications are on the rise. But the reality is that racial and ethnic minorities are still woefully underrepresented in health care professions. While African Americans, Hispanics/ Latinos and American Indians together represent more than one-fourth of the US population, they comprise less than nine percent of nurses, six percent of physicians and five percent of dentists, according to report by
See DREAMLINE, page 21
By Danielle Brown The St. Louis American
Emily Pitts demonstrates a strong passion for implementing increased diversity, equity and inclusion practices within her corporate infrastructure.
n Emily Pitts has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner.
She has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner. Part of her tenure has involved working as a financial advisor for nine years, helping clients meet personal financial goals and objectives. She was the general partner over inclusion and diversity, where created and oversaw the company’s inclusion and diversity strategy. She launched the firm’s first Courageous Conversation Program (a protocol created by Glenn E. Singleton that works to dismantle racial disparities within systems and organizations) to aid the CEO Diversity Action Plan.
She also executed the firm’s first Cross-Cultural Development Program (CCDP), which assists diverse financial advisors in serving more clients by showcasing more confidence,
Maryville multicultural scholars alumni return
Program has grown to 150 scholars
to guide students like themselves
Sophie Hurwitz
The St. Louis American
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013. When he entered the program, he was one of “maybe about 30” students with the scholarship, which provides up to 75% of tuition and places students within a cohort dedicated to building an inclusive campus culture. Now, the program has grown to around 150 students, Gray said — a massive jump from when he began his time at the school. And Gray himself, like many other
Roslyn Croft
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Emily Pitts
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
By Chris King For
The St. Louis
‘A
dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
A conversation with Min Jung Kim, the first St. Louis Art Museum director who is not a white man
American
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, she will be the 11th director of the 142-year-old museum – and the first who is not a white man. A graduate of Wheaton College who holds a master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, Kim leaves a position as director and CEO of the New Britain Museum of American Art. She also was recently appointed chairman of the Connecticut Arts Council by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.
The St. Louis American: Why did you want to come to St. Louis to direct the art museum?
Min Jung Kim: Well, that’s an easy question to answer in that the St. Louis Art Museum is so highly regarded within the field. I have known about the St. Louis Art Museum throughout my career, and I have always greatly admired it for its extraordinary world-class collection that is encyclopedic with a great range of depth and spanning across all centuries, geographies, cultures, and perspectives. It is such a wellestablished, well-regarded
museum. I knew about it, to begin with, but it was in the process of getting to know it more during the consideration for becoming its next Barbara B. Taylor Director that I really began to dig a little bit deeper in understanding how truly remarkable the museum is. Given its standing within
the community, given its long and distinguished history, all of that notwithstanding the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum also embarked upon a diversity report and a listening project were two sets of very, very important documents among many others that really identified for me what a special and
unique museum this is.
The St. Louis American: What are your thoughts on the museum’s Romare Bearden Fellowship?
Min Jung Kim: The Bearden fellowship as you know, is one of the nation’s
Saint Louis Art Museum
Director Min Jung Kim shared the story of her journey in America and vision for the future of the institution she now leads during her introductory press conference on June 22.
currently showing that it comprises 37% of ethnically diverse visitors is also quite remarkable. Not all museums can proudly claim that. But again, with all of these accomplishments and achievements and progress notwithstanding, the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum still found the importance of the diversity report — that investigates the ways in which the St. Louis Art Museum can apply the principles of diversity and inclusion to virtually everything that the institution does, not only in terms of the collection, exhibition and visitor engagements, but everything from its finances to how its endowment investments are aligned with these diversity principles— this kind of holistic approach as well as the level of specificity that produced a 26-page report with 150 recommended action points is really very, very impressive. So, it was really everything that the St. Louis Art Museum has been doing and is poised to continue to do in many regards as the museum views the area of diversity to be of vital importance.
first and oldest pipeline programs designed to bring greater diversity to the art world, and the fact that St. Louis Art Museum has had this history and tradition for nearly three decades is really quite extraordinary. I also thought that the current St. Louis Art Museum audience demographic
The St. Louis American: What can you bring to the mix as a woman looking at this collection and programming and as a Korean that your predecessors may not have with the different perspectives you bring?
Min Jung Kim: Well, two
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Continued from page 1
things. As you noted, the St. Louis Art Museum has indeed had extraordinary leaders in the past, and I think for me, this is an extraordinary privilege for me to be able to build upon the legacies of my predecessors who have really led the institution in such a way for me to be able to come into a very, very solid, well established, well-regarded institution. It is really a tribute to the great leadership that has happened in the past including most recently my predecessor Brent Benjamin.
That said, I am so honored indeed now to become the St. Louis Art Museum’s next Barbara B. Taylor Director and indeed as its first woman director in its 142-year history. And Chris as you’ve noted, I am indeed not only of Korean descent, I was actually born and raised in Seoul, South Korea until I first came to the United States at the age of 18 to attend college and then returned again in 1996. And I have been in this country since, and I became a U.S. citizen shortly thereafter.
As a woman, and now an Asian-American woman and a first-generation immigrant, I would hope to bring a perspective that recognizes that there are indeed multiple perspectives out there. In fact, it is one of the great beauties of diversity that it is a recognition of a give-and-take. It’s about moving away from history bound assumptions and preconceived notions of any one person, population, culture, history, or viewpoint as a monolith, but rather it’s about recognizing that there are multiple perspectives and stories that can coexist and really enrich our lives as individuals and as members of a community in celebrating the rich and varied complexity of the world in which we all live together. And, so, in doing so, what I hope to bring to this is to also position the museum in such a way that we can continue to
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
open ourselves up to exchange in a dialogue of the varied and multiple perspectives that I think is much needed today more than ever.
The St. Louis American: How do you privilege diversity in the large while still speaking to a Blacker constituency than many museums are responsible to?
Min Jung Kim: Visiting St. Louis specifically, one of the first things that I’m really excited about is going into the community and meeting people. I think the first period during my tenure is really going to be about meeting people, listening to people, and having a better understanding of what comprises the St. Louis community so the museum can reflect the community far more accurately and in a much more engaging way. And I think in doing that, to be able to reflect our communities will also better reflect essentially what art and culture are designed to do: playing a critical role in leaving evidence and traces of not only our previous past but as well as a continued expression and exploration of the human condition as a whole.
And it is the role of the museum to take these extraordinary objects by artists to provide further context to be able to weave together insightful stories of not only our past but that are understanding of our present and future as part of a continuum of ideas. And in exploring some of our past, also recognizing that there are multiple histories as part of that narrative. So, I think, if anything, I’m excited that as I get to know the St. Louis community and its diverse communities — and in particular its African American communities better — we continue to make room for these multiple stories and histories and perspectives to be prominently featured as part of some of the great stories the St. Louis Art Museum will be proud to present and share.
The St. Louis American: Has anyone made any introductions for you to our Asian community?
Min Jung Kim: I have indeed been very, very warmly welcomed albeit remotely by representatives of the Asian community, all of whom I
am really looking forward to meeting in person once I’m on the ground.
The St. Louis American: Are there any aspects of the collection or individual pieces that you’re particularly excited to have at the St. Louis Art Museum?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, you know with the more than 36,000 objects that the St. Louis Art Museum has in collection, I think individually every single work is really a treasure in and of itself.
I think what also makes [the collection] so extraordinary is the collective strength the collection as a whole brings in being able to make virtually endless cultural narratives possible — not only of a particular era or a particular culture or geography. I think the possibilities that exist that can transcend time and place and to be able to draw upon themes and subjects that make art evermore relevant to our society today. And so rather than the one, the fact that the opportunities exist for the many is what’s truly exciting about the St. Louis Art
Museum collection.
The St. Louis American: Are there things from your bag of tricks or best practices that going into this position you’re thinking you want to implement?
Min Jung Kim: The St. Louis Art Museum is such a well-established institution that it already has been adhering to best practices, so that part is solid. From my personal leadership capabilities based on my experience, I guess one of the things I continue to benefit from is being surrounded by incredibly smart, talented, dedicated people. As a leader I think I can only be as successful as the team that I can assemble, comprising some of the best colleagues that I know of. We all work collectively together towards the mission of a museum so that’s probably one thing.
The other thing is to always tell the truth. I think truth, honesty, and consistency are really the only ways I can operate, and that has done me well in virtually every conversation, every negotiation, every discussion because at the end of the day consistency and truth is the only thing that will prevail.
The St. Louis American: What are you reading now? What book is on your bedstand?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, which one? I’m constantly reading several books all at once. So, it’s kind of hard to tell and it really depends on whether you’re asking which book I’m reading in print and which books I’m reading by listening to the audiobook. But let’s see, I am reading The Broken Heart of America. And I am just beginning a book called DMZ Colony — not to be confused with ZMD — it’s a book by Don Mee Choi about the Korean peninsula and she’s put together a really wonderful book of prose, poetry, drawing, and photos to look back to the memory of other memories. And I’m constantly listening to various podcasts which I enjoy
very much.
The St. Louis American: Tell us a favorite podcast or two.
Min Jung Kim: As of late, I’ve really been enjoying “Revisionist History” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a great podcast where essentially he takes particular subjects, and he looks at it from a different perspective so it’s a fun podcast.
The St. Louis American: What’s your comfort music?
Min Jung Kim: Oh gosh, I am so eclectic it really kind of depends on my particular mood. It ranges from classical to jazz to opera to traditional Korean music. It really sort of ranges. It’s hard to say.
The St. Louis American: Mozart or Beethoven?
Min Jung Kim: Bach.
The St. Louis American: The Beatles or the Stones?
Min Jung Kim: The Stones.
The St. Louis American: What’s a recent vacation? Where do you go when you want to get away from it all?
Min Jung Kim: Part of my personality is that I never want to actually get away from it all, there’s so much to explore with what already is. I haven’t honestly been able to take a vacation as of late, but not that it’s necessarily a vacation, an annual trip I really love to do is to go back to Korea because all of my family is still there. So that’s something that I like to do to connect with my family and just to see the constant transformation of the country. Every single time I go it’s amazing. So much changes and happens at the same time and yet some things never change. It’s part of its 5000year history, things will always be the same, so it’s a nice mix.
Saint Louis Art Museum Director Min Jung Kim was joined (from left) by Charles Lowenhaupt, president of the museum’s board, and Keith Williamson, Centene Charitable Foundation president and search committee chair, during her introduction to staff members on June 22.
Photo by Tim Parker
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At BJC, your career will benefit from on-the-job learning and mentoring from some of the most accomplished
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Carpenters Union’s Career Connections program ramps up
Special to the American
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council
(CRC) is working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis, and a unique program is helping.
The Regional Council’s Career Connections program brings cutting-edge technical education to schools across St. Louis, helping local employers fill a skills gap in the vocational trades and offering a pathway to a middle-class career for young people in the region.
“Students and their families sometimes become so focused on earning a four-year degree that they overlook or are unaware of vocational options,” said Dr. Art McCoy, former Jennings School District Superintendent of Schools.
“Career Connections provides students an opportunity to learn about skilled trades in a way that prepares them for a successful career. It has been a wonderful addition to our schools.”
The Career Connections Program works in partnership with educators to provide students with a practical CTE education taught by skilled instructors. With more than 1,700 students in 35 programs across our region, our graduates have gone on to earn six-figure salaries as union carpenters. Local high schools include Roosevelt, Beaumont, Jennings, South Tech, North Tech and many others.
“Career Connections helps ensure St. Louis has the next generation of skilled workers it needs to continue growing,” said Al Bond, Executive
Working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis
Secretary-Treasurer of the CRC. “The program provides a leg up to students, who start their career with knowledge and skills that other apprentices don’t have, and it helps ensure a pipeline of talented workers to the local employers who hire them.”
Along with vocational train-
ing, the program also includes preparation in the skills that research shows employers value most, including: goal setting, positive attitude, punctuality, teamwork, and taking initiative. The various skills Career Connections graduates learn help make them employable, while local companies
Celebrating Diversity
remain competitive and ensure St. Louis can build high-quality, safer, lowercost construction projects.
“It is very difficult to find enough skilled workers to perform all the work we have available,” said Bill Lowery, Project Executive with PARIC. “There are projects I would love for us to bid on, but we don’t have the workers available to do new projects in addition to projects we are already committed to. We are glad to see a program like Career Connection stepping in to fill that need for skilled workers.”
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council (CRC) represents more than 22,000
‘It’s more than just the numbers,’ Tarlton diversity manager says Roslyn Croft has expanded diversity, opened up dialogue
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
The construction industry isn’t known for its diversity, but Roslyn Croft has worked to change that reality at Tarlton Corporation by not only expanding the demographics of the contractors it hires but by engaging its employees in meaningful dialogue about race and diversity.
“As we look at our contract span, it’s great to watch it grow over the years from when we first started to where we are now, but you know — it’s more than just the numbers,” Croft said.
“If someone who may not have been open to dialog a year ago finally looks at what we’re posting on our diversity dialogue teams channel and it opens their mind and they’re willing to come and have a conversation or they’re willing to have a conversation with someone in their family who may be closed-minded and may not be open to a different point of view, than that’s success to me.”
Tarlton is celebrating its 75th year in business this year and is a St. Louis-based, $200 million general contracting and construction management firm specializing in complex new construction and renovation. Croft, Tarlton’s diversity manager, has been with the company since 2009 and has worked on Tarlton’s diversity efforts since 2012.
scious bias.
may not have had that same experience. And so, we try to have those dialogue sessions at least every other month to allow people the opportunity to learn something and to try to grow from within themselves and also share their experiences.”
She said one of the biggest signs of growth in the company’s diversity effort is that she now doesn’t have to be involved in conversations on all the projects going on at the company because everyone knows that it’s their responsibility to provide inclusion and to make opportunities for people who may not normally have them.
In June, the company was named the 2021 Contractor of the Year by the American Subcontractors Association Midwest Council and in the last two months, Croft managed Tarlton’s launch of a diverse contractor registration page on Tarlton’s website and organized a Tarlton virtual subcontractor outreach event.
“I really do love what I do, and I think the biggest part of it is because I’m able to see what an impact it can have,” Croft said.
Croft maintains the com-
pany’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall. In 2020, Tarlton spent 19.8% of its total project spending with diverse suppliers – the highest in its 75-year history.
Croft also oversaw Tarlton’s launch of a diverse subcon-
tractor registration page on the website so the company can get to know more firms and the services they offer. She also chairs Tarlton’s Diversity Committee, which meets monthly to plan educational and culture-building activities and discussions for our company. She said she has coordinated training sessions on uncon-
“I think probably the most impactful dialogue that we’ve had was after the death of George Floyd,” Croft said. “We had a conversation with our team, and we probably had 70 people that joined the call, and we had several people share their experience with policing and I think that opened the eyes of some people that
“It’s little things, it may not be a big thing in somebody’s eyes, but it can make a big difference,” she said. Croft serves on multiple community and industry organization boards and committees including the Associated General Contractors of Missouri Diversity Committee, AGC of Missouri Education Foundation, St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers Diversity Committee, Missouri Women in Trades, PEOPLE Advisory Board, and St. Louis Public Schools Career and Technical Advisory Committee. She sees herself at Tarlton until her retirement, working to expand dialogue and diversity in all facets of the business.
“I feel like as long as people are willing to challenge themselves and their mindset then we have lots of space to grow in,” Croft said.
BOLD LEGACY
Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
POWERING THE QUALITY OF LIFE
We power the quality of life not only through the energy we provide, but also through our engagement with and support of the communities and people we serve in their journey to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion.
Botanical Garden encourages residents to make the most of their garden
By Missouri Botanical Garden
“There’s never been a better time for all of St. Louis to experience the Garden,” says Amanda Shields, who in February joined the Missouri Botanical Garden’s leadership team as the Garden’s first-ever director of diversity, inclusion and belonging. “And there have never been more ways to take advantage of this oasis in the city and its offerings for residents throughout St. Louis City and County.” Shields refers not only to the Garden’s status as one of the most popular attractions in the St. Louis area — it has been consistently ranked #1 on TripAdvisor’s “15 Best Things to Do in Saint Louis” list for more than a decade — but also the learning opportunities and community engagement that have helped position the iconic institution as a resource for the region, as well as one of the top botanical research centers in the world.
From early entry on Wednesday and Saturday mornings — free to all St. Louis City and County residents — to evening hours featuring live music and drinks and weekend-long cultural festivals, the Garden offers residents the perfect destination for an entire day of adventures or just a quick walk through some of the most beautiful scenery in the city. Among its 79 acres visitors can figuratively travel the world, from the secluded Mediterranean setting of the Bakewell Ottoman Garden to the expansive 14-acre Japanese Garden that
features winding pathways surrounding a picturesque lagoon where visitors can feed hungry koi fish or relax near multiple waterfalls. The nearby George Washington Carver Garden pays tribute to the pioneering African-American botanist and Missouri native whose work profoundly influenced American agriculture. A shady English woodland is just around the corner from the
Carver Garden, and a few more steps bring visitors to the towering palm trees and tropical rainforest environment inside the glass-dome Climatron® Reflecting the international scope of the Garden’s research and conservation efforts, the Climatron is home to some of the rarest plants in the Garden’s living collections, and in the world. One species on display inside the Climatron,
mauritianus, can only be found one place in the wild — growing on the side of a cliff on the island of Mauritius.
Just outside the Climatron is perhaps the most popular spot in the Garden, at least for younger visitors — the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden, where families can explore caves and treehouses, cool off in a large splash pad and enjoy
other outdoor activities inspired by Missouri’s many natural environments. St. Louis residents receive free admission to the Children’s Garden on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m.
For those who prefer the outdoor environment of their own backyard, the Garden’s William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening is an invaluable resource. Visitors
can draw inspiration from the dozens of demonstration gardens on the Kemper Center for Home Gardening’s grounds or receive specific advice from its staff of gardening experts, whose insights on thousands of gardening, landscaping, and plant care topics are also freely available online at gardeninghelp.org. For a deeper dive, the Garden also hosts hundreds of hands-on, virtual, and hybrid classes in a variety of areas, from gardening to cooking to sustainable living.
Learning opportunities are not just confined to the Garden’s campus in south St. Louis. In addition to the Garden’s other public sites — the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield and Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Missouri — the Garden sponsors and partners on community outreach programs throughout the metropolitan St. Louis area. From community beautification efforts like the Sunflower+ project that transforms vacant land to the Outdoor Youth Corps program, which provides area youth with employment opportunities and on-the-job training alongside Garden staff, the Garden is committed to helping St. Louis and its residents continue to grow. “This is a Garden for all,” Shields explains, “and especially for our neighbors throughout the region. We want to continue to find new ways to both engage the St. Louis community in our mission of plant discovery and conservation and provide residents with resources they can’t find anywhere else.”
We are committed to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth, new investment,and job creation in the innovation district extend to all parts of our community.
Nesocodon
The interior of the Temperate House
Photo by Claire Cohen
Earl Ming is Alberici Constructors’ go-to guy at St. Louis City Stadium
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
Earl Ming started playing soccer as a child, he liked it and was good at it too.
While studying engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, he played with a Georgia Tech club soccer team.
He no longer plays, but he is still quite involved with soccer, and its future in St. Louis.
Ming is a senior project manager with Alberici Constructors. Currently he is serving as project manager of all structural concrete for St. Louis City Stadium near Union Station, the future home of the MLS expansion franchise St. Louis City.
He has been a senior project manager since May, after serving as a project manager on various projects for more than six years.
“I now take on larger projects, my responsibility has escalated,” he said.
“But the day-to-day management is pretty much the same as prior.”
His day at the stadium site starts early and has an interesting twist.
At 6 a.m. a “plan of the day” meeting is held. An hour later, the entire project team gathers in the bowl of the stadium for a 10 to 15-minute session of stretching and safety discussion.
“The whole site, workers and all levels of management. We all stretch. We also have music playing,” Ming said.
Ming’s firm is part of the tri-venture of Mortenson,
His firm cites diversity as ‘core value’
Alberici and L. Keeley. From outside the stadium, it is obvious the workforce is diverse.
Ming is a member of Alberici’s Diversity Committee, which he says is “defining a blueprint to attract more minorities and women
into the crafts.”
“I have seen a lot of change, even before the committee. We still have work to do, but we’re headed down the right path.”
According to its website, “As one of Alberici’s core values, our commitment to
diversity and inclusion begins at the highest level of our corporate leadership team and is pervasive throughout the entire company.
“We foster an environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas openly to help reach their potential,
knowing they have the full support of managers and peers.”
Ming, who grew up in the St. Louis area, had an uncle who was an engineer and served as a mentor.
“But even with having my uncle as a role model, when I
was growing up, I didn’t know how to get here. We have to let students know there is an education component, to show there is a pathway,” he said.
“We have to make that bridge to our industry.”
Ming made the bridge from St. Louis to Atlanta for college, in part, because he has relatives in that metropolitan area.
After graduation, he was an intern with the Kwame Building Group and was hired as a project engineer in 2003.
During his over two years with Kwame, Ming led the Sverdrup|Parsons|Kwame Joint Venture team, which provided Program Management services for Phase I of the Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport Expansion Project.
The project included the acquisition of an additional 1,500 acres of land, demolition of commercial and residential structures on that land and relocation of seven major transportation arteries to the west and north of the Airport.
While at Kwame, Ming said he got “a better feel” of the industry.
“It’s how I was introduced to Construction,” he said.
He joined Alberici in 2005, and his career has continued growing skyward – just like St. Louis City Stadium.
“It is funny. I do have a passion for the sport,” he said.
An easy goal would be guessing that Ming and his family will be part of the crowd when St. Louis City plays its first home game in 2023.
Earl Ming, Alberici Constructors senior project manager, played soccer as a youth and on a club team in college. He is now in charge of all structural concrete for the stadium.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Heartland Coca-Cola committed to education, economic development
By Heartland Coca Cola St. Charles
It was May 25, 2020, and once again the country wrestled with the pain of racial injustices that people of color face daily….this time by witnessing a traumatizing eight-minute forty-six second video of the senseless death of George Floyd. As shock and anger reverberated, a persistent cry to address the long-standing issues of racism, social injustice, and racial biases resonated worldwide. Heartland Coca-Cola echoed these sentiments and committed to addressing these problems head on. Immediately, leadership began working on action items and communication channels used to keep employees well-informed of the Covid19 pandemic were now used to address the pandemic of racism. Heartland listened to the fears, concerns, and experiences of discrimination during companywide “We Hear You” live events on race. Experts were brought in to help educate and improve the culture of inclusion and acceptance.
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed on February 25, 2017, by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman. The Bridgman’s have always had a fervor for putting people first and serving communities. This same passion is indoctrinated into the foundation of Heartland, “We will be a positive influence and active participants in the communities in which we operate,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” These
are the mantras in everything Heartland does. Racism, inequality, and prejudices of any kind go against Heartland’s values and has no welcomed place in its business or practices.
In July of 2020, Heartland’s Chief Operating Officer, Rick Frazier announced the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Council. Justin Bridgeman, executive director began serving as the executive sponsor. Immediately, Justin’s
enthusiasm for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) was evident. He believes in the importance of embracing differences—race, political, gender, religious and more, and wasted no time demonstrating his leadership and dedication to being a conduit of change. Justin’s plan for change is not only immediate—”It is important that we put an emphasis and focus on our work in the DE&I space not just because it affects us in the
here and now, but because of the impact it will have on our future”—it’s generational and goes beyond the organization. “Heartland plans to be a changemaker in education, volunteerism, and economic development of the communities it serves.” Justin envisions Heartland having a greater impact in the St. Louis area and in helping remove the constraints of racism.
Justin understands that change within spans to
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed in 2017 by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman.
change throughout. A steering committee for diversity and inclusion was formed along with a strategic plan to properly engage in DE&I issues within Heartland.
Hometown DE&I councils were created to closely serve its Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas hometowns.
Heartland believes education is a key component in finding suitable courses of action to successfully remedy problems. Heartland began
sharing information on the history of racism and the impact it has had within the communities it serves, such as St. Louis. Internally, the “LEAD Method” was developed. LEAD is an acronym for Listening and Learning, Empower and Engage, Advocate and Articulate and Develop. This process is a guide used by DE&I committees throughout Heartland to develop educational material such as weekly diversity awareness notifications, DE&I pamphlets and posters, newsletters, focal groups, future training sessions and more.
Committee member, Robin Blanchard a warehouse supervisor states, “the growth and the support I have received has been wonderful. Diversity and inclusion are an important foundation at Heartland. This is the first employer I’ve had that has created a council for employees as a place for their voices to be heard.”
Jeff Oberman, vice president of the People Team states, “The DE&I Council provides insight and expands awareness of critical DE&I topics enabling us to have better conversations about diversity and social justice at work, as well as in our personal lives. There are many individuals and organizations giving their all to positively influence DE&I and social justice. I really appreciate how Heartland’s Hometown DE&I Councils are comprised of employees that reflect the diversity of our organization and the communities we serve.”
Justin recognizes that there is still a lot of work to do in diversity and inclusion. He and the Heartland family are committed to doing their part.
We stand in opposition to economic inequities, racism, violence and other injustices that tear apart our society. We will continue to conduct meaningful research, convene conversations across industries and pursue initiatives that advance equity, inclusion, economic mobility and resilience for all. The pursuit of those aims is at the root of our ambition as an institution and in the work we do alongside the communities we serve.
Everyone has potential. They just need opportunities to fully unlock that potential. This is the foundation of achieving greater diversity and inclusion for the Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). We still have much to do as we refine our outreach, but I firmly believe we are leading the pack in the construction industry.
When I embarked on my career as an IBEW electrician in 1990, I was one of two minorities in my class at the IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center. Today, the Electrical Connection partnership has sustained a 10-year record of diversity in apprenticeships, a third of which are minorities.
In every grade school and high school in the region there is great potential to create the next generation of electricians and communication technicians who will power everything in life and connect us in ways unimagined. It expresses itself in little ways. An 11-year-old with a fascination with how things work or a 17-year-old who likes to work with his or her hands. The Electrical Connection invests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs to cultivate these gems. We part-
ner with organizations like the Saint Louis Science Center, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, FIRST Robotics and countless school STEM programs. At career fairs, we are the bullseye for STEM careers, and anyone interested in powering and connecting the world.
IBEW and NECA also invest more than $3 million annually in training at the award winning IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center – all free of charge
in a program where students earn a living while they learn the electrical trade. The fiveyear, 10,000-hour education program’s curriculum includes traditional forms of energy, but also renewable energy, smart building and infrastructure technology, communications technology, electric vehicle (EV) chargers and more. Skills are needed, but so is leadership. We are encouraging our contractor partners to help us identify minorities who can run projects as superin-
tendents and general foreman. They have unique skills that optimize labor productivity by managing and teaching workers in ways that make the most of their abilities. In essence, they help workers climb the ladder of success. Our diversity outreach is more than workforce development. When we focus on communities that have long been ignored, we are also laying the groundwork for modernization. New urban housing and multi-family
developments can enjoy the benefits and long-term cost savings of renewable energy, such as solar. So too can office, manufacturing, retail, schools and other businesses. Bypassed communities can also benefit from improvements to communication infrastructure and smart building technologies. And while significant parts of the region are devoid of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the future tells us that EV charging stations must become a greater priority.
The number of electric-powered vehicles on American roadways is growing daily and maintenance and installation skills instruction are part of the IBEW/NECA partnership’s Electrical Connection program.
Potential is squandered when it is ignored. Our Electrical Connection IBEW/ NECA partnership believes opportunity can lift all lives by nurturing potential to create a more diverse workforce and bring modern technology to underserved communities. Learn more at www.electricalconnecton.org.
Sylvester Taylor is director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the IBEW/NECA Electrical Connection partnership.
Photo courtesy of IBEW/NECA
Sylvester Taylor
At the Missouri Botanical Garden, we are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming community within the Garden and among the region we serve and work in. Whether visiting us, taking advantage of our educational programs and home gardening help, or finding your next career, we hope that you will be a part of our Garden for all!
What would you tell someone who asked you why they should visit the Missouri Botanical Garden?
The Garden is an oasis in the middle of the city. You can enjoy nature, learn about plants and their environment, and meet people from everywhere and all walks of life.
—Ayanna Woods, Manager, Visitor Services
There is so much to experience at the Garden, from beautiful floral displays to events like Garden Glow. I’ve been to other botanical gardens and ours stands amongst the best.
—Cassandra Nelson, Senior Manager, Systems and Telecommunications
What is unique about the sense of community at the Garden?
We work on vastly different programs, projects, and goals all over the world, but we are a united front striving to meet the mission of the Garden.
—Joyce Gorrell, Sustainability Projects Manager
The Garden recognizes many cultures and in its diversity shows us what a unique community should look like.
—Alice Ransom, Garden Receptionist
What makes the Missouri Botanical Garden different from other places you have worked?
Every day, I’m surrounded by people who are just as passionate about plants as I am. We all seem to speak a unique language that connects us and brings us together.
—Daria McKelvey, Supervisor, Home Gardening Information and Outreach
I am inspired by the natural beauty of the Garden. I enjoy coming to work because I know I make a difference for my team and Garden visitors.
—Joseph Tumblin, Construction Project Coordinator
Special to The American
For years, Huxlande Petigny has dreamed of becoming a doctor. After giving birth to her daughter, Samara, however, Petigny put those dreams aside to support her family. Working in sales with no prior experience, Petigny said she had never felt more incompetent in her life. To remedy that, she earned a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance. Even with all the accolades and financial success, however, she remained unfulfilled.
Then, a car accident changed the trajectory of her life. Petigny sought care for her musculoskeletal pain from Lawrence Weiner, DC, whom she had known for more than 10 years. The two talked about Dr. Weiner’s fulfilling career as a chiropractor and how he helped people live healthier lives through the work of his own hands. Highlighting the projected growth of the profession, Dr. Weiner suggested Petigny consider a chiropractic career for herself and offered to write a letter of recommendation on her behalf.
“At that moment, I knew this might be the only chance I get in life to make my dreams a reality. I took Dr. Weiner up on his offer, and the rest is history,” Petigny said.
Petigny moved from Miami, where she was born and raised, to St. Louis with her mother, Mimi, and her daughter to pursue her doctor of chiropractic degree from Logan University.
‘Chiropractic chose me.’
Logan University student Huxlande Petigny pursues dream of becoming a doctor
a
at Logan University, is also pushing for diversity and representation
“Logan has a beautiful campus and a strong reputation when it comes to academics,” she said. “The Logan community is incredibly warm, welcoming and caring, and the fact that the library was once a place of worship resonated highly with me as well since I am a very faithful person.”
Currently in her ninth trimester, Petigny is participating in a clinical rotation at the VA St. Louis Health Care System. She hopes to dedicate her life’s work to serving veterans, a population she said is often underserved and underappreciated.
“I appreciate the VA’s focus on complementary and alternative forms of medicine,” Huxlande said. “What is most important to me is increasing an individual’s quality of life through chiropractic care.”
Luckily for Petigny, her business experience has proved to be beneficial on her journey to becoming Dr. Petigny.
“My background in business has taught me that building relationships is the very foundation to longevity and success,” Petigny said. “As a future health care professional, these skills will be necessary in not only my interactions with patients but with other health care professionals as well, such as primary care providers, physical therapists, pain psy-
chologists and acupuncturists.”
As she strives to treat each patient as a whole person, Petigny, a Haitian-American, is also pushing for diversity and representation within the chiropractic profession.
“Diversity comes in many different forms—whether its race, culture, religion, education, school of thought, gender, etc., diversity allows us the
opportunity to gain a greater perspective, which helps us to create better solutions,” Petigny said. “In chiropractic, diversity is especially important because we must be open to seeing a variety of patients with a variety of complaints to assist in their journey to good health. Furthermore, patients appreciate seeing diversity in their health care providers.”
To support the diversity and inclusion initiatives of Logan University’s Office of Student Affairs and the success of students like Petigny, Community Standards Coordinator Tim Williams implements programs that meet students’ needs and positively impact their overall experience. For example, the student affairs department recently hosted a discussion on the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status as well as a Women’s Career Roundtable, both of which were offered online so the entire university community of alumni, faculty, staff and students could attend.
While at Logan, Petigny has maintained an exceptional academic record and become an active member of the community, including Omega Sigma Phi, which furthers the development of women in the chiropractic profession, and the Student American Black Chiropractic Association. She has also worked as a class tutor and tour guide and has received numerous awards and honors, including Logan’s prestigious Founders’ Scholarship, which covers full tuition for trimesters four through ten.
Greater St. Louis is your home. It’s where you live, work and find a sense of community. It’s home to Regions too. We understand that when our communities succeed, it makes life better for everyone. That’s why we have specialized teams that work within our communities to direct resources to areas where they are needed most. As we strive for inclusive growth, we will continue to take a deliberate approach to invest in, and serve, communities of color. The people of our community inspire us, and we are committed to continue listening, learning and developing a plan of action to move toward racial equity.
1.800.regions | regions.com
Huxlande Petigny, a Haitian-American,
student
within the chiropractic profession.
Five ways to find diverse candidates seeking employment
A Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) study found that 57 percent of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates.
n If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Diversity is also important for prospective employees who are being recruited. An industry survey found that 67 percent of active and passive job seekers said that diversity is an important factor when considering companies and job offers.
Recruiters and talent acquisition leaders are being tasked to increase workplace diversity.
“So why is it so hard to move the needle,” asks the business website ideal.com, which was established by Somen Mondal and Shaun Ricci, who serve as CEO and COO, respectively.
“Is it a pipeline issue as it’s often argued? Are unconscious biases interfering with recruitment decision making?
As with most complicated issues, it is all of the above,” they ask in an online blog.
As part of extensive online tutorial on increasing diversity in American workplaces, Ideal offers five tips to find qualified minority and female candidates.
Carefully write job posts to attract more diverse candidates If you want to attract a more diverse candidate pool, the language you use in your job posting makes a difference. A study on job postings found those using masculine-type words like “ambitious” and “dominate” were less appealing to female applicants.
Offer workplace policies more appealing to diverse candidates
Research has found that one of the best workplace policies to attract diverse candidates is flexibility. A PwC survey found that compared to older generations, Millennials place more importance on a company
culture that emphasizes work/ life balance. Offering flexibility such as work from home options and flexible hours not only helps you attract more diverse candidates, it helps prevent expensive employee turnover.
Use a personality assessment to recruit more diverse
candidates
A valid and reliable personality assessment is a great tool to measure candidates’ personality traits, motivations, and skills. Personality assessments increase workplace diversity because they do not show adverse impact, that is, personality scores do not differ for minority group members. A
study of 150 companies found that those that used a personality assessment in their hiring had more racially diverse workforces.
Use sourcing methods that contain more diverse candidate pipelines
One of the reasons why candidate pipelines can be a bottleneck for diversity is a reliance on hiring through referrals. In general, people’s networks are comprised of people who are similar to them demographically. To increase the number of diverse candidates in your pipeline, take advantage of third-party websites to post your open roles. Also, create a mediarich page of your company showcasing your culture, leadership and employees.
Seed your pipelines with more diverse candidates Research featured in the Harvard Business Review found that when the final candidate pool has one minority candidate, he or she has virtually zero chances of getting hired. However, a “two in the pool effect” represents a promising method for reducing unconscious biases and increasing diversity in the workplace. If there are at least two female candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a female candidate are 79 times greater. If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Visit ideal.com/workplace-diversity to review the ideal.com diversity assessment and the company can assist employers.
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
Increasing the pool of diverse candidates for employment is on the minds of many business owners and CEOs. Diversity on the job is essential to future success for most of today’s top firms.
By Cigna
At the heart of Cigna’s mission is the pursuit of health equity for all. But even with broadly available COVID-19 vaccinations giving us hope against the ongoing pandemic, critical issues in health care persist. The pandemic has shined a spotlight on what we have long known to be true – people with poor social determinants of health face greater barriers to good health and well-being. Unfortunately, systemic racism and discrimination play a role in these avoidable and unjust differences in health care.
Much work still needs to be done to drive meaningful, lasting change across the health care system and our broader society overall. And it needs to come from collaborative efforts between people, leaders and organizations of all kinds who share the same commitment. Together, we can work to address racial discrimination within every aspect of our lives, including our schools, communities and businesses.
“We view systemic racism and discrimination as critical health care issues in addition to human rights issues,” said Susan Stith, VP of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Civic Affairs, Corporate Responsibility, and executive director of the Cigna Foundation. “Cigna remains committed to driving efforts that make a real difference for everyone we serve, and that includes accelerating our ongoing diversity equity and inclusion and health equity strategies to address pressing social needs and build a more equitable future for all.” Over the past year, we have
Cigna remains committed to helping cure inequality
continued our efforts to create a more equal and equitable society, starting within our own organization. The recent launch of Cigna’s Enterprise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council, chaired by our President and CEO David Cordani, will play an important role in advancing and reporting out on our ongoing DEI and health equity efforts internally and externally. We also continue to host Inspiring Inclusive Conversation “listening sessions” that offer ongoing opportunities for dialogue about DEI topics – through which we have reached more
than 10,000 employees. Our efforts to create a more equitable and equal society go well beyond Cigna’s walls, and we remain committed to helping combat health disparities among our customers and communities of color. The launch of our five-year Building Equity & Equality Program last year demonstrates our expanding efforts to support diversity, equity, equality and inclusion for communities of color. As part of this, we have started piloting programs and solutions that address health disparities among African American/Black, Latinx and
Hispanic customers, who are disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continue to grow our external partnerships, including the selection of Dr. Gjanje Smith, Cigna’s first CEO Action for Racial Equity Fellow, as part of a yearlong fellowship to address racial injustice. Cigna is also partnering with Wake Forest School of Medicine to advance equity and equality through a $250,000 endowed scholarship that supports students of color as they begin their medical studies as doctors, nurses and health care workers.
“As leaders in the St. Louis
Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan.
an initial investment from Cigna, the University of Missouri-St. Louis piloted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator in 2020 as a means to close the access gap to startup capital for minority entrepreneurs. The DEI Accelerator successfully launched and supported six diverse businesses. The program will continue to grow and support eight minority-owned companies annually for the next five years.
We also continue to support the STL 2030 Jobs Plan and Access Point, a program that identifies entry-level technology jobs and aligns those needs with high school and higher education curriculums. Starting back in April, 25 students began Access Point courses at St. Louis Community College’s Florissant Valley campus. By early August, they’ll have completed 11 credit hours and will start paid apprenticeships at Evernorth, a Cigna company that includes Express Scripts. The STL 2030 Jobs Plan recently added some star power with local celebrity Nelly championing the effort.
community, we have a responsibility to drive meaningful change to improve equity and inclusion in the areas where we live and work,” said Amy Bricker, President, Express Scripts. “That’s why Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan. These programs are a powerful catalyst to ultimately create a healthier and more equitable future for underserved and marginalized communities.”
Cigna is also working to address inequality within our nation’s workforces. On a local level, with help from
We’ve accomplished a lot, but our work is far from over. We take our role as a leader in the health service industry seriously. We will drive forward through COVID-19 and the fight against systemic racism – both of which we see as critical health issues. And, together, we will continue to chart a positive path forward in every interaction with our colleagues, customers and communities.
To learn more about our commitment to equity and equality, visit Cigna.com/ ActionforEquity.
Pitts
Continued from 1
competence and credibility.
Pitts also developed the firm’s first Women’s Leadership Forum, Minority Leadership Forum and Inclusion Mentoring Program and oversaw Inclusion Council and Business Resource Groups.
In previous roles, she worked with Charles Schwab, Dean Witter, and Merrill Lynn analyzing individual and corporate oversights and creating innovative ways to address them.
Her dedication to increase visibility in DEI and strengthen its central focus lays the blueprint for other Black women to follow in her footsteps. The advice she gives is to continue to develop yourself and educate yourself about DEI and the benefits of it.
“It [diversity, equity and inclusion] is beneficial to the organization that you’re with to create its growth and sustainability,” Pitts said.
“Don’t be afraid to have your voice heard, speak up, be courageous, but also do it in a way that brings people along. Meet people where they are so they can hear you. You get more done when people can actually hear you.”
Recently, Pitts was named Lindenwood University’s chief diversity officer and director of the center for diversity and inclusion. She will work with faculty, staff and students to create strategy practices and
programs to create a more diverse and inclusive university. She said she is increasing her awareness and listening to learn more about the cultural opportunities and the university’s current climate. She’s found in the past the best way to do that is through courageous conversations.
“You get a chance to hear from each other, seek to understand, be empathetic to the experiences of different people and learn how to integrate that into your everyday interactions,” Pitts said.
“I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Pitts said prior to her transitioning to her new role, the university already had several different programs in place to increase new freshmen enrollment and promote diversity.
Some of those programs and initiatives include various Black student groups that help new students adapt in a new environment, stay focused on their studies and stay connected by building a community within the university. Additional academic support, coaching and mentoring is also incorporated to ensure their success.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
They have a “Day of Dialogue” where speakers discuss campus diversity. Pitts was the keynote speaker.
Through her role, Pitts believes increasing the traffic of Black students and other people of color relies on not only assimilating through the university but also by partnering with organizations.
“I think the important thing is to make sure the message is out in the community, that the community knows that Lindenwood is very serious and committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and creating an inclusive environment on campus as well,” Pitts said.
“We want to make sure that we’re partnering with organizations or with companies to build a diverse pipeline as students begin to graduate. As far as attracting the students we just wanna make sure that we are representing Lindenwood in a way that is attractive to students of all different backgrounds and cultures so that they know that they can get an excellent education and have a community they can feel a part of.”
Pitts said she is excited to join the Lindenwood family and make a difference in the lives of young people who will be future leaders in our country.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully develop or create more inclusive leaders so that they can be great leaders within the organizations that they go off to to work for when they graduate.” Pitts said.
Enterprise Bank & Trust announces Enterprise University
n “I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Enterprise has helped shape area business leaders for more than 18 years, offering classes on a variety of business-related topics, which are
Eight-course schedule provides students exposure to senior executives Enterprise Bank & Trust’s acclaimed Enterprise University, a no-cost business education program available to local business leaders, has announced its summer weekly course schedule with topics geared toward college students. Courses cover a variety of business topics including strategy, marketing, business culture and more.
designed to both challenge and energize participants. After a successful program kickoff last summer, this is the second year Enterprise University is offering classes specifically for college-age students.
Enterprise UniversityCollege Edition courses will be held virtually and take place
weekly on Wednesdays from June 9–Aug. 4. Each hourlong class will be taught by an Enterprise Bank & Trust executive or business partner. All courses are from 4-5 p.m. CDT. Topics are:
• Making the Most of your Internship
• Strategy and Leadership
• An Effective M&A Strategy
• Marketing & Sales
• Human Resources and Corporate Culture
• Principles of Investment Management
• Leveraging LinkedIn™ in the Job Search
• Life After Your Internship Students can elect to attend individual courses of interest or all eight. Classes are offered at no cost, but registration is required and limited. For more information and to view the full course schedule, visit enterprisebank.com/eu-college.
Investing in diversity, equity & inclusion pays off for everyone.
At Edward Jones, we partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. Committing to diversity, equity and inclusion plays a critical role in creating a place of belonging, advancing our firm’s purpose and improving life for us all.
– Emily Pitts
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Commerce’s new DEI leader brings passion and commitment to her role
Special to The American Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan, has come a long way during her 28 years with the organization. She started working at the bank to pay her way through college, encoding checks at night while attending school during the day. In the years that followed, she steadily rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president of operations before being named to her new role in June.
Leading DEI efforts for a large organization with team members in 11 states is a great deal of responsibility, but Hogan is excited about the opportunity. “It’s a huge honor,” she says. “DEI is very important to me. At the end of the day, I want all the people who work here to know Commerce is a place where they can grow their careers and have all the right tools in place to help them succeed.”
Despite being new to her role, Hogan has a long history of being involved in Commerce’s DEI efforts, and she’s proud to take the reins of the DEI programs that the bank has had in place for many years. For example, she played a prominent role in the establishment of VIBE, Commerce’s multicultural employee resource group (ERG), and has been a sponsor of the group ever since.
“I’ve really had a frontrow seat to Commerce’s DEI journey, which started a long time ago,” she says. “It’s been an evolution that’s included training sessions, our ERGs
— which help our team members find a sense of belonging — and our ‘Listen, Talk and Learn’ sessions, where people can share their experiences, be vulnerable and have courageous conversations.”
She sees her new responsibilities as an expansion of the work she’s already been doing.
“It’s going to allow me to play an even greater part in building an environment for everyone, where every group is accepted, valued and respected,” she says. “I want to ensure that people have the ability to thrive and be their authentic selves as they contribute to our organiza-
tion’s success.”
Hogan says a primary element of her role as DEI director will be to help reinforce Commerce’s core values throughout the organization.
“Our values are the foundation that shapes how we live and work,” she adds. “They call out our commitment to DEI at work and in our communities. And that commitment helps us communicate openly and candidly with each other. It helps us trust each other and treat each other with respect.”
As director of diversity, equity and inclusion, Hogan will set the strategic direction
Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan
share their lived experiences. We all have to meet people who aren’t like us in order to understand them better.”
If Hogan sounds deeply passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, that’s because she is. According to Sara Foster, Commerce’s executive vice president of talent and corporate administration, Hogan’s passion is one of the qualities that made her the ideal candidate to continue growing the momentum of the bank’s DEI efforts.
“I’ve worked with Felecia for many years, and she’s always thoughtful, curious and very strategic about the way she thinks through any issue,” Foster says. “She’s always been a strong supporter of our people-development initiatives and is always raising her hand to learn more.”
and manage operational oversight of the goals Commerce has set for itself. She notes that she will work closely with the bank’s leadership and talent management teams to establish the direction the organization will take with its DEI programs, and to ensure that the bank is held accountable for making measurable progress on its goals.
Hogan says these efforts are a critical part of retaining and attracting talented people.
“People want to understand that diversity is valued,” she notes. “They want to know if we have policies and practices in place
to make things more equitable, whether our environments are inclusive, and whether diversity is celebrated, not just tolerated. Job candidates are going to look for organizations with a strong culture of diversity.”
The ultimate goal of Commerce’s many DEI programs, Hogan says, is to encourage team members to learn about other people’s experiences. “We want everyone to lean into their discomfort and diversify their circles of people they interact with,” she says. “We’ve had more than 2,000 people participate in various sessions where they
Foster says Hogan is always thinking about what else the bank could be doing to create programs that help people — especially women and people of color — find their next-level opportunity. “Through her lived experiences, Felecia can help people see past their unconscious biases and make an impact on the way we develop, promote and hire people. She’s just so perfect for this role.”
For her part, Hogan is excited about what’s ahead for Commerce’s DEI initiatives. “We have so many good things in the pipeline,” she says. “We’re very intentionally focused on how we operate internally and externally. We’re looking at how we can improve upon everything we do. I’m excited to continue the great work that’s already been started.”
BUILDING A CULTURE OF INCLUSION
At Alberici, we believe an inclusive workplace is essential to driving innovation, enhancing productivity and strengthening our community. We strive to ensure that our corporate staff and project teams represent the communities in which we live, work, and play. The Power of People makes all the difference.
BELONGING A CULTURE OF
At Mercy, we see all people as created in the image of God. We’re committed to providing a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for patients and co-workers across our healing ministry.
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Board guides our efforts to create a culture of belonging by:
• Improving health in communities of color and among the underserved
• Extending employment opportunities and training to people with disabilities
• Ensuring diversity in Mercy’s talent and leadership
• Advancing the professional development of women leaders
• Supporting the needs and careers of people in low-wage positions
If you’re looking for meaningful work and the chance to make a difference, explore career opportunities near you at mercy.net/DEI
Ayanna Baldwin Director of Benefits & Diversity Officer
“DEI is the essence of what being human means. We’re all so different in so many ways. But our differences make life fun, challenging and rewarding. Diversity is the innate trait that allows organizations to be successful. It sparks innovation and constant growth.”
Denise Hill
Executive Director, Compliance Privacy Officer &
Diversity
Officer
“DEI makes the workplace better for everybody. When people come from different backgrounds and experiences, they see things through different lenses. From a health care perspective, it’s essential because patients want to receive care from people to whom they can relate.”
Bridget Marzette-Bender Vice President, Talent Relations Center & Diversity Officer
“Diverse and inclusive workplaces cultivate diversity of thought. That’s when innovation and success start to thrive. People want a sense of belonging in the workplace because we spend more time there than with our own families. When you have a diverse organization, people want to work there.”
Binu Mathew, MD Vice President, Medical Intelligence & Analytics
“External views of an individual, such as appearance, accents, presentation styles, etc., may introduce conscious or subconscious bias — but true diversity lies in internal viewpoints. Leaders who listen, understand and assimilate individual differences help take them to a new level for Mercy’s ministry.”
Danielle McPherson
Executive Director, Managed Care Contracting & Operations & Diversity Officer
“The workforce is changing, and it’s more diverse than it’s been in the past. To stay competitive and relevant, companies must prioritize their efforts around DEI. It’s become an imperative. Differences across the board should be welcomed, acknowledged and celebrated.”
Kenton Saunders
Manager,
Patient Transportation Mercy Hospital St. Louis
“Our supported co-workers who have disabilities are as much a part of the team as everyone else. In many instances, they end up being leaders for the department and the most tenured co-workers. I can’t say enough about what they bring to our team. It’s phenomenal to see.”
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Inclusive workforce creates higher-quality productivity, less job turnover
An inclusive work culture mirrors the community the organization serves and yields many benefits for both the organization and its employees, says Angelica Ogando, founder and CEO of The Enriched Mind, LLC.
One of the key benefits of an organization having an inclusive work culture is that it has a lower turnover rate, Ogando says.
“If an organization is attracting more diverse candidates, it has people already in the organization who look like me, sound like me, and talk like me,” she notes.
“It is far less likely that I’m going to leave, especially if those other people who are like me are happy there.”
Another benefit to the organization is greater and higher-quality productivity.
“In an inclusive work culture, people feel respected and valued,” Ogando says. “Happy employees tend to give the best of themselves, generating higher-quality production. This ties into innovation. Do you have people who are different? If so, is your work environment one where people are encouraged to be themselves, be creative, and give their input?” Employees should be recognized for their contributions, Ogando says. Recognition for bringing something different to the table, such as perspective from a diverse group, can create a very empowering work culture.
On the other hand, organizations that don’t have inclusive work cultures tend to take steps backward in production and stagnate in terms of innovation.
“They have a higher turn-
A National Association of Colleges and Employers report
Diversity in the workplace is a great deal for employers who realize the intellectual, financial benefits of an inclusive work culture.
over rate because they have disgruntled employees who feel like they’re being overworked and overlooked, they are not being seen and heard, and they are not being promoted,” Ogando points out.
“These organizations create cultures in which employees are unhappy and morale is low. The organization is not being innovative because employees aren’t exchanging ideas. It is actually forcing people to leave.”
This impacts the bottom line in several ways. An inability to retain employees is costly as it requires resources for recruiting and training new employees.
In addition, the damage done by word of mouth by disgruntled ex-employees in the job market, in the marketplace, or on social media is immeasurable and difficult to contain.
Ogando says there are three main elements of creating an inclusive work culture, including:
Self-Analysis—If the organization is trying to be more inclusive, it must do a self-analysis of where it stands in this pursuit. “Are you merely checking off boxes when it comes to diversity and inclusion, or do you have a strategy in place through which you are changing the culture to be more inclusive?” Ogando asks. “It’s about becoming self-aware. It is a challenge for an organization to sit down and say it is lacking in its efforts and prog-
ress. However, that awareness will allow the organization to identify action steps and then take them.”
Education—What is true diversity and inclusion? “We think that diversity is just attracting a diverse pool and that it covers gender, race, and sexuality,” Ogando says. “This is not completely true because we forget the inclusion and equity components. We are hiring diverse people, but are
we really being inclusive? Do we welcome people who have disabilities? Are we hiring people who land on spots all along the spectrum? Are we making them feel included? A lot of companies are falling short when it comes to hiring people with disabilities—especially those with hidden disabilities— because they don’t understand and address the scope of it.”
Training Programs—
Figure out what employees need so that they feel they are valuable contributors to the organization. Do not assume that you know what each group needs; ask them.
“Create training programs and initiatives that tackle diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Ogando recommends. “Create employee resource groups in which people feel like they are being heard and understood, and someone is being an advocate for them. Train them because it is not enough to just hire diverse talent and invest in them by committing to their development and promoting them into management positions and executive-level roles.”
“Creating an inclusive work culture is not a final point,” Ogando explains. “It is an ongoing process. Once the organization undertakes its self-analysis, education, and training, it needs to assess progress internally and benchmark externally to see where it stands toward its goals. Then it needs to update its education and training to maximize its efforts in this incredibly important area.”
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
BJC hopes to build bridges, help re-energize community as a Delmar DivINe tenant
As a tenant in the Delmar DivINe, BJC HealthCare will be helping to build a bridge. Not over a river or ravine, but across a divide that has long symbolized social and racial inequity in St. Louis.
Historically, Delmar Boulevard has been a dividing line between neighborhoods with a predominantly Black population and limited access to economic, educational and health resources, and predominantly white neighborhoods that are economically well-off and well-served.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louisarea non-profit and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable apartments.
The Delmar DivINe, like the tech-focused Cortex district to the south, is intended to foster collaboration and innovation among the tenant organizations, and, crucially, to make their services more accessible for community members. The development is designed to be a catalyst in the surrounding area –building community, ending inequities and connecting a divided St. Louis.
BJC plans to open the BJC Career and Community Hub Connection Center at the Delmar Divine in December, says Terrie Hart, BJC manager for workforce diversity. “The BJC Career space will be used for the community to explore BJC careers and apply for jobs,” Hart says.
and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable
homes.”
“We’ll have rooms for candidates to use for their virtual interviews, and we plan to hold career workshops like resume writing, how to apply for jobs and professional presence.” In addition, St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Raising St. Louis program will be utilizing the space as a “community hub” — the fourth such hub for the program.
“We utilize the hubs as a gathering space for community programming,” says Greta Todd, St. Louis Children’s Hospital executive director
for diversity, inclusion and community affairs. “We offer all kinds of classes and resources, such as mothers support groups, yoga, a father’s class, breastfeeding support, resume writing and fun events like Pancakes & Pajamas or Thanksgiving dinner. It is also a place that our parent educators or community health workers can meet with families if they are still building trust and are not yet invited into their
The space may also be used for video consults, eventually.
“We are looking forward to sharing the space with Career Connection, as jobs are often one of the top needs for the families we serve,” Todd says.
The Delmar DivINe and BJC’s involvement in the project was spearheaded by local philanthropist and Build-A-Bear founder Maxine Clark. Clark sits on the Barnes-
Jewish Hospital Board of Directors and its Nominating, Governance and Diversity Committee.
When Clark came upon the vacant Delmar site several years ago, she envisioned it as a place to locate organizations, businesses and residents who could help re-energize the area.
“The entire concept for BJC’s Career space was designed after Maxine pro-
posed that it is often difficult to navigate while on our campus for those seeking employment with BJC,” Hart says. “We pitched what we envisioned BJC occupancy could look like and we have been planning towards ever since.”
The Delmar DivINe was originally slated to open in December 2020, but construction was postponed by the pandemic.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louis-area non-profit
apartments.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreamline
Continued from page 1 the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce.
For the past eight years, A.T. Still University (ATSU) in partnership with Truman State University has offered a unique and innovative program aimed at addressing the urgent need for health professions to better reflect the populations they serve. The summer program, “Dreamline Pathways,” introduces high school students to health professions. Students who are interested in the profession spend a week on Truman State University’s campus in Kirksville, MO under the supervision of resident staff and student alumni. Students gain experience and make valuable long-term connections aimed at nurturing and supporting them and helping them enroll in medical schools.
In describing the summer program, Stephanie McGrew, assistant director of diversity and inclusion coordinator at A.T. Still University, said it provides “conversion experiences, internships and mentorships that allow students to get to know what possibilities are available in healthcare initiatives.”
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well. Research has shown, McGrew added, that students are influenced as to what profession they want to pursue at early ages: “Our goal is to get students at younger ages so they know what different health professions they can consider for their career. We created this program to encourage students, to help them and coach them so they can make it a reality.”
Students are recruited mostly from city schools. They must be recommended by a principal, counselor, or other
qualified school official to be a part of the summer program. Students are exposed to a variety of health professions, including osteopathic medicine, nursing, and allied health careers such as exercise science, audiology/speech pathology, athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, and nutrition.
The program was put on pause in 2020 due to the pandemic but 23 high schoolers attended this summer. As with national enrollment, applications for this year’s Dreamline
Pathways program increased, McGrew said. During the weeklong visit, students stay in dorms with roommates and experience full campus life including access to the dining hall, rec center and other campus facilities. Each day, students participate in a variety of scheduled activities with health care professionals, professors, and alumni students and engage in real life simulations where they attempt to address problems confronted by health care professionals.
Energizing Electrical Careers for more than
High school graduates wanting to enroll in medical school must not only have high GPA’s and a solid foundation in basic sciences, they also need letters of recommendation from peers, teachers, and mentors. Dreamline Pathways gives them the opportunity to establish relationships and internship opportunities with mentors.
ATSU seems to place special emphasis on “diversity education and inclusion.” Its websites states: “By valuing the contrast differences, we’ve
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well.
Photo by Wiley Price
become more reflective of the communities we serve. Our mission is centered on service. By serving our community partners, students, and employees, we are now a more culturally proficient organization.”
ATSU has received numerous awards for its diversity work, including the “2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED)” award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the only diversity and inclusion
publication in higher education. The pandemic has underscored disparities in the healthcare field as it relates to populations and professions. Because “marginalized populations,” have suffered the most from COVID-related infections and death, McGrew said: “It’s more important than ever to introduce young minds to career opportunities in healthcare.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
IF ONLY DISCRIMINATION HAD A VACCINATION.
former multicultural scholarship students, has returned to Maryville to work post-grad.
He’s a residence life coordinator, a position that’s more essential as the school strives to re-establish a sense of on-campus community.
Gray spent the last week feverishly preparing for student leader training, which begins in mid-August.
“We’re trying to create different programming and different initiatives to really get our students to get back to being involved,” he said. “I think last year we had a lot of students who kind of missed that.”
That doesn’t just mean social programming — pizza nights and so on, the sort of thing Gray says “people think res life usually does” — but also building a residential staff made up of students who will understand and respect the culture of others.
“We have passive and active programming that does pertain to diversity and inclusion work,” Gray said. One of the most basic elements of that work is cultivating a very diverse Resident Assistants [RAs] workforce.
“Oftentimes we have a lot of our RAs that are part of those underrepresented communities,” he said.
“Because we understand that representation matters.”
Many of those RAs are, in fact, part of the same multicultural scholarship program that brought Gray to Maryville. Another alumna, Chinyere Turner, is now the university’s program coordinator for diversity and inclusion.
“I see her as a big sister,” Gray said. And for both Turner and Gray, the multicultural scholars program — even in its early stages — was pivotal to their time at Maryville and helped make them want to come back during their postgraduate careers.
Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
Gray remembers the feeling of support from staffers and fellow students during his time as an undergraduate.
“When you’re a multicultural scholar, you automatically have that kind of support system from the diversity and inclusion office,” he said.
Though some moments were difficult, he said, having that system helped him get through it.
“When you do have those moments where you’re like, oh wow, does anyone know where
I’m coming from? You have those people who can definitely relate to where you’re coming from...especially when it comes to being at a predominantly white institution like Maryville is,” he said.
After Gray graduated from Maryville, he completed his postgraduate studies at Old Dominion University, then worked at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. The experience made Gray realize something special about Maryville. He said the
school administration’s willingness to listen to the concerns of minority students and work towards improving campus culture.
“I’ve worked at other universities...it’s not often you get that!” Gray said.
“So to actually get that out of the university that I’m an alum of, it makes you feel great, because it’s like, oh wow you actually weren’t all talk when I was a student, you actually want to do that.”
Many of the organizations
that were getting off the ground during Gray’s tenure as a student remain at Maryville — the Association of Black Collegians, for example, and the Latino Student Alliance.
“When we see that those organizations are still being successful in creating fantastic programs...it can help us with being like, I didn’t do this in vain,’ Gray said.
But the school is still working towards becoming a more deeply inclusive place.
Residence life, under the leadership of people like Gray and Turner, is a big part of that effort. They are trying to create gender-inclusive housing options on campus, and working closely with Maryville’s administration to do so.
“And the awesome part is that we have an administration...where they want to say okay, what can we do to make this possible, and how do we push this forward?”
Our perspective
Maryville’s Jonathan Gray, a residence life coordinator for the university speaks to students Wed. July 11, 2021 in Walker Hall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Transformation Through Inclusion
We believe quality healthcare should be both local and personal— because every community, and every individual, is unique. To fulfill our purpose of transforming the health of our communities, one person at a time, we rely on a dedicated team of employees whose diverse perspectives and experiences mirror those of the members we serve.
To learn more about how you can join us, visit jobs.centene.com.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
A Business Priority
AUGUST 19 – 25, 2021
Mapping inequities
Using geospatial
By Dana Rieck For STLMade
When Kemba Noel-London tells people she’s an athletic trainer who is working toward a doctoral degree, they’re surprised – most athletic trainers practice in the field rather than continuing on in school.
When she tells the people that as part of her Ph.D. program, she’s using geospatial data to assess inequities at the intersection of athletics and public health, they’re even more surprised. Geospatial data is most often associated with tech.
“Nobody really talks about applying geographic information systems to sports and to sports medicine,” laughs Noel-London. “That is not the first thing people think when they think GIS (geospatial information system).”
n Using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
But using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
“I think applying that spatial context brings a different flavor to the conversation of equity,” Noel-London says.
”And I think also incorporating athletic trainers into that conversation when we’re talking about sports is something that I’m trying to do very intentionally so that when we’re talking about sports and access to sports, we’re also talking about that this needs to be safe, so we need to talk about access to athletic trainers too.” As a former national athlete for Trinidad and Tobago who tore her ACL at the age of 17, Noel-London knows personally how sports-related injuries can affect all aspects of someone’s health, and how important rehabilitation is. The negative experience she had with her ACL injury and rehab drove her to become an athletic trainer so she could help others have better care. After graduating with her master’s degree in athletic training from Saint Louis University, she worked at the University of South Carolina for a year before heading back home to her native Trinidad – and then hopped on a plane to Scotland three days later, to accompany the national youth
See MAPPING, page 32
Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) brings diversity to the Design and Construction industry by mentoring and exposing minority/underrepresented and under employed men and women to career development in construction. We are working to build the foundation for change.
As a SLU student, Kemba Noel-London had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region.
Photo by Michael Thomas
We need you, a lot .
We thrive best when we’re surrounded by people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and identities. And when we thrive, our communities do, too.
You can’t make chicken noodle soup with just chicken, or cookies with only chocolate chips. The Save A Lot team is the same way—a handful of diverse ingredients that come together to be something greater than we could ever be alone. We can’t be our best selves without you here, bringing everything that makes you special. We need you a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
CCDI, St. Louis Job Corps connecting minorities to construction career paths
By Clayco
At 20 years old, Shutaun Williams is one of the first St. Louis Job Corps graduates to participate in the Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) program, a nonprofit founded by Clayco in 2015 that provides career development opportunities to minority men and women who are underrepresented in the construction industry.
After completing St. Louis Job Corps’ Facilities Maintenance Pre-Apprentice training program in March of 2020, Shutaun had a difficult time finding work during the pandemic. Through his instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, Shutaun was connected with CCDI to assist with career placement and help to secure reliable transportation. Clayco subsidiary Concrete Strategies hired Shutuan full-time as a first-year apprentice carpenter this past January.
“I got involved with Job Corps because after coming home from living with my dad out of town, I didn’t want to just not do anything, so I decided to check out the program because I heard a lot of good things about Job Corps,” said Shutuan.
“My experience there was good and the best thing about the program is that it’s free. My instructor, Mr. Roosevelt Robinson, helped other students and me by always pushing us to do better and keep us on track. Making sure we got there on time, finishing what we started, and staying focused. Also, he opened my eyes to what I could receive as a reward by working hard and staying focused.” Through the CCDI men-
toring program, students are matched with an industry professional to help guide and support them from high school through career placement. In Shutuan’s case, the mentor was
a part of St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a vocational instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, you are more than just an instructor—you are a counselor, mentor, and role model,” said
Roosevelt Robinson, a Home Builders Institute instructor within St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a former student [of St. Louis Job Corps], I am also a success story. As an instruc-
In your Community, and in your Corner
tor you must be patient and willing to help and learn from people from different parts and walks of life. This job takes passion and with passion you can tell what the best solution is for the students.”
CCDI’s new partnership with St. Louis Job Corps will create another strong and diverse pipeline of talent to help fill a growing labor shortage in the construction industry. St. Louis Job Corps has 15 Career Technical Training Programs and six are in the construction trades. The program also draws students from St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County; most Job Corps participants hail from St. Louis City and north St. Louis County, the areas of CCDI’s focus.
Dr. Dave Baker, a longtime advocate of CCDI and partner at North Technical High School in Special School District, took a new part-time position this year at St. Louis Job Corps. “CCDI has become integral in the northern portion of the St. Louis region in regard to ensuring a diverse and competent workforce for the construction industry,” said Dr. Baker. “CCDI has taken on the task of connecting young men and women interested in the field of construction to the companies who will mentor and eventually hire them.
Young people need more validation of their hard work and good decisions; CCDI and its partners are providing that validation.”
CCDI hopes to continue to build productive partnerships with educational institutions, contractors, subcontractors and nonprofits with aligned missions. Together, these partnerships strive to create more success stories for young people like Shutaun who make up our future workforce and are the backbone of our great city. This article was provided by Clayco.
AARP St. Louis is creating real, meaningful change. We’re proud to help all our communities become the best they can be. Like providing family caregivers with tips to take care of loved ones, helping to make our communities more livable and virtually hosting fun, informative events.
AARP is in your community, and in your corner. Get to know us at aarp.org/stlouis /aarpmissouri @aarpmissouri
Clayco founded its nonprofit Construction Career Development Initiative program in 2015 and it continues to provide career development opportunities to minority men and women. Its mentoring program matches students with industry professionals to help guide and support them from high school through career placement.
Photo courtesy of Clayco
By MoDot
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS) program.
After spending 16 years in federal prison, Cotton was granted clemency by President Obama. He enrolled in Save Our Sons for a fresh start. And, after completing the program, he participated in SOS/ MoDOT career fair and on-thespot interview and impressed human resources and maintenance representatives. He interviewed for a seasonal position but was offered a full-time job with MoDOT in the Maintenance division. He currently works in the Signing and Striping department.
Never missing a day at work, Cotton contributes his success to a great support system, including his supervisors, James Henson and Mike Love, MoDOT, and SOS.
“From the very first day Johnnie came to work for MoDOT, he was eager to learn and had a great attitude,” says Mike Love, Signing and Striping Supervisor at MoDOT. “He is always wanting to learn new tasks, and he has a great attitude and work ethic. He does a great job for us.”
Tydrell Stevens, Director of SOS, speaks highly of Johnnie Cotton and how he has given back to his community. “He has been back several times to speak with other men at Save Our Sons about the diligence needed to move forward in life. He has also spoken with the Regional Business Council members about what Save Our Sons and MoDOT has done to change his life,” Stevens goes on to say.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Road to the future Hard work, dedication spurs life U-turn
So often, ex-felons or either overlooked or are considered too great a risk for employment. Because of this and other preconceived notions, companies fail to realize the potential in these individuals. The Missouri Department of Transportation looks for qualities each individual has and judges them on their character and potential for success. Today, Cotton has the opportunity to receive
development training through the Maintenance Leadership Academy for career advancement and a potential leadership position with MoDOT.
“MoDOT gave me the chance to get my CDL Class B license and sent me to St. Louis Community College, and I am working on my Class A right now,” says Cotton. With a full-time position, benefits, and a pension plan, this father of four has his whole
life to look forward to. Cotton goes on to say,
“Working for MoDOT for 19 months, I have had the chance to find God in my life, my fiancé, looking for my first house, and having a stable life; something I can call mine. In just over three years, I will be vested with MODOT, and I will receive a check the rest of my life when I do retire. Hard work pays off when you have help behind you. It’s
up to you to prove yourself and work hard at whatever you do. Never give up when you have so many people helping you. Thanks to MODOT and the Urban League, I will never give up. I plan on going as far as I can.”
Johnnie Cotton was also featured in the Enterprise Bank & Trust’s 2020 Community Impact Report: https://www. enterprisebank.com/impact.
MoDOT supports equality
program.
and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, or disability. Anyone interested in applying for a position, visit our website: https://www.modot. org/careers For more information, please contact Shirlyn Myles at (314) 453-1811 or shirlyn.myles@ modot.mo.gov.
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS)
By Ymani Wince Of STLMade
Black people who hike
New hiker encourages other Blacks to find peace and purpose in parks and on trails throughout the region
Since March 2020, many people across the St. Louis metropolitan area have found solace in nature. Whether that meant flocking to historic St. Louis fixtures such as Forest Park or venturing further out to destinations like Don Robinson State Park, Missouri saw a rapid increase in its residents stepping into the outdoors.
And for good reason. The transition of working in-person to at-home was a culture shock for most Americans. Keeping children entertained and educated was a struggle for parents. And the usual destinations for escaping and socializing, from movie theatres to restaurants, were no longer options. So with stay-at home orders in effect during the spring of 2020, everyone was eager to just get out — for exercise, fresh air and a change of scenery. And for two local hikers, they found more than they expected on the trails.
One of them, Debbie Njai, stepped into the world of hiking for the first time shortly before the life-altering events of March 2020. “I went on my first hike in August of 2019,” Njai says. “I was going through a lot personally, and hiking was something always in the back of my mind that I wanted to start, but I didn’t really know how to get started.”
With the help of a good friend who had outdoor experience, Njai says she was encouraged to go on her first hike at Castlewood State
Park in Ballwin. While the trail was a brief 1.7 miles, Njai remembers feeling like the hike was exactly what she needed. The beauty of the park provided therapy, and so Njai began hiking every Sunday for the next 40 weeks.
“When I was hiking, I noticed a couple of things,” Njai says. “I didn’t see anybody else on the trail that looked like me. I was so in love with hiking, and I was
trying to share it with people that I knew and looked like me.” The other thing that she noticed was that her invitations to family and friends to join her were not met with enthusiasm. That’s when Njai realized hiking was a need for the community, not just her own network. The group Black People Who Hike was born. Historically, Black people have been excluded from the conversation and
representation of people who enjoy the outdoors. People of color were not allowed equally into the National Park system until the 1950s. During that time, the National Park System had no regulations of its own regarding segregation in its parks. Instead, it abided by local laws and regulations of the states parks were in. In Northern states where segregation was not enforced, there were no
segregation facilities on park grounds. But in states that were formerly part of the Confederacy, segregation was enforced. Of those 11 states, Missouri was included. Even if Black Americans were allowed inside national parks, there was no guarantee of safety, especially during the Jim Crow era.
“This doesn’t apply to all people of color, but Black people typically have this fear of spending time outside,” Njai says. “Majority of the parks that we visit are in rural areas where it may be unsafe to travel, or be out there alone, so that does limit our access.”
Providing the space and encouragement for Black people to begin hiking starts with community, Njai says.
She believes having a group of people that represent one another creates a feeling of safety and trust. People have come to hike with Njai’s group and have realized that trails further away from the city can become a barrier. She says people tell her they’d never try hiking if they had to go it alone.
“In Missouri, 87 percent of Black people live in nature-deprived areas. So when you talk about access, it starts with where you live,” Njai says. To combat this, Njai recommends the AllTrails app, where users can see parks and trails in their area and beyond, as well as locate groups such as Black People Who Hike.
“Try a short trail to start with, and then look on the app to find something super scenic,” she says. “Maybe
it has a waterfall or nice overlook. And then, just create everlasting memories.”
Creating Black People Who Hike was a simple venture for Debbie Njai to find other Black people who enjoyed the outdoors like her. But the movement has created something much larger than a local group. With nearly 30,000 Instagram followers, Black People Who Hike has evolved into a movement around the world. The group has expanded to include any and every outdoor activity, including kayaking, swimming, running, visiting pyramids in Egypt, and more. The platform began with three followers. But each week, more people joined at a consistent rate for almost a year. When stay-at-home orders were announced, Njai made the pivot to virtual hiking sessions, eventually creating Black Hikers Week online, which included weeklong virtual events on Instagram. That was the moment that the page’s presence exploded, adding nearly 10,000 followers in one week.
But for Debbie Njai, the community she’s built was not about gaining followers. It started with a search for self and a need for calm in the chaos. “I feel happy. I feel calm and at peace,” she says. “Hiking allowed me to find myself, and unapologetically be myself and walk in my purpose. I know that what I’m doing is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Melissa Powell, LaShaye Giles and Debbie Njai take a break during a hike.
Photo by Michael Thomas
Let’s make a difference together
Join us at Norwood Hills Country Club Sept. 10–12
Friends and neighbors —
Ascension and the Ascension Charity Classic, presented by Emerson, are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion — today and always. When professional golf returns to St. Louis in September, our goal is to bring economic growth, charitable investment, and greater opportunities to north St. Louis County through support of our official tournament charities — Marygrove, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Alonzo Byrd Director of Business Development and Community Engagement, Ascension Charity Classic
SLU African American Studies program gains full departmental status
By Sophie Hurwitz of the St. Louis American
The African American Studies program at St. Louis University has been around in some capacity since the early 1970s.
It was only in 2021, however, that the program was made into a full academic department—thanks both to student and professor advocacy, and to the social movements that swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd.
“I think this moment speaks to the seriousness of the University’s approach toward intellectual production of the African diaspora and will help our faculty and students contribute to the intellectual and social aspects of Saint Louis University,” said the program’s director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., who will become the new department’s first chair. In an interview with the American, Tinson described the 40-year path the program has taken to department status. The program is small, but mighty: it includes four tenured professors and cross-lists courses with professors from 9 other departments. One of those four “core” professors, Vice President of Diversity and Community Engagement Jonathan Smith, passed away on Juneteenth. Smith commented on the program’s new designation in early June: “I have had the great fortune to work for every chair and director of African American Studies at Saint Louis University,” Smith said.
“I am humbled. And I honor and respect and love the work that each of them did to bring this department into the current moment.”
The change from “program” to “department,” which might seem only nominal outside academic circles, means big things for African American Studies at SLU: the department now has control over more of their own hiring, can tenure more Professors, and can exert more impact over the curriculum at the University as a whole.
While the George Floyd protests are what pushed the university to finally bestow departmental status on the African American Studies program, the program has been at the center of social change and advocacy efforts there since at least 2014. During the Ferguson uprising, SLU students and professors could be found in the streets, and brought their protest to their home campus, too.
“Our students started looking at the universities,” Tinson said. “They always do. They say, I’m a student here, what are we doing? That’s always the energy that happens.” In 2014 and 2015, this led to the well-known “Clocktower Accords”: an occupation of SLU’s campus by massive numbers of students, which pushed the University to further its commitments to diversity and inclusion. One of those commitments, Tinson pointed out, was to direct more funding into African American studies. The accords do not mention departmentalization specifically, because, Tinson said, “community members, they didn’t really know to ask for something like that. But they identify African American Studies as part of the transformation that the university should embrace to bring us more into the center of the campus, rather than the periphery.”
Tinson came to SLU as a full time faculty member in 2018, at a time in which he said the activist energy on campus seemed to have hit a lull: in the aftermath of the Ferguson and Stockley protests in 2014-15 and 2017, students and community members were tired. “You guys had already gone through the fever pitch of Mike Brown, the Stockley trial…and when I got here, I kind of expected that same kind of energy,” he said. That energy emerged, though, in the summer of 2020, as protests proliferated across the United States and the globe.
Now, Tinson said, the program will be able to expand its offerings—and will be able to reiterate to its students that African American studies is, indeed, “not peripheral” but is a crucial field of study.
“When you’re seen as a legitimate intellectual enterprise with a move like this, it lets the students really have faith in what they’re studying in your class, rather than them thinking that this is just an optional view,” he said. Now, the department’s classes on subjects ranging from African diasporic literature to afrofuturism to the global influence of Black culture to the prison-industrial complex to African American psychology will be offered as a part of a framework that allows this field of study to take a central place within the university.
“It also affords us the opportunity to play a more active role in the educational needs of the greater St. Louis region,” Tinson said, “partnering with local schools and colleges, and delivering region-wide programming that extends beyond our campus for years and decades to come.”
“I think…we caught ourselves in a moment where we couldn’t turn away. Many of our students and faculty were participants in many of the movements, the efforts to call attention to things like police brutality. Close the Workhouse, locally, but also nationwide, just the attention on police brutality,” Tinson said. And in that atmosphere, the already-written proposal for the departmentalization of African American studies was passed unanimously. I got a lot of good questions, but I didn’t get any pushback, and I didn’t get any stubbornness or unwillingness to engage,” Tinson said of the university’s administration. “They were ready to listen. We got unanimous support from the trustees. But I think it wouldn’t have been as accelerated were it not for Minneapolis.”
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Mapping
Continued from page 25
netball team. It was a full-circle moment for her work with young national athletes. But even as an athletic trainer, she felt she wasn’t doing enough to better the health care system as it relates to youth sports.
“I realized there were skills that I did not have to answer the questions I had,” NoelLondon says. “And the best framework I thought to do it was through public health because it was representative of things that were going on in the wider health care system.”
As a SLU student, she had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region. For her doctoral research, she wanted to see if that was in fact true, and if so, what factors contributed to it.
“To explain how I use geospatial, I say that everything within American society is not an accident,” Noel-London says. “There have been systems and policies in place that have shaped the way that the society looks, and in St. Louis, the way that the city and county are made up.”
The idea of using geospatial data came from one of her professors at SLU, Enbal Shacham, Ph.D., who has used geospatial data in health care research in a number of areas including tracking the spread of COVID-19. Noel-London used GIS to map out the variety of sports available in the region’s school districts.
“I created something called the Sport Diversity Index, which is looking at the variety of sports that are available to different school districts,” Noel-London said.
She examined the funding of various schools and districts and compared that to the proportion of rent-occupied housing as a proxy for state and local tax contributions. NoelLondon hypothesized that in school districts located in areas
that are majority rent-occupied, there would be a lower number of sports programs and sports medicine that were offered because of the smaller amount of property tax collected.
“And it was disheartening to be right — it was one of those times where I really wanted to be wrong,” she said.
While Noel-London used GIS to conduct data and analysis to provide insight into the local youth sports scene, she also has years of experience,
having worked closely with the students as both an athletic trainer and head of the Athletic Training Club at Roosevelt High School.
She says her experience with those students is why she researches these societal inadequacies and pushes for a more equal shift in athletic resource distribution. A particularly impactful experience she had as an athletic trainer was with a student who wanted to play basketball in December, but
came to her with an arm that he had broken months ago – but was still wearing in a sling, and hadn’t received rehab for his injury.
“His arm was locked at 90 degrees because there was miscommunication between him going to therapy at the hospital and then his mom was also working multiple jobs. The time they scheduled therapy didn’t work for her, so then he just didn’t do therapy at all,” she said.
She was able to help him recover in time for the basketball season.
“That experience for me was like this is why I do this, this is why I think it’s important to examine things like schoolbased health centers and how we can place athletic trainers within them to increase access in a really cool and interesting novel way that is designed for public health,” she said. Roosevelt High School also houses Nahed Chapman New
American Academy, which helps immigrant and refugee children adjust to St. Louis before enrolling in mainstream school. As head of the athletic training club at Roosevelt, Noel-London also worked with many refugee students from Nahed Chapman, kids she believes she was able to connect with on a deeper level even though the way she came to St. Louis was very different than the student refugees’ experience.
“I think it’s very reassuring when you walk into a place and somebody looks like you but also sounds different to everybody else,” she said. “There’s a certain camaraderie — and I experience it as well.” She’s glad to be able to help these students when they’re injured.
“To come here and now, you sprain your ankle, but you have somebody who’s there to actually take care of you and help you get back to playing soccer a lot faster is such a great and comforting thing to have in a space and a country that is kind of always telling you that you don’t belong. For me, as an immigrant and an international student, that was a new layer of this profession and working in that space that was also really fulfilling.” After using geospatial technology in her public health research, Noel-London sees geospatial data as a natural part of her future work in public health.
“To think that our profession, and the things that I do, are not impacted by space, would be me willfully ignoring a whole history and ignoring all of the other research that suggests that public health is influenced by space and context,” said Noel-London. “I think using GIS, we can help figure out some problems, figure out some patterns, but would also help solve them, too.”
Dana Rieck wrote this piece as a freelancer for STLMade before joining The St. Louis American as a full time news reporter.
THOMPSON COBURN PROUDLY SUPPORTS DIVERSITY AND THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN BUSINESS IMPERATIVE
Kemba Noel-London works with members of the Roosevelt High School Athletic Training Club.
Photo by Amelia Flood, courtesy of Saint Louis University
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
BioSTL: Building an equitable and wholly-inclusive innovation ecosystem
By BioSTL
For more than a decade, BioSTL has been working to address the inequities in bioscience and innovation in the St. Louis region, and the work has only progressed as the racial uprising across the country in 2019 demanded a renewed effort to address systems of inequities.
BioSTL began building a holistic ecosystem approach starting in 2008, bringing together 81 leaders and practitioners from organizations throughout the community with a goal to increase diversity in the biosciences. Over the years, the non-profit dedicated to building St. Louis’ innovation economy, has continued to learn, build partnerships, and further build on its mission of economic growth in a way that increases equity and reduces economic disparities with new trainings and supports.
For the entire ecosystem to thrive, there must be a systems approach supporting youth and families, as today’s youth will be tomorrow’s innovators. And, for the entire bioscience and innovation ecosystem to be wholly-inclusive and provide an opportunity for all to succeed, BioSTL continues to provide new support through
its ecosystem initiatives:
• BioSTL Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy works to empower underrepresented talent throughout the entrepreneur lifecycle.
A key pillar of support is training, providing business concepts, skills development and personalized advising to entrepreneurs to further develop and scale their business.
As a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Heartland Challenge grantee, BioSTL has funding to launch a new training program to help address the systemic challenges entrepreneurs face. The new training program will focus on providing mentorship, training, and access to capital for Black, Latinx, women, and foreignborn small business owners and entrepreneurs with early-stage businesses focused on health and wellness, plant and ag science, or food and nutrition. BioSTL will welcome a local minority serial entrepreneur, who will develop and launch this new training program.
glaring gap in the amount of minority founders supported,” said BioSTL Program Manager Lindsey Harrison. “I am excited to launch a new program that will specifically support underrepresented entrepreneurs in STEM. We will also help meet one of the largest challenges facing minority-led startups and provide access to capital to support their business development.”
learning opportunities for St. Louis PreK-12 students. With this valuable tool, navigating the world of extracurricular STEM learning just got easier for families to locate specific STEM programs that are the perfect fit for their kids. The portal is available at blueprint4. com/stem.
Bioscience Workforce
Collaborative to transform St. Louis’ talent into a strength of the region for the bioscience ecosystem. The Workforce Collaborative will focus on four initiatives:
• Bioscience Skills Match Framework Investment
• Career Fund • Skills-based Hiring Framework
• Workforce Policy Advocacy Network
platform.”
“BioSTL has successfully supported bioscience founders for decades, but there is a
• STEMSTL is a collaborative consortium committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM learning and employment opportunities for all learners in the St. Louis Metro region. To help reach its mission to collectively develop and deploy quality systems-level changes that will advance STEM learning and career opportunities, in July 2021, STEMSTL launched Blueprint4STEM. It is a free, easy-to-use search tool that connects St. Louis area families to out-of-school-time STEM
“By aggregating the STEM programs in one database, we identify STEM gaps that exist throughout the region,” said Kate Polokonis, Interim Executive Director, STEMSTL. “Armed with this information, STEMSTL, as the ecosystem backbone, is positioned to help drive funding and partnerships that will eliminate gaps in informal STEM learning, in an effort to build a system in which all students, regardless of race, geography, or socio-economic status have access to high-quality extracurricular STEM programs.”
• BioSTL’s Workforce Strategy is launching the
“Understanding that diverse and inclusive teams are critical to the future of the bioscience sector, BioSTL is building a bioscience workforce collaborative to foster equitable talent development and deployment efforts through partnerships between academic and training institutions, community organizations, and industry employers,” said Justin Raymundo, Manager of Regional Workforce Strategy, BioSTL. “Through these multi-stakeholder partnerships, community leaders will help build critical infrastructure for an industry-responsive and industry-accountable workforce development
• St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective is a cross-sector regional collaborative supporting advocacy, equitable capacity building, and access to resources to improve the journey of entrepreneurship for women and Black and Brown entrepreneurs. The Collective has conducted community engagement of focus groups and 1:1 conversations to guide the development of a new initiative that will focus on removal of structural barriers, increased access, and creating new pathways through practices and policies designed to remove systemic factors causing inequities in the number of new businesses starts, business ownership, and economic outcomes in St. Louis.
BioSTL continues to lead this work knowing that there is no real systems change without engaged community partners and continued learning and development. We all must be open and willing to move past what was and what is and embrace change – creating an ecosystem where all have the opportunity to learn, innovate, and succeed.
Mizzou biz school announces inclusion, diversity and equity director
By Casey Baker Trulaske School of Business
Trulaske School of Business Dean Ajay Vinzé recently announced the hire of Erika Aaron as the inaugural director of inclusion, diversity and equity at Trulaske, at the University of MissouriColumbia. Previously, Aaron was a faculty recruitment specialist with the MU Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity.
At Trulaske, Aaron will be a strategic leader in bringing best practices in inclusive
excellence to all areas of the Trulaske College of Business. In her new role, she will develop, manage and support initiatives that promote a diverse and inclusive community in the college; provide
Aaron
training and programs to support the needs of faculty, staff and students; and offer recommendations for innovative best practices in the IDE area to all college constituents.
Aaron brings a rich career history to this new role. Before joining the university, she was a global marketing and communications consultant with Community Consent; corporate director of community engagement and communications for Waste
Management in Atlanta: associate manager of national consumer marketing programs for Coca-Cola in Atlanta; and marketing manager in the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network Division at Motorola in Schaumburg, Ill.
Kate Polokonis
Lindsey Harrison
Justin Raymundo
Erika
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
-MLK
At Dierbergs, we believe that getting to know someone’s story is the first step to building an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong.
Together, we can make an impact.
Lindenwood launching ‘Diversify the Pride’ major initiative
By Lindenwood
Located in the heart of St. Charles, Lindenwood University has a rich history of connection to the community. With a focus on the future and enthusiasm for disruptive innovation, Lindenwood strives to be a leader in the higher education ecosystem and intentionally differentiates itself from competitors.
Recognized by Colleges of Distinction for commitment to equity and inclusion, the University has intentionally selected diversity as a vital component of the school’s forward trajectory. As part of Lindenwood’s new five-year strategic plan set to be unveiled this fall, the University has named Diversify the Pride as one of six strategic initiatives and continues to transform the traditional model of higher education.
Diversify the Pride is led by Senior Vice President of Human Resources Dr. Deb Ayres and Dr. Shenika Harris, associate professor of Spanish and teaching and learning specialist for the Lindenwood Learning Academy. As a campus-wide initiative, the committee’s work focuses on ensuring that Lindenwood is an attractive place to work and to learn for all people. The committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges. These characteristics make each individual unique and deserving of respect, acceptance, engagement, and inclusion in all that Lindenwood offers.
The first two initiatives
launched by the Diversify the Pride committee focus on expanding the diversity of applicants for Lindenwood employment opportunities across campus and enhancing the culture of teaching and learning. The R.I.S.E. Project, created by Lindenwood Learning Academy’s Director of Faculty Development, Dr. Kristen Norwood, aims to provide faculty with the knowledge and tools they need to elevate learning for a diverse student body.
Through the R.I.S.E. Project, Lindenwood will establish a shared framework for effective teaching and provide faculty development focused on improving rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement in course design and instruction. The project launched to faculty at the start of the fall semester, and included a keynote address by Dr. Saundra McGuire, author of “Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student
Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation.” As an educational institution, Lindenwood utilizes its classrooms as a platform to embrace diversity. The R.I.S.E. Project provides faculty with tools and resources to create an effective learning environment for all students regardless of their identities, backgrounds, levels of preparedness, or abilities. Examining four aspects – rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement, the R.I.S.E. Project better
The Diversify the Pride committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges.
enables faculty as advocates for diversity. Resources, workshops, and roundtable discussions engage professors in meaningful conversations to share best practices across campus. Additionally, each academic college has named a R.I.S.E. scholar who will champion these efforts in their respective programs.
Outside of the classroom, Lindenwood expanded resources for the campus community to explore their understandings of diversity,
equity, and inclusion. In March 2021, Lindenwood hosted its inaugural Day of Dialogue. Students, and employees examined their individual and institutional roles in creating a shared community during this virtual campus-wide event. Participants engaged in small group discussions exploring ableism, ageism, race, scholarly engagement, and university processes and procedures. Dr. Claude Steele served as the keynote speaker, and Mrs. Emily Pitts closed the day with an enthusiastic call to action that resonated with participants. Pitts profoundly impacted the Lindenwood community and established herself as an ideal candidate for Lindenwood’s Chief Diversity Officer, a position she began in July 2021. Pitts joins a community dedicated to advancing the campus and transforming the University into a more diverse and inclusive place for all. Aligning with work started by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce comprised of students and employees, Pitts will work closely with the group as planning for the second Day of Dialogue begins. Lindenwood University, founded in 1827, is an independent university offering more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in diverse areas of study and traditional and accelerated formats, including online. Lindenwood is dedicated to providing real experiences, promoting academic excellence, optimizing resources, and delivering a high-quality experience with the goal of successful student experience leading to a lifetime success.
Webster U. online course helps educators cope with COVID-19, racial challenges
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
Of The St. Louis American
Sometimes, out of chaos comes creativity.
Such is the case for two Webster University professors, Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren. The professors have launched an eight-week online course for K-12 educators, called “Social Justice and Inclusive Learning.”
Its goal, according to Webster University, is to give teachers the opportunities and tools to meaningfully “address systemic, personal and societal influences that impact culturally proficient instruction.”
The idea for the course, according to co-designers and co-instructors, Flewellen and Warren, came to them after the spread of the Coronavirus and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policemen last year.
“We were thinking in terms of how Webster can show up once again and lead critical conversations that are needed at a time when we’re faced with some serious racial reckoning,” Flewellen explained.
“We wanted to figure out what we can do, not only for the internal community at Webster but the entire St. Louis region as well.”
Combined, Warren and Flewellen have worked in the arena of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for more than 30 years. Among their various roles in the field, Flewellen serves as chief diversity officer at Webster University and Warren is an adjunct professor and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Belleville Township High School District 201. Both knew that long-term
University professors
damage to Black youth whose communities were hit especially hard by COVID-19 and police violence needed to be addressed. Also, educators should be better prepared to recognize, understand and tackle the racial trauma that disproportionately impacts students of color.
When designing the program, no one could definitively predict when the COVID19 pandemic would end. Therefore, their priority was to craft an online course that
enabled educators to be safe, while learning the tools and responses needed to address issues of diversity and inclusion in the classroom.
The three-credit-hour, eightweek course, is designed for educators seeking their undergraduate or graduate degrees.
“We ask the students (teachers) to tap into themselves first,” Warren explained.
“They need to understand their own cultural biography before they aim to understand the cultural situations or make-
to say or what to do. We want teachers to have an open heart and open mind when they’re approaching students to help them see diversity as an asset and not a deficit.”
The professors note that “diversity, inclusion and equity” have been industry buzzwords in recent years.
Several organizations, businesses, schools and universities have hired “diversity officers” to help navigate the complex world of equity and inclusion. It’s a positive step, Flewellen stressed, but not enough to meet the damaging and fluctuating racial challenges teachers face in today’s classrooms:
“Some organizations hire people of color simply because they’re people of color,” Flewellen said.
“I’ve been doing this work for 20 years and it’s not just because I’m a Black, gay man that I’m able to check the ‘I’m able to do this’ box. My partner is responsible for human resources and DEI training for school districts. Professor Warren and I are educators. We’ve been in this lane for years working within educational settings not in corporate spaces; two entirely different lanes.”
up of their classes. We ask them to do their own cultural reflections first.
“It’s an inside/out approach; If you don’t do this work first then you can’t be effective in facilitating a welcoming respectful environment for students.”
Activities are designed to “push reflection and guide teachers to be better prepared to facilitate conversations,” Flewellen added.
“We didn’t necessarily set out to have a toolkit of what
The professors emphasize that the course was not just designed for white educators who teach students of color.
“Black educators have to deal with the trauma of race, too,” Warren explained. “So, to have to teach it can be burdensome to some.”
“We all have ‘stuff,’ even Black folk,” Flewellen added.
“Internalized racism is so deep and so systemic that it even impacts the way black folk view black and other people of color. We are part of a larger society that’s fed the
same messages that our white peers are fed and sometimes it may seep into our inner, deepest thoughts and we are unaware of how or when they may play out.”
Ironically, the online course has been introduced in a chaotic political and social environment. There’s widespread pushback against the idea that racism is a social construct embedded in legal, business and educational systems and policies. This hotly debated hypothesis has been loosely defined as “critical race theory” and legislatures, mostly conservative, are drafting bills seeking to ban its use in classrooms.
“This only further underscores the need for these conversations,” Flewellen countered. “This type of thinking emphasizes the need for roles like mine across the board of institutions, particularly academic institutions.”
Although the course was designed to be implemented in a world impacted by the coronavirus, Warren and Flewellen believe it will be relevant and useful in a post-COVID world as well.
“Even when this global pandemic ends, one thing we know for sure is that the other pandemic is not going away anytime soon,” Flewellen said.
“The need for this course is obviously more important than ever. It’s being offered at a time when everybody wants to figure out what they can do.
“We’re simply telling educators you can become more culturally proficient in your delivery of instructions by enrolling in this course.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
Webster
Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Fellowship advances a generation of museum leaders
By Renee Franklin Chief Diversity Officer
Saint Louis Art Museum
Much of today’s discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion within museums and cultural institutions focuses on offering one-off programs and events rather than examining organizational structures. If museums indeed want to be welcoming and inclusive institutions reflective of all Americans, they must make systemic changes through intentional commitments all levels. That’s why the Saint Louis Art Museum is focusing its diversity efforts on staffing and leadership. Increasing the number of people of color working in professional positions influences critical operational decisions at museums, from the art on the walls and programming to community collaborations and board representation.
The underrepresentation of people of color in leadership or professional roles in museums is not news to those working in the museum and cultural arts fields. However, over the past several years, organizations like the Alliance of American Museums and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have provided quantitative data that all point to the same thing: more museums must have the will to change and become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.
To meet the goal of advancing truly transformative inclusion, in 1992, the Art Museum established the annual Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship. Nearly 30 years later, it is among the earliest and longest-lasting efforts in
the art museum field to focus on increasing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Named to honor African American artist Romare Bearden (1911–1988), the Fellowship prepares outstanding museum professionals from historically underrepresented groups—particularly people of color—to work in and lead the field.
The paid, fully benefited Fellowship aims to develop fellows’ skills, networks, and expertise to advance them into art or cultural careers of their choice. All fellows receive individualized mentoring and training in functional areas throughout the Museum from senior museum staff, fostering confidence-building critical to entry-level museum professionals.
Today, 90 percent of Bearden Fellows are working in prominent positions across the arts and cultural field, with program alumni holding a range of leadership positions in the art world as curators, educators, and development directors at prestigious museums and universities, includes the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the University of Texas at Austin, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, among many others. The Bearden Fellowship began with the wish of philanthropists Adelaide and Daniel Schlafly to create opportunities for African Americans. The Schlaflys wanted to ensure that early-career professionals who were underrepresented in the art museum field had an opportunity to gain work experience that would position them to pursue profession-
al positions in art museums nationally. Together the Art Museum and Schlafys were innovative, forward thinking and intentional in trying to do their part in leveling the playing field through the Bearden Fellowship.
Continuous funding was one significant contributing factor to the Bearden Fellowship being one of the oldest museum Fellowship programs. Mr. and Mrs.
MoDOT supports equality and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions alone without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin or disability.
community an innovative approach to developing their resources to successfully bid on federally funded highway projects. For more information visit: www.modot.org/ecr
Schafly anomalously funded the program 100 percent for the first four years, after which funding has been funded from a restricted fund from the Schaflys and supplemented by the Museum. In 2020, the Museum received a generous gift from the Frost family to establish a Romare Bearden Graduate Fellowship Endowment and is offering a challenge to match up to an additional $100,000 in contri-
butions from others received through December 31, 2021. Until the Fellowship is fully endowed the Museum will continue its funding.
Three decades later, the Bearden Fellowship continues to meet the needs of emerging museums professionals, and this month the Fellowship will see yet another transformation as we welcome our incoming Fellows. The Fellowship will expand from a one-year
• The minimum requirements for certification in the DBE program ar e:
training program to a two-year training program. A new fellow will begin work each year, which will allow first-year fellows to work closely with those completing their second year of the program. The Art Museum is gratified by the impact the Bearden Fellowship has had on the field, and recently shared its experiences through a case study available at the museum’s website, www.slam.org. The document, which was developed with support from the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI), funded by the Ford Foundation and Walton Family Foundation, provides guidance to museums and other organizations that seek to create new, or to refine existing, fellowships that lead to greater diversity in the field. When museum staffing better reflects the changing demographics of America, so too will the art collections, programming, membership, volunteers, and stakeholders. A diverse staff contributes to the welcoming and inclusive culture that museums desire as they cultivate new audiences, search for ways to remain relevant to future generations, and increase revenue. The Bearden Fellowship was initiated to advance the hiring and training individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds for museum work. Bearden Fellows, without exception, credit the Fellowship as being seminal in refining their career goals and most importantly, enabling them to envision themselves as museum professionals. Each Bearden Fellow working at an institution is another opportunity for a community’s story to be shared.
• The for-profit business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) who has a personal net worth of less than $1.32 million.
• The business owner must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States.
• The firm must meet the Small Business Administration’s size standard and not exceed $26.29 million in gross annual receipts.
Romare Bearden Fellows convene at the Saint Louis Art Museum for the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship. Back row, left to right: Alona Cooper Wilson (1994–95), Vanity Gee (2012–13), Danielle Burns Wilson (2008–09), Sherri Williams (2009–10), Kimberley Jacobs (2013–14), Rochelle Caruthers (2011–12), Michelle Moseley Young (2010–11). Front row, seated left to right: Alisa Swindell (2007–08), Jordia Benjamin (2014–15), Jennifer Doyle (2005–06), Yvonne Osei (2016–17), Courtney Baxter (2015–16).
Photo by Tim Parker
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Erin Brooks helps students become superior optometrists
By Jessica Rogen UMSL Daily
There are not enough hours in the day for Erin Brooks.
Whether she’s animating the physiology of a breathing lung in PowerPoint, creating a play about kidneys for her students to perform or relearning optics from the inside out to teach students in a different way, the assistant clinical professor of optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis often finds herself up into the wee hours of the morning almost seven days a week.
Her goal is to reach students in ways that will engage their attention, instruct conceptually and ultimately help them become superior optometrists.
“I want my students to be successful,” Brooks said. “I use all these different tools to help them see things. ‘Oh, they’re not understanding this. Let me see how else I can fix this. Like, what else can I do?’” Brooks, who earned her BS in chemistry, OD and MS in vision science at UMSL, has taught in the College of Optometry since 2011. She’s devoted to her students’ success, offering intensive tutoring for those struggling in school or who don’t pass boards. She’s also passionate about the profession and known for her efforts in UMSL Eye Care’s Pupil Project, which addresses visual learning disabilities in children.
Specifically, it asked why only 2 percent of practicing optometrists and 3.2 percent of students are Black when 13.4 percent of the U.S. population is Black and what could be done to increase the presence of underrepresented minorities.
“It’s important for patients to see people who look like them be their doctor,” Brooks said. “Just like some people want female doctors because they are female, and African Americans often want AfricanAmerican doctors because they feel that we’ll understand them better.
“If you look at the history of our country, and how sometimes minorities have been treated in health care, there’s a lack of trust. I think that trust is hard to build back. It’s easier to start with, you see me, and I look like you, and you’re more comfortable.”
Born to one white and one Black parent, Brooks initially couldn’t see herself as an optometrist but encouragement from her father, a liking for her family eye doctor and a visit to UMSL’s Pre-Optometry Club inspired her. As a doctor, she’s done significant work with students in Girls, Inc. – a junior high outreach program for minority girls – and in outreach at schools in Missouri and Illinois.
But even for Brooks, participating in the article and hearing about the experiences of one of her students awakened her to the importance of representation. “I think I’m unique because I never grew up thinking I was a minority,” she said. “Maybe it’s not fair
Earlier this year, Brooks became known to an even larger crowd when the American Optometric Association featured her on the cover of its magazine, AOA Focus. The story, titled “Optometry’s Reflection,” examined racial and ethnic diversity within the optometric profession.
Being on the cover of the optometric profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Erin Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. who can see that optometry is a viable profession for people of color.
to say I didn’t think I was a minority. But I grew up thinking that that wasn’t fair to put me in that box.”
Going through high school and the UMSL Bridge Program, Brooks was one of the only mixed-race students and felt that her experience stood apart from both her Black and white peers. “I’ve been told a lot of times I’m not Black enough,” she said. “It’s hurtful. I’ve also been asked a lot of times what I am, which is really fun. But I was not raised to see myself as a
minority, and I think that was a good thing for me because I didn’t see the barriers that other people might see. I didn’t realize those barriers existed.”
Those barriers came home this year after learning that one of her students had decided to attend UMSL because of Brooks and Assistant Clinical Professor Angel Novel Simmons. The student had met the two during the admissions process and felt like she belonged.
Hearing that hit Brooks hard. She had bowed out of the
admissions committee since due to her other obligations. She rejoined. “I’m back on there because it’s important for our students who interview,” Brooks said. “She chose UMSL because she saw people like her. That changed things for me, and yes, the article definitely changed me.
“Optometry schools have very few minorities in them. It’s really hard for us to recruit, and it’s hard for them to feel like they belong when you have, you know, two people in the class or no people in
the class who are minorities.”
That’s why being on the cover of the profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. The experience was also empowering for Brooks herself, especially doing the cover shoot. She spent several hours with the photographer, who worked hard to capture the significance of the subject.
“I felt there was this power kind of posing that that he was trying to accomplish,” Brooks said. “Not just you’re posing for this magazine, but you’re showing minorities in power, and that’s important for our patients, for our students, especially the girls because they get to see STEM careers, and I think that optometry is a very valid, viable career that doesn’t take quite as long as medical school to get through.”
Brooks has received positive feedback about the cover and the article from a wide group that spans her students and peers at UMSL to researchers and academics and administrators across the country.
Though she already devotes much of her time to outreach, the experience has left her wanting to increase her efforts. She’s planning on getting into more schools to share her passion for optometry. “I love getting people excited about stuff,” Brooks said. “A lot of people go to optometry school because they have a family member who did it or someone who they know who did it. They’re not going to find optometry school, for the most part, on their own. I love helping people understand what optometry really is.”
Photo by Paul Nordmann
New Cortex DEI VP hopes to change ‘male and pale’ perception
Natalie Self joined innovation hub July 6 as VP of equitable economic impact
By Karen RobinsonJacobs The St. Louis American
Intentional.
That’s how Natalie Self describes her mission in the newly created post of vice president of equitable economic impact with Cortex, an innovation and technology hub in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood.
As one of the main forces at Cortex pushing a message of diversity, equity and inclusion across the board, Self sees progress as a goal that will require deliberate effort from everyone in the organization.
“We have to do work in a very intentional way to ensure that the job opportunities, the entrepreneurship training opportunities, the wealth-building opportunities ...can be accrued to folks across the region, and especially ...to Black and brown St. Louisans and other St. Louisans who have been historically left out of economic development opportunities in the region,” said Self, a Chicago South Side native who has been in the Cortex job since early July.
Sam Fiorello, Cortex’ chief executive as of last year, “was really clear that the work of Cortex now is to take the assets and deploy them in a way that ... the benefit accrues to everyone in the region, but particularly Black and brown folks,” Self added. “That’s why my position was created.”
Born in 2002 as a joint effort of Washington University in St. Louis, BJC HealthCare, the University of
Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Cortex Innovation Community is an innovation hub where workers help technology find commercial uses. Self, 34, said the early years of the hub were spent on designing and building out the 200-acre project, which is run as a nonprofit. Her role now, she said, is to help move the region beyond the notion that workers in the hub are largely “male and pale.”
Officially, according to a Cortex news release, Self’s role is to “lead organiza-
n “If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
–
Natalie Self, Cortex vice president of equitable economic impact
tion-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation; build and advance a talent development strategy for Cortex; and work with the Cortex team to develop systems for supporting
organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.”
“What this position allows is for someone whose full-time job is to think strategically and intentionally about not just doing programming, but really
Natalie Self, shown speaking in 2018, recently joined the Cortex Innovation Community as vice president of equitable economic impact. She now directs its organization-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation.
served as executive director of STEMSTL, a regional collective committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM education and employment opportunities locally, sees her task as to change both the reality of inclusiveness at Cortex and the perception.
“I think when people think about Cortex, they think about white guys and lab coats,” she said. “And the reality when you walk around here is not like that... We have to continue to tell that story.”
Self, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Social Justice from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, said she plans to craft ways to connect applicants of color in the region with “high quality, well paying, way above living wage jobs, with, frankly, low barriers to entry.”
how are we going to spend all of our assets: people or money or facilities, or relationships,” said Self, just days into her new job.
Earlier “there wasn’t someone who had really the kind of the bandwidth to do that,” she said. “So I see this as a double or triple down on that initial investment.
“And my CEO has literally said to me, ‘you’re making the decisions, you tell me what we need to do, where we need to move money, how we need to do things differently.’” she recalled. “I mean, that is just ... irresistible.”
Self, who previously
“We want that perception to change because Cortex, in partnership with other organizations, has really, in five years I hope, that we have demonstrated that Cortex is able to work with partners in a radically different way.
“If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Photo by Lance Thurman / Startup Missouri
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Bouldin-Jones to receive Webster
U. award for service to humanity
By Webster University
Kim Bouldin-Jones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17. We wanted to know what motivates her to serve and what it means to be honored for her volunteerism.
First, we asked Webster University Chancellor Elizabeth (Beth) Stroble to share why Bouldin-Jones, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Webster in 1987 was chosen for this honor.
Q: Chancellor Stroble, how does Kim Bouldin-Jones exemplify Webster’s values represented by the Loretto Award?
A: The Loretto Award is presented to a graduate who has given significantly of themselves in service to humanity and social justice. Kim has, and continues to, make an impact on the world by dedicating her life to improving the health and welfare of underserved people at home and in the developing world. Kim’s commitment to meeting an unmet need epitomizes Webster’s mission and values and is indeed worthy of the Loretto Award.
Q: Kim, why do you place such high importance on serving others?
A: My grandmother was the person who influenced me the most. She was a person that always was helping people. She was always the first one that people called. And so, I’ve always tried to emulate my grandmother in that way.
Q: Did you have any other influences?
A: I think my mom was my biggest professional influence because I saw how hard she worked and all the things she accomplished in her career in education. I also saw the things she was able to accomplish despite her race and gender.
Q: How do you live out your desire to serve others?
A: It’s important to me to feel like I am giving something back to the community – and the community can be large
as in the world community, or small as in the local community. I’m on three working boards currently: Global Youth Leadership Institute, Webster University School of Communication Advisory Board and Doorways Interfaith Residence. All represent a passion of mine.
Q: Why did you start your nonprofit, Medical Facility Aid?
A: I previously worked as an educator and disease specialist in HIV and global
disease prevention. In 2003, moving to full-time job at John Burroughs School in St. Louis, I was taking a break from that work. But I quickly found myself in Africa again, working with a doctor to do HIV prevention. On that trip, I realized that the medical infrastructure of hospitals there were in serious disrepair. I came back to the States, and I thought, “I’m going to help these hospitals find a way to pay for a roof, or plumbing, or whatever they need.” I couldn’t find any organizations
Kim BouldinJones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17.
that did that work, though. So, I decided to start a nonprofit called Medical Facility Aid. And we decided we were going to help medical infrastructure in rural communities, in the developing world.
Q: Tell us about one of your Medical Facility Aid projects.
A: The first hospital I went to in Africa serves a region of about 7 million people. There was one hospital, and they had 250 beds, with NO running water. That’s what
drew me into thinking about the lack medical infrastructure in the developing world. What I managed to accomplish was helping the hospital get running water. It took a long time, but we actually did it. It’s been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
Q: Was learning the importance of serving others something that was reinforced at Webster University?
A: While I was at Webster University, I discovered I really enjoyed helping people because Webster encouraged community service work. I really enjoyed working with people and being around different people and diverse atmospheres and environments. It just kind of stuck with me all these years.
Q: What does that mean to you to be recognized by Webster University with the Loretto Award?
A: I don’t see anything that I’ve done as being extraordinary. This award was a complete shock. But at the same time, it really is nice to be honored by Webster, because I think it shows that trying to help other people is a good thing. Sometimes people notice. I really appreciate that Webster has noticed.
(Kim Bouldin-Jones currently teaches health and works in the Counseling and Wellness Department at John Burroughs School, in St. Louis. She continues to support the goals of Medical Facility Aid. She lives in O’Fallon, Missouri, with her partner, Mike, and her three children).
At Commerce Bank, we recognize that workplace diversity makes for a stronger company. We value, embrace and leverage the variety of perspectives that come as a result of our individual differences. Our inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, innovation and productivity that allow us to better serve the needs of our customers and communities, now and in the future. Our differences
PBS announces effort to increase DEI on screen, behind camera
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
African American filmmakers in the region served by KETC [Channel 9] in St. Louis could benefit from a future Public Broadcasting System [PBS] initiative designed to cultivate this “underrepresented” segment of the film business.
Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, announced on Aug. 10 that the network would make a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment” to support the work of underrepresented filmmakers through the nonprofit Firelight Media’s Groundwork Regional Lab.
“The effort will put 40 fledgling filmmakers in partnership with local PBS stations,” Kerger said during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.
Groundwork Regional Lab supports “diverse, emerging documentary filmmakers living and working” in the U.S and U.S.-controlled territories, according to its website.
Kerger said the program is part of an overall push to recognize and strengthen diversity and inclusion throughout the network and its shows.
She said, while the network has a “long legacy of attempting to reflect our country and the diversity of it, I think we don’t always look as carefully in the mirror and recognize that there may be areas where we are not doing our best.”
“I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
Cecilia Loving has joined PBS as senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and will report to Kerger.
Loving had been serving as a deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer for the New York City Fire Department. “PBS is one of the most trusted institutions in America, impacting people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics. My goal is to build upon PBS’s strong foundation through transparency, trust, and ongoing collaboration with employees and key stakeholders across the public media system,” Loving said in
n “I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
– Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO
a release. According to Kerger, PBS will require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agree-
ments, series renewals, and direct-to-PBS programs.”
For General Audience and PBS Digital Studios content, producers must submit a plan that outlines: A description of how the
Cecilia Loving was recently named Public Broadcasting System senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and says PBS impacts “people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics.” The network will now require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agreements, series renewals, and directto-PBS programs.”
For each area of reporting (e.g., above-the-line, belowthe-line, on-screen talent, etc.), producers must indicate whether DEI goals outlined in the plan were met, surpassed or missed. When goals were not met, producers must provide details on which aspects were found challenging to address and why. This is due within 45 days of completion of principal photography.
A final report addressing the project’s successes and challenges related to DEI must be turned in after final reporting/delivery.
For all PBS KIDS proposals, producers must submit a written overview of how their projects and staffing efforts support the values outlined in PBS KIDS’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which recognize that the work of accurately reflecting a diverse audience on-screen requires a commitment to embracing diversity and inclusion behind the camera as well.
“All children should grow up believing that the world is full of possibilities, and so are they,” said Linda Simensky, PBS KIDS head of content.
production includes perspectives of underserved populations. This should include content subject matter, on-screen talent and key editorial personnel/behind-the-camera staff. This must be completed prior to pre-production. Diverse representation for production team members, including above-the-line talent (directors, writers, producers, creators) and belowthe-line positions. Again, completed before pre-production.
“When children see authentic, positive representations of themselves in media, it has a measurable effect on their self-esteem and long-term success.
“PBS KIDS and our partners believe that authenticity doesn’t happen by accident, but rather through intentional efforts affecting all areas of production—and that the resulting content is made richer and more impactful in the process.”
ST. VINCENT GREENWAY CONNECTS!
This section winds through the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and beautiful St. Vincent County Park.
New connection under construction NOW from St. Vincent County Park over to the Rock Road Transit Center.
Design with neighbors is underway to connect it all together, through the heart of Pagedale, finished by 2025.
Construction of a new section from the former Eskridge High School site to Trojan Park starts this fall (with local contractors!)
This section connects the Missouri History Museum at Forest Park through Ruth Porter Mall Park and on to Trojan Park in Wellston.
Whether you take a walk, go for a run, push a stroller, roll a wheelchair or ride a bike, this greenway is for you — more coming soon!
With 128 miles of greenway paths and counting, there’s always something new to explore!
Photo courtesy of PBS
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Team members at Save A Lot reflect on COVID times
By Save A Lot
Listening and giving back to the community are the keys to career success for Save A Lot team leaders, Laura Farr, Quinn Woodard and Walter Lloyd. Each of them works to keep the lines of communication open for their teams as well as the customers and neighborhoods they serve. For Laura Farr, store manager at 91 North Oaks Plaza, listening to her team over the past year and half has been vital. With many of them concerned about their health and safety while working, communications has been her focus.
“Taking time each day to talk with them about safety protocols and let them know I heard their concerns was important to me,” Farr said. “I wanted to let them know their concerns were valid and
I was going to do what I could to help them.” This tactic of listening and responding to her team allowed her to hold onto the same crew throughout the initial phases of the pandemic.
That same strategy of keeping lines of communication open is what Save A Lot Store Manager Quinn Woodard said helps him connect with the community surrounding the store located at 3645 Page Boulevard. “I remember when I saw one of my regular shoppers back in the store after being gone for several weeks. I asked her how she was doing, and she said she was happy to be out of the hospital after recently recovering from COVID. Just being back to her normal routine meant so much to her, so I knew I had to recognize her loyalty to the store,” Woodard said. During that store visit, Quinn gave
Laura Farr
her a gift card to show his appreciation for her continued support and wish her well in her recovery.
“Being able to give back to the community that supports the store is one of the best parts of working at Save A Lot,” said Walter Lloyd, store manager at 8000 St. Charles Rock Rd. During his three years with Save A Lot, he’s
been able to donate food and water to several organizations. “I try to do what I can when it comes to giving back to churches and community groups that come to my store looking for food and other supplies.” Knowing the positive impact, he has on his community keeps him enthusiastic about coming to work.
Woodard and Farr both
agree that Save A Lot’s commitment to serving local communities with quality and value and promoting from within is what makes working at Save A Lot so fulfilling. During her 11 years with Save A Lot, Farr has had several opportunities to learn and grow. “I started out as an assistant manager. I worked hard and tried to treat everyone well,” Farr said. Her commitment to team building and communication was quickly recognized, and she was promoted. One of the opportunities she most appreciated during her career so far with Save A Lot, was the opportunity to travel to Alabama to assist with new store openings and help build a solid store relationship with the community. “The opportunity to open a brand-new store and let people know about it was one I won’t soon forget. It was great to
connect with a new community and help people there,” she said. Woodard echoed Farr’s sentiments about being empowered do so what is right for the community and his team is what he appreciates about working at Save A Lot. “I not only get to be myself and lead a team of people, but I have others right there with me supporting my success as I grow as a store manager. The support of others is really important,” he said. In his five and a half years with the company, Woodard says he’s been able to partner with countless churches, community groups, including the Urban League to give back whenever he can. He understands the value of being part of the neighborhood and plans to continue building on those strong relationships for years to come.
Building an inclusive pipeline into the water industry
By Missouri American Water
In the 1980s, Renee Lawrence did not see many women or people of color in the water industry, let alone the engineering field. Today, she and LaMarr White of Missouri American Water aim to widen the pipeline by inspiring future generations of STEM leaders.
There is one problem…the talent pipeline for the water workforce is running dry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates “roughly one-third of the
water sector workforce [will be] eligible to retire in the next 10 years.” This is despite the industry supporting more than 200 different occupations “ranging from skilled trades like electricians and technicians to financial, administrative and management positions,” according to The Brookings Institute. Creating a pipeline of diverse candidates is not only important to the community but also imperative for the country.
Both Lawrence and White prove there are traditional and non-traditional ways for peo-
ple to enter the field.
Lawrence, a senior project engineer for Missouri American Water, studied electrical engineering at the University of Kansas. Born to Acme W. Price, Jr. and Roberzene C. Price, two St. Louis Public School educators, it was engrained in her to pursue leadership positions.
engineer was meeting Bruce Aiton, Missouri American Water’s engineering director at the time. From the time I sat down to interview with him, he respected my perspective and made my transition into the company an easy one,” Lawrence said.
“What got me excited about my role as a project
“As a person of color, at first I didn’t see folks that looked like me, but now there’s diversity within the engineering department. I saw
diversity improve for women in engineering, too. I was used to being the only one,” she explained.
For White, it took time to consider the water industry his calling. “I thought it was just a job until I became a field service representative…then I realized it’s a career,” said White.
“My perspective started to change when I saw other people in higher positions. I realized if I was going to make a difference then I had to sit at the table and be a voice. I had to impact change where I was.” White held various posi-
tions within the company ranging from a utility worker in the 1990s to becoming an operations superintendent by 2020. He explained he saw the tides turn when he joined different committees within the company to effect change.
“If you have a passion, your passion will lead you to your purpose,” White said. Throughout the years, they both used their platforms to give back to the community. White dedicated his time to Housing 180 and inspired the company to donate resources
See WATER, page 47
LaMarr White Renee Lawrence
Walter Lloyd Quinn Woodard
Hospital leader discusses her vaccination story
By Gina Calder, FACHE, MPH President of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and Progress West Hospital
When I heard about life-protecting vaccines being made available to health care workers, I did not trust it. I
Water
Continued from 45
and Every
Lawrence
and
her
the
mittee
Missouri’s chapter of the American Water Works Association and mentoring future STEM leaders through the St. Louis Science Center’s YES program. She often invites the children to annual industry conferences to create a talent pipeline.
“I like making those connections before they enter the trade or go to college,” Lawrence said.
To keep safe, clean, reliable drinking water flowing, both Lawrence and White agree that it is imperative to catch children while they are young and get them interested in science.
“You don’t always need a four-year degree. Often, an associate’s [degree] or attending a trade school can help a young person enter the field,” she said.
White uses his position as the head of the company’s North Service Center to foster outreach and education about the water industry.
“Being present at career days and job fairs plants the seed of possibility, to education and to provide an opportunity for our community,” White said. He asserts that anyone interested in the field should obtain a mentor to help them navigate their career.
was among the first to receive my vaccination invitation and ignored it. As a young Black woman, I had a long list of “what if” questions. At best, I would wait to see how the pandemic and/or vaccine data played out. At worst, I would let fear and misinformation cause me to put my life
“This is a field for a person with a civil servant’s heart,” says Lawrence. “It is not a loudspeaker position, or a job with a sexy title, but there’s a
and the lives of others at risk.
I remember talking with my sister, who is my best friend and a physician, as we wrestled with this decision together. She said if we got vaccinated our family, friends and
Gina Calder
sense of pride when you drive down the street and can say ‘I built that. I am supporting my neighborhood.’” Creating an environment
teams would be much more likely to also get vaccinated. I realized that the vaccine was a powerful weapon in our battle against COVID-19. And, fear was a tool that was helping COVID-19 continue its rampage.
where everyone can bring their whole selves to work is at the core of Missouri American Water. Named one of America’s Top Corporations
I realized I could not both be a “hero” in the fight to conquer COVID-19 and be on COVID19’s side of this battle. I had to choose.
Armed with answers from those I trust, my own personal research and prayer, I chose to be vaccinated and continue to encourage others to do the
same. As a result of the courage of those who went first, we know much more about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines than we did in the earlier days of the pandemic. Because it was not an easy decision for me, I can fully support others on their own journeys so we can go far together.
by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council for supplier diversity and included in Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, the company remains committed to supporting current and future diverse leadership within the water industry. This article was provided by Missouri American Water.
Make a new world happen
Our diverse workforce inspires, builds and delivers business results from idea to outcome.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion A Business Priority
• A special publication of the St. Louis American newspaper •
Dreaming big
Empowering at-risk youth with skills to set their life on course
By Cheryl Baehr STL Made
Michael Woods stands on the sidewalk directly in front of an abandoned, burned-out duplex in North St. Louis’s Hyde Park neighborhood, giving his crew a pep-talk as if they are headed into a big game. His team – a group of five high-school aged kids dressed in jeans, sweatshirts, sneakers and matching orange and yellow construction vests – are indeed going into a physically and emotionally demanding situation where the stakes are not just high, but have the potential to change the course of these kids’ lives. He needs to make sure they understand what they are getting themselves into. Now, however, he’s focused on one young woman’s ill-fitting vest.
sures and untucks the back fabric from one of the armholes, getting her all straightened out. “There you go. Now you’re good.”
n Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship, scholarship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves.
“These are supposed to be your brothers, and they’re going to let you go around looking like this?” Woods laughs as he adjusts the clo-
For Woods, making sure the kids that go through Dream Builders 4 Equity are prepared to go about their lives goes far beyond straightening up a work uniform. When he and his business partner, Neal Richardson, founded the organization in 2017, they recognized they had a chance to have a meaningful impact on at-risk youth by empowering them with the skills to set a course for their lives. Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves and in their neighborhoods, thereby effecting change both at the individual and community levels.
See DREAMING, page 51
Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Michael Woods and Neal Richardson knew a new approach was needed for real estate investment to make lasting change in disinvested neighborhoods. They created Dream Builders 4 Equity to connect with communities and positively impact youth while transforming homes, blocks and lives.
Racism Bigotry Inequality Discrimination Has no home at Purina
any where.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreaming
Continued from page 49
In retrospect, Richardson and Woods seemed destined for this work. Richardson, vice-president and director of Business Impact Group for U.S. Bank, has spent the past fifteen years in real estate, finance and community development, working to build up under-resourced communities. Coupled with Woods’ background in real estate, entrepreneurship, writing and mentoring, the longtime acquaintances realized they had the knowhow to make meaningful change in their communities. They also had the drive to do so; both men acknowledged the difficult path they had to get to where they are in their careers and wanted to use what they’d learned to make things a little easier for those coming up today.
“We were feeling that our success was great, but how do we give that to younger people at an earlier age?” Woods says. “We had to bump our heads so many times to get to where we are today. How can we provide these services to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth? What we actually did is take our lived experiences and bottle it up into a program called Dream Builders 4 Equity.” Dream Builders 4 Equity is a nonprofit that aims to give youth from underserved communities the tools they need to escape poverty in the form of job skills, personal development training and wealth accumulation. The organization does this through a three-prong approach that includes a summer youth academy, a real estate program and a book publishing program. The operation centers around skill-building through real estate development and construction wherein participants get on-the-job paid training in the industry from minority contractors through rehabbing homes in North St. Louis City. However, the students do not simply walk away with the skills and a paycheck. Equity earned from the sales of these homes goes back to students in the form of scholarships, which gives them a stake in the outcome. As Richardson explains, it’s a bigpicture approach that builds both monetary and social investment in the people and the communities that need it.
“It’s really a holistic program that’s provided for our students to be ready for the jobs of the future, but also, it creates opportunities for them to impact the community,” Richardson says. “When we show up to a neighborhood, we don’t come from a place of, ‘this is what we want for this community.’ We really believe in economic and equitable development principles of centering the community’s voices and elevating those
voices in order to achieve their desires and their dreams. We listen, we learn, we partner with the community organizations. We work with the youth that we’ve already trained and developed, and we go out into those communities to make a difference and make an impact.”
Both Richardson and Woods recognized that North City’s disinvestment problems are not just about property values; they’re about
disinvestment in people and communities. By rehabilitating properties – and empowering the communities’ youth in the process – they hope to change the narrative about the area. If people see real investment happening, it builds momentum for more investment and generates excitement.
Hyde Park is their test case. The North City neighborhood, centered around the storefronts of Salisbury Street, is
characterized by stunning, three-story brick buildings that rival in their splendor the manses of Benton Park and Lafayette Square. However, unlike those South City jewels, much of the area sits in disrepair, the product of decades of disinvestment that Richardson and Woods hope to turn around. Over the next five years, Dream Builders 4 Equity, in partnership with the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, is executing a $5 million community development plan, investing in 25 homes that they will rehab for first-time homebuyers; 25 home renovations for seniors; a chess park; a daycare center and a 6,000 square-foot building they plan to turn into an educational hub and the center of their operations.
“It all ties into what the community wants and what they need,” Woods says. “Again, we’re hiring the young people from the community. We’re also engaging the contractors from the community. And then we’re also making sure that each community member has a say on what happens and how it happens, so we’re not doing a development to them, we’re doing a development with them.” Richardson and Woods believe Dream Builders 4 Equity’s comprehensive and community-centered approach has the potential to not only change Hyde Park; it has the potential to transform similar communities throughout St. Louis and beyond. This is why they are being intentional about every facet of the organization – they feel a responsibility to get it exactly right so that they can build on what they create in Hyde Park as a model for the future of community development.
Editor’s note: Neal Richardson recently became the director of St. Louis Development Cooperation.
“If you are given a forum to express how you feel and help guide advancement, you have the ability to make a real difference.” Our formally chartered African American Business Resource Group brings African American associates together at Enterprise Bank & Trust to create community and opportunities for improvement and engagement. Read our Community Impact Report to learn how the group got started and the goals they are working toward at enterprisebank.com/impact
Read the report at
Contractor Robert McCully with Michael Woods and Neal Richardson after a successful day on the job. Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Scott Air Force Base is woven into many parts of the region
By Eric Schmid St. Louis Public Radio
Scott Air Force Base is well known as an economic anchor in the Metro East, with connections to the surrounding communities where many active-duty personnel and their families live. The base also has less obvious, but equally deep, connections to other parts of the St. Louis region, like its robust medical community.
A prime example lies in the Air Force’s Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, C-STARS, which trains and exposes Air Force medical personnel to scenarios they’ll likely experience when deployed. Every two years, medics travel to a large U.S. hospital where they participate in medical simulations and shadow local medical professionals, said Maj. Stephen Ray, the deputy director of C-STARS St. Louis. The Air Force also has such partnerships in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Omaha and Las Vegas, he said. “The kinds of injuries that we see in our military hospitals, we only see when we’re deployed or when we come to readiness places like this,” Ray said. “These are the places, like St. Louis, that our medical personnel need to stay current.” In one recent simulation at St. Louis University, a group of nurses and one doctor balance caring for two “patients,” one whose left leg is in a tourniquet and another who’s suffered a blast from an improvised explosive device. The patients are mannequins, but the medics don’t treat the injuries any less
seriously. “The simulations are designed based on feedback from the field,” Ray said. “The instructors, like myself, and others at different sites across the country have gotten together and said, ‘What patient injuries have we seen that we need to replicate here?’”
While C-STARS officially is run from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Scott played a role in the program’s establishment 20 years ago. The initial idea for the program came from Col. Michael Hayek, a doctor who developed a medical skills
training laboratory at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis County, Ray said. In 2000, Hayek pitched the idea to Dr. Paul K. Carlton Jr., the surgeon general of the Air Force at the time, who committed to expanding the model, he added.
C-STARS St. Louis was established a year later at SLU Hospital thanks largely to the relationships Carlton built while at Scott Air Force Base between 1988 and 1991, said Dr. Carl Freeman, the trauma medical division director at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital. “He realized that Air Force
personnel needed further trauma training and reached out to SLU to work with the university and the hospital,” he said.
Freeman, who served 21 years in the Air Force, experienced how crossing between the medical and military environment aided him as a young surgeon. “It allowed me to have exposure to trauma patients, including ones that are shot and correlate the care I provide here to overseas,” he said.
Since retiring from the military in 2016, Freeman sees the medics from the Air Force
More direct involvement in Illinois
Air Force medics treat a life-size mannequin during a Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills simulation at St. Louis University. Active-duty medics must undergo such training every two years.
and Missouri Air National Guard who rotate through the hospital. The unfortunate reality of gun violence in St. Louis provides an important perspective for the medics who shadow doctors in the emergency department, he said. “The major thing people say they take away from this is how to take care of a very sick patient and not be scared,” Freeman said. “A lot of these people have never seen these type of injuries, and it’s really important for them to learn how to take care of them and not be distracted by the injury.”
Scott is also closely involved with St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s three-year family residency program. Eight of the 14 residents the hospital welcomes each year are on active military duty, said Dr. Marjorie Guthrie, who directs the program. “Having the residency partnered with the United States Air Force does give us more manpower, and more manpower means more patients seen,” she said. St. Elizabeth’s also gets instructors from Scott adding a layer of depth to the hospital’s courses, Guthrie said. She added that the military has a good focus on alternative medicine with some of the faculty from the base bringing expertise on acupuncture and osteopathic manipulation, for example. While some Air Force members use the medical facilities on base, others turn to what’s available in the surrounding community. Scott’s proximity also broadens the type of people residents care for, something Guthrie said is important for family medicine, since those doctors are trained to treat a wide age spectrum. “If you think about resident education as an opportunity to see diverse health care systems, then being exposed to the military system is just one of them,” she said. “You’re not just working with underserved patients, or you’re not just working with military patients. You get a good, broad variety.”
SIUE is building a legacy of equity and excellence. We are actively engaged in cultivating an equity-minded campus ecosystem, dedicated to shaping a changing world.
SIUE is nationally recognized for its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Under the visionary leadership of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jessica Harris, PhD, SIUE is committed to operationalizing inclusive excellence at all levels of the institution.
Photo provided by Saint Louis University
Jessica Harris, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity,
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is ‘all in’ on DEI
By Karlos Ramirez President & CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan
Louis
St.
St. Louis is full of possibilities. In order to reach our full potential as a region, we need to double down on diversity, equity and inclusion. While we’ve made significant strides, there is more work to be done. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (HCC) of Metropolitan St. Louis has a mission to improve business
opportunities for Hispanic firms and professionals, thereby improving the economic development of the St. Louis region. Improving business opportunities for ALL is an imperative, particularly for minorities, who disproportionately have less access to capital and mentoring that they need to succeed.
Rising tides lift all boats, and too often, we come up short in our policies, which can leave some behind without intentional efforts by third parties. The HCC is one of those
third parties and I am proud of the role we are playing. We have a dedicated team that provides counseling to small businesses at every stage of planning, funding options, and educational resources. Examples of our programming include:
• Contractor
Connect – industry experts educating and empowering small construction businesses.
• Restaurant Training – where to start and best practices for restaurants.
• Working Women annual event –providing inspiration and resources to working women.
• Hispanic Leadership Institute – leadership development program, one track for high school students and a separate track for business
professionals. We believe that it’s imperative for businesses and non-profits to have a plan and regularly evaluate that plan to determine if adjustments are needed. Too often, organizations are stuck in their day-today execution and unable to plan their future.
The HCC couldn’t do what we do without allies and are proud to work with corporate and strategic partners throughout the region. The HCC also has many non-Hispanic members that are attracted to our
programming and interested in marketing to Hispanics, the fastest growing demographic in the region. As a region, we are making strides, but there is more hard work to do, and we must do it TOGETHER. Being an inclusive region in business can impact education, representation at decision making tables, and more. One group’s success does not come at the expense of another but makes the entire business community stronger. Our time is now, St. Louis, it’s time for action.
It
takes all of us
We all have a history. A story. We bring with us life experiences that shape who we are and make us better.
At Spire, we know our individual stories only make us stronger as a whole. That’s why we’re committed to an inclusive work environment where all that makes us unique is embraced, encouraged and valued.
Because it truly takes all of us—our backgrounds, our perspectives and our experiences—to move forward.
Karlos Ramirez
Together we can make an impact
The
By Dierbergs For The St. Louis American
For more than a century, Dierbergs has prioritized supporting the communities we serve and the people that live in them. As our environment continues to evolve, we recognize we have much to learn about the impact of these changes and how Dierbergs can positively contribute to making a difference within our company and in the community.
We believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
So, we listened. As we did, it only reinforced how important it is that our associates feel they can bring their own unique version of themselves to work and the powerful and meaningful impact a diverse workforce can make.
The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Wendell, a store director, who has developed his career at Dierbergs over the last 21 years:
“I am from St. Louis and graduated from University City High School. University City was extremely diverseeven back in the 70s and 80s. My graduating class was about 60% white which really allowed me to experience diversity and understand [my environment] at an early age.
I attended Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri. As an 18-year-old, it was a tough transition. I knew very few people and was suddenly faced with many social issues that I hadn’t confronted before.
Many townspeople didn’t like Blacks and they let you know it- I was called names and I didn’t know why. I hadn’t done anything to them; I was just simply going to class. The first few months did not go well with my roommate. He moved out after 10 days simply because I was Black. But it was fine. I understood that. Not everybody makes those adjustments. Shortly after I joined a fraternity, and the foundation of service and acceptance helped me grow and come alive in
n “For those that look different than me, if I take the time listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine.”
– Wendell, Store Director, Dierbergs
new ways. [I found] a voice that I didn’t know I had. It helped me understand that I have to work with people in order to make this a better place. My life began to change;
I grew up and became more mature.
Later, as an assistant store director at Dierbergs, a customer called me an “Obama boy” because we didn’t have a spe-
At Dierbergs, we believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
bag for him to make myself present and I said “I see you got the bottle while you were looking for. Glad we could help you out.” I was not trying to be controversial, but at the same time, I was trying to express a point that “no matter what you say, no matter what you do, I’m going to be professional, and I’m going to do the right thing.”
cific $9 bottle of wine. When I did not find the wine in the back, he said “that’s just great Obama boy. I asked, “what do you mean by that?’ He yelled “you know what I mean by that,” and the entire store stopped. For someone to yell that, he must have felt pretty comfortable, so I asked him to leave. We didn’t have what he was looking for and he was not a customer who was behaving acceptably. He came back within 5 minutes, which was concerning. He had a different bottle of wine. I proceeded to
At Dierbergs, we have all sorts of individuals who work and shop with us, and you never really know what is on a person’s mind, or why they feel the way they do. Having some of these challenges in my life helped me understand where they’re going and how they’re feeling. I can redirect misunderstandings and mistrust into a place where other people of color can begin to grow and understand. Just because they feel a certain way doesn’t mean they’re the only one who’s ever felt that way, and many of us have succeeded regardless. For those that look different from me, if I take the time to listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine. You might find that my story, in many ways, doesn’t differ quite that much from yours. Yes, my skin may be different, sometimes my talk may be different, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care any less, or don’t want the same things that you want. I’m willing to go get those things, and I’m not going to put down anybody in the process. I’d rather bring you along with me.” What’s your story? Together, let’s make an impact.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Ascension Charity Classic brings professional golf to North County
The St. Louis American Staff
When word began to leak in the summer of 2019 that professional golf would be returning to St. Louis, the expectation was that it would take place at either Bellerive or Old Warson, two West County courses with a long history of hosting major golfing events.
But at a press conference in October 2019 at Norwood Hills Country Club in Jennings, Ascension executive vice president of marketing Nick Ragone explained why golf’s newest professional event would be taking place at the historic North County golf course.
“We want the Ascension Charity Classic to stand for two things,” he said before a packed ballroom of media, community and civic leaders.
“First, we want this to be a ‘tentpole’ event that stimulates and encourages additional economic and charitable development in North St. Louis County, and second, we want this to be the most charitable tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions schedule.
This isn’t about golf, it’s about giving back to North St. Louis County and encouraging others to do the same.” For those familiar with Ascension, one of the nation’s largest Catholic healthcare systems and headquartered in St. Louis, it came as no surprise that the ministry would create a signature brand event in an underserved and neglected part of St. Louis with a focus on giving back to area charities.
“Our Mission, quite literally, is to serve underserved
areas and advocate for a more just and compassionate society,” Ragone noted in his remarks that October day. “As a region and community we’re only doing well if we’re all doing well, and as corporate and community leaders it’s all our responsibility to make sure we’re investing in growth and opportunity for all St. Louis. That’s what the Ascension Charity Classic is all about.” Now called the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson, after the Norwood neighbor came on board as presenting sponsor, the tournament has been set up so that all net proceeds will be distributed to North County charities, beginning with the
What:
Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson
When: Sept. 9-12, 2021
Where: Norwood Hills Country Club, Jennings, Missouri
Tickets and more information: ascensioncharityclassic.com
Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, and Marygrove, a residential facility for neglected and abused children based in Florissant.
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000 to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
With the tournament moved up in the schedule this year to the first week of September, excitement continues to grow with additional sponsors and partners joining the effort –and the recent announcement that legendary golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson would be competing in the “Legends Charity Challenge” at the inaugural event, with proceeds going to First Tee of Greater St. Louis and PGA REACH, two organizations committed to making golf a more inclusive and diverse sport.
to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
“It shows the level of engagement and commitment by Ascension, Emerson, World Wide Technology and the other corporate partners that in an especially challenging year for charities and communities, the tournament was still able to give back so generously,” said Michael McMillian, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.
“Just imagine how this event will make a difference once it has been played. It will be a game changer for the community.”
As the St. Louis region continues to rebound from COVID, the Ascension Charity Classic will be a unique chance to showcase the strength and diversity of North St. Louis County as the tournament is aired live nationally for all three rounds. “We love that the nation will be able to see something that we’ve known for a long time – that the St. Louis community is committed to investing in our entire region and that by doing so, we foster hope and opportunity for everyone,” said Dr. Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Which reflects Ragone’s original declaration on Oct. 8, 2019, at the press conference at Norwood Hills: “Giving back to the community is more than just providing care and healing the sick,” he said. “It’s also about long-term investing in our communities, and encouraging others to invest in the community, so that we can bring about a more just, inclusive and equitable society. It’s incumbent upon all of us to make a difference.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Missouri School of Journalism wins national diversity award
Award recognizes journalism, mass communication programs achieving equity and diversity goals
By University of Missouri-Columbia
The Missouri School of Journalism is the recipient of the Equity & Diversity Award by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). This national award is one of the highest honors in diversity and inclusion. The annual award recognizes journalism and mass communication programs that are successfully achieving equity and diversity goals. Programs must display progress and innovation in racial, gender and ethnic equality and diversity over the previous three-year period.“The Missouri School of Journalism strives to be a place where all people feel valued, where their talents can be developed, where personal and professional growth is nurtured. A place where all have an opportunity to be heard and respected,” said Dean David Kurpius. “I am thrilled our efforts are being recognized by AEJMC.”
Judges noted the School’s sustained commitment, efforts, and investment in diversity and inclusion activities. Among the judges’ comments:
• “Mizzou has really worked hard to try to change the tide that has existed there in terms of people’s perspectives.”
• “They look like they are invested.”
• “The School has been intentional and forward-thinking in trying to bring forward those persons who represent
As part of the efforts of the Diversity and Inclusion committee, the School works to bring in diverse speakers to engage with J-School students. Jemele Hill (center) a staff writer for The Atlantic and a former ESPN correspondent, columnist and host, spoke with various student groups about mentoring, internships and having passion for your job.
where they are trying to go in its efforts to diversify. We found the School’s progress in hiring diverse faculty and its specific initiatives in programming and mentorship particularly impressive.”
Renewed Commitment
In 2016, the School’s faculty and staff recommitted to the importance of developing a more diverse and inclusive culture. Goals included hiring and retaining more diverse faculty,
diversifying and establishing an inclusive curriculum, and providing mentoring opportunities for historically underserved students.
To help support these efforts, MU’s Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity has partnered with the School to help strengthen its IDE efforts in a competitive hiring marketplace. Campus leadership provided permanent funding for one-time new faculty lines as well as additional incentives such as spousal
accommodations to attract diverse minority candidates. These resources allowed the School to accelerate its plans for diversity and inclusion. Through intentional recruitment and hiring, the School increased its percentage of faculty members of color from approximately 11% of faculty in 2015 to 23% today. Representation of African American faculty members increased from less than 3% to nearly 9% of all faculty. To change culture, hiring commit-
tees within the School routinely request diversity statements from candidates to ensure that prospective faculty understand the School’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity.
Faculty committee work
For the past three years, the School’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Cristina Mislán, regularly review the School’s diversity and inclusion strategic
plan to address ever evolving understanding around inclusion, diversity and equity in higher education and the workplace. To ensure the School is making progress toward its IDE goals, the Committee solicits input from faculty, student leaders and staff on an annual basis. This feedback keeps the plan fresh and relevant.
“It’s important to be recognized for our efforts in making the school more inclusive, diverse and equitable,” said Mislán. “We have a long road ahead, but as a community we are committed to engendering an institution that trains responsible scholars and journalists, one that will enhance journalism and mass communication education.”
Embedded in the curriculum
In the classroom, diversity and inclusion are part of the core of what students learn. All journalism students are required to take a CrossCultural journalism course to provide context and tools for students as they report, edit and generally communicate in a complex, diverse and changing society. In the School’s hands-on, real world newsrooms and agencies, information about the race of an alleged criminal, a person’s age, membership in certain groups, photo depictions and the like all provide teaching
Construction is a team sport that relies on diverse talent
Ralph Powell Jr., expanding opportunities in construction community
By Ralph Powell Jr. Director of Diversity at McCarthy Building Companies
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to play and watch sports.
Growing up, I shot hoops with kids in my neighborhood, was a competitive high school athlete, and cheered on both of my older sisters in Division 1 college basketball. Through sports, I experienced the thrill of competition and the power of teamwork. I also learned that the most successful sports teams rely on a diverse group of players, each of whom brings unique talents, skills and experience to the group.
Since joining McCarthy Building Companies as a project engineer in 2003, I’ve discovered those same principles are just as true for the construction industry. During my 18-year career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on dozens of commercial construction projects—from hospital expansions to school renovations. Through those experiences, I’ve honed my skills in managing complex construction projects, built long-term relationships and continued to advance my career. Recently, I’ve stepped into my newest role as Director of Diversity for McCarthy’s 28-state Central Region. In this position, I will draw on my field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community. This includes building and nurturing relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses to
In his new role as director of diversity at McCarthy Building Companies, Ralph Powell Jr. (pictured in the blue shirt) is drawing on his construction field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community.
mentor, support and help them succeed. I’ll also drive diversity initiatives for major building projects across the St. Louis region.
My work is part of a national Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program that leverages best practices from every McCarthy region. Our team’s priorities are to promote inclusive hiring practices; equip and empower employees to grow their careers; and continue to expand our sup-
plier diversity and community engagement programs. In short, I will continue the excellent work of my predecessor, Monica Bailey. As the first— and longest-serving—full-time diversity director among St. Louis contractors, she helped advance McCarthy’s commitment to an inclusive work culture by helping teams recognize the benefits of diverse perspectives. In doing so, she paved the way for McCarthy and other firms to build rela-
tionships with diverse businesses and help position them for success.
As the largest contractor in St. Louis, McCarthy believes we have a unique responsibility to help foster a diverse, thriving community of local businesses. Having a strong team of qualified industry partners supports innovation and creativity that not only drive better solutions for our clients, but also is good for our community. And as our region
continues to face a construction labor shortage, it’s important to attract the next generation of construction workers who will build St. Louis’ future schools, hospitals, research facilities and infrastructure projects.
I probably wouldn’t have discovered construction as a potential career if my brotherin-law hadn’t introduced me to it. As a teenager, I spent a couple of summers working as a laborer for his newly launched small construction company
and also had the opportunity to shadow him as he interacted with clients and ran the business. He encouraged me to pursue a construction management degree and played an influential role in my eventual career path. For that, I’m extremely grateful. Now I have the opportunity to pay it forward by serving as a role model to young people who may be unsure what opportunities are available to them. I want them to envision what’s possible by meeting someone who looks like them and has progressed from an entry-level position to Director of Diversity at St. Louis’ largest general contractor. When I look back on my construction career, my favorite memories are the relationships I’ve built with clients, coworkers and trade partners. I just love the team aspect of the job—working together on tough challenges, overcoming obstacles, celebrating the completion of a successful project and having fun along the way. In my new role, I’m privileged to focus on expanding those relationships, with the goal of ensuring that our project teams reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
In many ways, my role is similar to that of a sports team coach: a motivator, a communicator, a strategist and an advocate who helps players achieve their full potential. Ultimately, I want to build bridges that strengthen the entire St. Louis construction community. Because, at the end of the day, we are all part of the same team.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Mizzou’s Perry wins national award for achievement in diversity and research
Earnest Perry, associate professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research, has been chosen to receive the 2021 Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The Barrow Award recognizes outstanding individual accomplishment and leadership in diversity efforts for underrepresented groups by race and ethnicity. “Thank you to the Minorities and Communication Division and the Commission on the Status of Minorities for this award,” said Perry. “This is not just for me. It is for the Missouri School of Journalism and to those who work every day to infuse our programs with the tenants of diversity, inclusion and equity.”
“Dr. Perry’s dedication to and strong work in the area of inclusion, diversity and equity has benefited numerous students, faculty and staff,” said Dean David Kurpius. “His ability to understand the complex systems that are core to a functioning university and school and then address inherent ineq-
Award
Continued from page 56 opportunities about not discriminating when reporting or developing campaigns.
Alumni/student connections
uities systematically forms the core of his work and is why he deserves this recognition. I am honored to have him serving as associate dean and I am proud of his significant and ongoing work.”
Perry’s co-edited the book, “Cross-cultural Journalism: Communicating Strategically About Diversity.” It was developed out of the first required journalism diversity, equity
The School’s desire to advance a culture of welcome, respect and acceptance is one that is embraced by alumni, as well as the news and communication industry. Their involvement as speakers, mentors, recruiters, supporters and more benefits future leaders and the profession at large. In 2019, Associate Professor Ron Kelley launched a pilot mentoring program for junior and senior minority students
and inclusion course in the country. Adopted nationally at other universities and now in its second edition, the book is designed to teach college students to critically think about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the work of journalism and strategic communication with a strong connection to the history and context of this work in our society.
“Dr. Perry encourages dis-
who are matched with minority journalism and strategic communication alumni. The goal of this program is to provide guidance’s to students for retention and professional development. The mentorship will continue after graduation to help students make the transition from college to their professional careers. As Kelley noted, the first years of a new career can be daunting, and
cussion in classes—sometimes lively, always respectful—and he challenges students to analyze their own assumptions about the way they think about differences among people,” said Kurpius. “Both undergraduate and graduate students have flocked to him for classes and advising. His mentorship—the hidden teaching work—is significant and ongoing.”
Perry’s research interests
the mentors help navigate any potential challenges faced.
“The participation from alumni of color has been great and we are thankful for their willingness to give back,” said Kelley. “Many of them have said they wished they had a program like this when they were in school.” There is also strong support – both financial and mentoring – for various student identity-based
Earnest Perry is the 2021 recipient of the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity and Research.
center on African-American press history, specifically the Black Press during the first half of the 20th Century. Perry has also done research on the media’s role in serving underrepresented groups and the lack of ethnic minority journalists in the mainstream media. He currently chair’s AEJMC Publications Committee and previously served on the Standing
Committee on Teaching and as chair of the Standing Committee on Research. He also served as president of the American Journalism Historians Association. Perry has published articles on history and media management in several journals including American Journalism, Journalism History and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. His professional career includes stints as a reporter for newspapers in Illinois, Connecticut and Texas. He has also served as a consultant to news outlets in Texas and Missouri on issues such as newsroom management, reporting in ethnic minority communities, news writing and editing.
Dr. Lionel C. “Lee” Barrow, Jr. served as an advertising executive and civil rights activist and retired as the dean of 10 years from the Howard University School of Communications in 1985. During his life Barrow chaired various committees and commissions that worked to increase the number of women and minority students in the communications field.
organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), Women in Media, and the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM). These organizations provide students with various opportunities and resources that will help propel their careers forward.
“The Missouri School of Journalism is committed to creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable culture, one that enriches the lives of our faculty, staff, students and our communities,” said Kurpius. “Such transformation is a never-ending process, but it’s a challenge we welcome each day with a fresh commitment.”
Lewis Rice diversity outreach includes honoring late Black legal pioneer
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
St. Louis law firm Lewis
Rice has posthumously honored the region’s first Black legal partner, Larry Deskins, with two annual scholarships for members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups starting in fall 2022.
Deskins became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985. He was a corporate attorney who remained with the firm for over 40 years. He died in March 2020 after a long illness.
Attorney Ronald Norwood said the scholarship is just one of several “next level” efforts on the firm’s behalf to encourage the success of a diverse pool of lawyers in the region.
Norwood serves as chairman of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI). He joined Lewis Rice in 1988 as a litigation associate.
“We felt as a firm that in honor of Larry Deskins and the exceptional contributions that he made not only to Lewis Rice but to the St. Louis legal community, serving as a trail blazer, an advisor to corporations large and small in the St. Louis region that it would be a fitting tribute to establish these scholarships in his honor,” Norwood said.
The Lewis Rice Scholarship in Honor of Larry L. Deskins will award two $7,500 scholarships to first-year law students at Washington University, Saint Louis University or
Firm has launched several inclusion efforts
University of Missouri law schools who are members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups in the legal profession starting in fall 2022. But that’s not the DAI’s only recent effort, according to Norwood. They’re also establishing a Lewis Rice HarrisStowe State University internship beginning in the summer of 2022.
This will be a paid, fourweek internship to a qualified Harris-Stowe State University student from an economically or academically disadvantaged group who is interested in a career in law.
“[This will] provide an opportunity for them to come in to work with our firm, to get acclimated with the practice
of law, to learn from lawyers about the business of law,” Norwood said. “And to hope they entice them into continuing on that track.”
A 2021 Missouri Bar report stated that voluntarily collected demographic information shows just 12% of Missouri lawyers are racially or ethnically diverse, compared to the nearly 22% of Missouri resi-
Larry Deskins (left) became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985.
Ronald Norwood (right) serves as chairman of law firm Lewis Rice’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI).
in diversity and if all of the businesses become proactive as a relates to diversity, we’re going to be a better society and we’re going to be a better region.”
Norwood said a third action in the Next Level program has implemented works to incentivize lawyers within the firm to become more active in diversity and inclusion efforts. Lewis and Rice is offering billable credit hours for attorneys who engage in activities such as serving on the Diversity and Inclusion (DAI) Committee, a bar association or affinity group dedicated to diversity and inclusion and participating in activities designed to recruit, mentor and retain underrepresented attorneys and staff.
“We felt we had done a lot of positive things as a firm and as a committee,” Norwood said. “Our view is that we don’t want to rest on our laurels, we want to continue to move that needle and continue to progress in a positive way to be an example to law firms and other corporations of what a genuine commitment to diversity is.”
dents who reported ethnic and racial diversity in the last U.S. Census.
“I think the important thing is that if corporations and law firms like ours double down and become more committed in diversity efforts — whatever they might be — that is the important thing … because if all of the law firms come together and become proactive
In November 2017, Lewis Rice received the Corporate Diversity Award from The St. Louis American. In addition, Lewis Rice’s Management and DAI committees last year joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a group of more than 350 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners committed to building a more open and diverse legal profession.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Diversity is key to mission of Council of Construction Employers
Offers ‘earn while you learn’ program
By CCE
The Council acts as the management arm of the nationally renowned St. Louis Construction Cooperative labor/management organization that strives to Build Better Together. One of SLCC’s finest accomplishments is the Careers in Construction manual which lists each construction craft along with its entry requirements and contact information: https://stlouisconstruc-
tioncooperative.org/construction-careers/ Diversity Efforts and Inclusion
Part of CCE’s mission is to collectively address issues that concern the St. Louis commercial construction industry. Working together with our union trades partners we provide first-class, accessible training opportunities through our various apprenticeship and training programs. We’re also engaged in efforts to promote the development of minority and women craft workers through the Building Union Diversity (B.U.D.) program. CCE also supports the efforts of the Regional Union Contractors Center, a business incubator designed to assist minority and women-owned businesses build and maintain successful construction companies. Several member organizations have built their own models to increase inclusion; like the CHAMPIONS Program, a partnership between Plumbers and Pipefitters Local #562, the Plumbing Industry Council and the Mechanical Contractors Association. CHAMPIONS is an intensive, six-week program that introduces participants to the technical aspects of the trades. Graduates are guaranteed a minimum of one year employment as a pre-apprentice by one of the participating CHAMPION contractors.
The St. Louis Electrical Connection, a partnership
between Electrical Workers Local #1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), has named Sylvester Taylor as its new Director of Diversity to continue to strengthen the bonds it has established with under-served communities in St. Louis.
A recent effort that will provide more transparen-
cy and help lift the veil of mystery regarding careers in construction is the St. Louis Construction Career Center, located at 6301 Knox Industrial Dr. 63139, inside AGC of Missouri’s Construction Training School. The Career Center operates as a single point of contact for information about careers in the various construction trades, as well as architecture, engi-
neering and construction management. The Career Center also helps bring into focus the career paths available, the admission requirements for those programs and individualized support to help in the process.
Sometimes a job-seeker doesn’t meet the requirements of a particular trade but the Career Center may be able to steer that candidate to a pro-
gram that’s right for him or her.
COVID-19 dramatically curtailed opportunities to spread the word about the Construction Career Center. Career and Job Opportunity Fairs were cancelled during the pandemic, substantially reducing outreach but our efforts continue. We expanded our partnerships with other St. Louis area career organizations and we’re developing virtual opportunities to ensure that future construction industry professionals can be placed in meaningful careers.
Learn while you learn Union construction training programs do not charge for their services. There are no fees. Program participants do not incur student loan debt. In fact, pre-apprentices and apprentices actually work to earn wages and benefits while not in the classroom or training facility.
We believe that a more diverse and inclusive workforce, along with higher wages and fringe benefits, provides better, safer working conditions and helps elevate the standard of living for the entire St. Louis community. Come investigate the high paying careers in the construction industry. Contact Sergio Munoz at (314) 644-1525 or smunoz@stl-cts.org to discuss a construction career and determine your best strategy for advancement.
St. Louis Symphony’s diversity efforts boosted by $200,000 in grants
By Jeremy D. Goodwin St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra is stepping up its efforts to reach out to Black audiences and musicians.
The organization will use $160,000 from the Bayer Fund to support a cluster of programs called IN UNISON. They include the orchestra’s IN UNISON Chorus, which focuses on works by Black composers, and Peer To Peer, a mentorship program for young African American musicians.
The League of American Orchestras is contributing $19,500 to related efforts. The money is earmarked for anti-bias training for the organization’s personnel and an ongoing review of practices that would increase diversity among the organization’s patrons, musicians and other employees.
“How do we recruit? How do we form the talent of the St. Louis Symphony — whether it’s on the board, whether it’s on staff, among our volunteers, in our orchestra, in our choruses,” said President and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard. “And how do we serve the community?”
A growing partnership with the Black church The roots of IN UNISON stretch to 1992, when the orchestra formed the chorus in partnership with a handful of Black churches, whose members populated the group. The network of churches has since grown to 33.
Orchestra musicians play chamber recitals in churches throughout the year. Last month a string quartet, brass quintet and members of the IN
UNISON Chorus performed in celebration of Juneteenth at Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in the Midtown neighborhood of St. Louis. Education programs under the In Unison umbrella
Church last year.
include six scholarships for African American college students studying music in St. Louis, and the Peer to Peer program, in which four Black musicians in middle school and high school are paired with members of the SLSO Youth
Orchestra.
The duos meet regularly for coaching, to attend SLSO performances and occasionally play with orchestra musicians. The organization received a one-time donation to expand the program to 16 student
pairings for the 2020-2021 season.
From onstage to the office St. Louis Symphony created a committee on its board of trustees to explore diversity, equity and inclusion in 2016, Bernard said. A separate task force made up of orchestra members and administrative staff formed during the 2020-21 season. Musicians, administrative staff and board members have participated in an initial anti-bias training. The orchestra has made strides in terms of gender parity. In 2014, Bernard said, it became the first major symphony orchestra in the U.S. to feature a majority of female musicians. But there is a pronounced lack of racial diversity among the organization’s leadership, which is not unusual among the largest arts organizations in St. Louis. Bernard, Music Director Stéphane Denève, board chair Steven L. Finerty and 39 of 44 total board members are white.
“The work will never be done. This is an evolution. It’s an investment in the future, forever. In five years we’ll look back and in 10 years we’ll look back, and some things will take more time than others,” Bernard said. “It’s about, how do you continue to stimulate the flow of ideas that doesn’t just come from me or my music director or board, but the people who come from St. Louis.”
The programs and partnerships give orchestra leaders a chance to solicit suggestions from Black St. Louisans, Vice President and General Manager Erik Finley said. “We can’t do it on our own. We don’t know enough,” Finley said “We have to really listen to our churches, listen to our partners, listen to all of the diverse corners of our community.”
Malena Smith, a graduate fellow with St. Louis Symphony’s In Unison program, performs with orchestra members at New Sunny Mount Missionary
Photo by Bob Olimpio / St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
St. Louis native serves as a member of U.S. Navy’s ‘Silent Service’
By Rick Burke Navy Office of Community Outreach
A St. Louis native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) one of the world’s most advanced nuclear-powered submarines. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High School graduate, joined the Navy four years ago. “I joined to fight the fight that no one else can,” said Davis.
According to Davis, the values required to succeed in the military are similar to those found in St. Louis. “My mother told me that once you start something to see it all the way through,” said Davis. “Be authentic and always be yourself.”
Fast, maneuverable and technically advanced, submarines are some of the most versatile ships in the Navy, capable of silently conducting a variety of missions around the world. There are three basic types of submarines: fast attack submarines (SSN), ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and guided-missile submarines (SSGN).
Fast attack submarines are designed to hunt down and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships; strike targets ashore with cruise missiles; carry and deliver Navy SEALs; carry out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions; and engage in mine warfare. Their primary tactical advantage is stealth, operating undetected under the sea for long periods of time.
The Navy’s ballistic-missile submarines, often referred to as “boomers,” serve as a strategic deterrent by providing
an undetectable platform for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. SSBNs are designed specifically for stealth, extended patrols and the precise delivery of missiles. Their design allows the submarines to operate for 15 or more years
between major overhauls.
Guided-missile submarines provide the Navy with unprecedented strike and special operation mission capabilities from a stealthy, clandestine platform. Armed with tactical missiles and equipped with
superior communications capabilities, SSGNs are capable of directly supporting combatant commander’s strike and Special Operations Forces requirements. Each SSGN is capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, plus a comple-
ago.
ment of heavyweight torpedoes to be fired through four torpedo tubes.
Serving in the Navy means Davis is part of a world that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strength-
ening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“It’s important because of our versatility,” said Davis. “We can do missions from being out on the front lines and leading an assault, or we can be on the other end doing reconnaissance.”
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
“What our undersea forces accomplish every day is vitally important to our nation’s defense,” said Vice Adm. Daryl Caudle, Commander, Submarine Forces. “Our Submarine Force is a critical part of global maritime security and the nation’s nuclear triad. Every day, our submariners are at the tip of the spear, forward deployed and ready - from the depths, we strike!”
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Davis, as well as other sailors, know they are a part of a service tradition providing unforgettable experiences through leadership development and world affairs. Their efforts will have a lasting effect around the globe and for generations of sailors who will follow.
“Serving here is an accomplishment,” added Davis. “I’ve achieved a goal that at first, I never thought I would achieve. When I was young, I never thought about joining the Navy or being on a sub, but here I am and now I am a part of a tight-knit family atmosphere.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High graduate, joined the Navy four years
Photo courtesy of Jaelen Davis
New director of St. Louis Development Corporation says economic justice is the priority
By Corinne Ruff St. Louis Public Radio
Just a short time ago, it was announced that Neal Richardson was hired as the new director of St. Louis Development Corporation, replacing longtime stalwart Otis Williams who recently retired.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones touted Richardson’s credentials in a statement, noting his 14 years’ experience in community and economic development. “Neal Richardson understands that equitable development is more than just brick and mortar. From his time leading the
Business Impact Group at U.S. Bank to his work as president of Dream Builders 4 Equity, I know Neal will encourage forward-thinking, holistic development that opens up opportunities for families across our city,” she said.
Richardson said his vision for the department focuses on economic justice — “which is really addressing the historical barriers, the economic inequities and closing the racial wealth gap, and creating opportunities for everyone to participate in the economic system within our region,” he said. “That’s how we grow together in a stronger and more strategic way.”
He said the focus needs to be on revitalizing neighborhoods in north St. Louis, which have been neglected by developers for decades. The work is personal for Richardson, who grew up in the Lewis Place neighborhood, which is just north of Delmar Boulevard and the Central West End neighborhood.
Over the past four years, he’s built up a place-based model for equitable development through an organization he co-founded, Dream Builders 4 Equity.
The nonprofit works with
Neal Richardson
community groups to identify and rehab dilapidated homes in distressed neighborhoods, including Hyde Park. It also provides jobs for minority contractors and young people. Richardson said his vision for economic development has the potential to dramatically transform people’s lives in neighborhoods that are most in need of investment.
“When you invest in wealth-building opportunities for our youth and for our underserved communities, you will have a reduction in
crime because you’re creating opportunities for people to really think about their future, and not worry about surviving every day,” he said. “We have to create an environment of a thriving mentality, rather than just survival to make it to see the next day.”
Richardson said he plans to use the Equitable Economic Development Framework recently developed by the St. Louis Development Corporation as a jumping-off point. He said there are many strategies that could be implemented, but he wants to focus on using the framework to create a new action plan around four
priorities:
• Equitable and inclusive real estate development.
• Neighborhood revitalization.
• Business empowerment.
• Workforce development. Richardson said his biggest challenge will be to bring politicians, business owners and residents from across the region together to work toward a shared vision. “But in order to do that, we must do it with the focus on economic justice and addressing those historical barriers and gaps that have prevented everyone from having a seat at the table,” he said.
FCB Banks offers a diverse team with diverse products
By FCB
FCB Banks has been serv-
ing the St. Louis area for three generations, under local family ownership and management.
After originally opening banks in New Baden and Albers as early as 1901, customers quickly associated FCB with quality service, competitive rates, and personal customer care. FCB is a full service bank with 16 convenient locations in St. Louis and the Metro East. We are located in the heart of the Florissant’s shopping center point, across from The Shoppes of Cross Keys and are pleased and excited to continue serving Florissant and the surrounding communities.
Our staff at FCB Banks - Florissant has expertise in financial services dating
back to the 1980’s, including decades of leadership in management, lending and community service. Our team has serviced communities all across the St .Louis area from South County to St. Louis City to our current home in North County, resulting in broad experience with every type of customer regardless of their social-economic condition, education or class. With a multi-generational and multi-cultural staff, we are able to connect with and assist our customers at every stage of their financial journey. Since opening our location in Florissant, the team has made it a priority to be involved with community engagement efforts, centered on financial empowerment by partnering with many community and social services organizations.
Lending with a personal touch
FCB is proud to offer knowledge and expertise in a wide range of loan products by being able to assist a variety of homebuyers. Whether a first time homebuyer or the repeat homeowner looking to finance their dream home, we specialize in providing lending options including down payment assistance, real estate investment lending, and smaller loans than traditionally available. The FCB Florissant Loan Officers, Jeannine Murphy and Bria Williams, are eager to help you every step of the way, by fostering a long-term relationship focusing on your goals. We are here to guide you through the entire process and assist you in determining what solution best
fits your need. FCB’s lending solutions are comprised of numerous financing options with competitive rates and low fees. As a bank, we believe community development and stabilization is paramount. Therefore, we have unique programs specifically designed for low and moderate income residents, in communities where there is a need. We have solutions for the homebuyer no matter who you are.
Full service with a diverse product suite
Our knowledgeable and friendly staff is here to build strong relationships with each of our customers, welcoming them to our FCB Banks family. FCB offers more than the standard checking or savings account. Our suite of products
has been developed to meet the needs of every type of accountholder from second chance banking to the financially savvy depositor. In addition to main stream accounts, we also offer onsite bill payment service and postage stamps to help save time waiting in lines. For our customer still desiring savings clubs, we offer Vacation and Christmas club accounts.
FCB offers Investment Services and for those interested in alternatives for accounting; we have a Tax and Bookkeeping department to provide tax services for individuals and/or bookkeeping and payroll services for business owners.
FCB understands that the way customers choose to bank has evolved over the years.
The modern technological conveniences allow for electronic means to transact business and
move money so that customers do not have much need to visit the bank. To accommodate the ever advancing platforms in money management, FCB offers online banking and bill pay, and mobile banking with mobile wallet payment options which include Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Within the Online Banking module, customers have the ease of transferring funds person2person. To closely monitor debit card activity and early fraud detection FCB offers Card Force, a tool where you can turn your debit card on or off plus receive alerts every time your debit card is used. Visit fcbbanks.com or stop by our location for more information. At FCB Banks - Florissant we’ve got you covered…a diverse team with diverse products.
Applications for St. Louis med schools soar, part of the ‘Fauci Effect’
COVID pandemic reshaped future plans for many college students
By Kendall Crawford St. Louis Public Radio
Audra Youmans was just six months into her freshman year at St. Louis University when the COVID-19 pandemic sent her back home to Fenton. But the transition didn’t stop her from learning. As she began volunteering with unhoused communities, she witnessed the impact of the virus, including packed hospitals and widening health disparities.
All of which gave her a clearer vision of what she wanted for her future: to be a doctor.
“I really got to see how that impacts people on a real world, real person level,” said Youmans, a pre-med student. “And that’s what drove me further into fully deciding that this is what I’m going to do.”
Youmans is just one of many whose ideas for their future were shaped by the pandemic. She’s part of a
national movement of young people inspired to pursue medicine — a phenomenon dubbed the “Fauci effect.” Nationwide, medical school applications jumped 18% for this fall, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The trend is mirrored locally with applications for this fall up by about 22% at Washington University and around 28% at St. Louis University from the previous year. Valerie Ratts, Washington University Medical School dean of admissions, said many students likely observed the need for more physicians last year. “Medicine was important, and it became obvious from all the things happening with COVID and what we were all visualizing — this thought that maybe this is a calling, maybe this is something that I want to do,” Ratts said. Zoe Floyd has wanted to
pursue medicine since she was 8 years old, but it was the COVID-19 pandemic that opened her eyes to how
invaluable the work is. “It reinforced the fact that health care will always be something that’s important. Doctors,
physicians and nurses will always be in demand, and there will always be someone who needs your help,” said Floyd, who plans to attend SLU as a pre-med student in the fall.
In addition to the example set by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, medical school admission officers say the surge may be attributed to students having fewer options. In other years, students might have taken a gap year to travel or seized other opportunities before applying to medical school. “None of those opportunities existed last year. With everything shut down, they decided to go ahead and move on and apply to med school,” Ratts said.
The result was a competitive season of applications. With only 100 spots at Washington University and around 175 at St. Louis University, medical school
The journey towards equity
admission officers had to make difficult decisions last year, Ratts said. Despite the long hours of reviewing applications, Hiral Choksi, St. Louis University Medical School dean of admissions, was elated to see more people interested in medicine. She believes it’s a sign of what’s to come. “Everyone has their own health to be looked after, and to have more people who are there to help serve the community is the best thing we could ask for,” Choksi said.
Youmans will begin her application for medical school next summer — which she hopes will lead to a career as a primary care doctor working with the unhoused. “The pandemic really showed the disparity that is in our community right here in St. Louis,” she said. “That’s really where I want to jump in.”
By Rodney White Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Nestlé Purina PetCare
At Purina, we recognize that the path to equity is continuous and respect that each accomplishment along the way will not eliminate the hurt and hurdles seen and unseen.
Through the lens of empathy, transparency and hope, we strive to be a company that cares for each of our associates and embraces their individua contributions because of our differences, not in spite of them. For the first time, this year, we celebrated Juneteenth as a company holiday and are
heartened to see it deemed as a national holiday into the future.
Equity became a central tenant of our diversity and inclusion work as we transitioned from Diversity & Inclusion to Diversity, Equity &
Rodney White
Inclusion. We are actively seeking and supporting more diverse partners – from community organizations and nonprofits to influencers, creatives and agencies. And we are more consciously working to showcase and empower better representation in the veterinary and pet welfare communities to ensure there is a place for everyone in pet care, from pet adoption to the vet clinic. Progress continues to be made, but there is still much work ahead. Our path from education to equity is continuous, and the journey is far from over, but I am proud to acknowledge that we are further along than we once were. And we will continue making progress one step at a time. Because for our associates, families and pets, the truth remains that “No one of us is as good as all of us.”
Sheila R. Grigsby, PhD, RN, MPH, APHN-BC
College of Nursing Fellow for Community Engagement
Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Missouri–St. Louis
Dr. Sheila Grigsby is a community engagement fellow at the University of Missouri–St. Louis who focuses her teaching and research on community health nursing and holistic care with the goal of reducing health disparities in the St. Louis region and preventing chronic disease in the African American community. Grigsby received the 2020 Pillar Award for Health and Wellness from her community partner, 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis, for her work leading nursing students through preventive health screenings in area barber shops.
Effecting positive change and transforming lives
Zoe Floyd, a recent graduate of Metro Academic and Classical High School, celebrates her admission into St. Louis University’s Doisy College of Health Sciences.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
New research finds widening educational inequality in year of COVID
By NNPA Newswire
NWEA — a not-for-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students released today new research that highlights a challenging year in education with most students making lowerthan-typical learning gains in math and reading. The research examined MAP Growth assessment scores from 5.5 million U.S. public school students in grades 3-8 between fall 2020 and spring 2021 and found:
• On average, students across most grades and subject areas made learning gains in 2020-21, but at a lower rate compared to pre-pandemic trends.
• 2020-21 outcomes were lower relative to historic trends. Gains across 202021 were at a lower rate and students ended the year with lower levels of achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points).
• Achievement was lower for all student groups in 202021; historically underserved students (e.g., American Indian and Alaskan Native, Black, and Latino and/or students in high poverty schools) were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades that NWEA studied.
“As our nation continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its impact on every facet of our lives, this new research from NWEA illuminates just how devastating the academic consequences have been for our nation’s children. While
all students have suffered from interrupted instruction, students of color and students from low-income families — who are more likely to receive virtual instruction but less likely to have access to sufficient broadband and devices necessary to access virtual learning — have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s academic burden. It is vital that policymakers, school leaders, and educators act on this crucial research to ensure that students who need the most support receive it,” said Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, in response to the new research.
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts. Attendance, school engagement, social-emotional well-being, family environment, community support, unemployment rates, evictions and other factors should all be looked at holistically to inform actionable plans that are specific to the needs of their own communities as we start the long road to recovery.
“It’s important to remember that academic achievement is only one dimension of students’ education and these data alone cannot paint a complete picture of how young people fared this past year. For instance, our results
cannot speak to the many ways students, families, and teachers have shown incredible resilience and adaptability in the face of immense challenges that completely upended normal life,” said Dr. Karyn Lewis, senior research scientist at NWEA and lead author of the study.
One thing is clear from the national data: students of color and/or those experiencing poverty were impacted at greater levels, exacerbating pre-existing inequities and calling for urgency in focusing resources.
“The data sets from the NWEA study confirm the profound impact COVID-19 had on families and students. They also highlight the stark inequities that existed before March 13, 2020 — the pandemic grossly exacerbated the disparities we see in the educa-
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts.
ty-focused organizations and voices are speaking up even louder now to support our educational community in the long path ahead.
“These data show in very stark terms just how much the pandemic took a toll on learning for all students, especially for students of color and those living in poverty,” said Deborah Delisle, CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education. “Congress is making an historic investment in education with COVID relief funding. It’s time for states, districts, and schools to use that money to create systemic changes that impact students now — and for generations to come — and make our education system more just for every student who walks through our doors.”
tion sector,” said Dr. Michael Conner, Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools in Middletown, CT. “However, the data sets also call for the holistic redesign and transformation of an operating model that can finally ground the principles of innovation, creativity, and equity in every fabric of our schools. At this juncture, we have permission to be bold, creative, innovative, and experimentative for acceleration and recovery. There has not been a time in our industry where we can reimagine the traditional industrial model that historically marginalized students. This is the opportunity where systemic change in the context of policy, investments, and organizational practice can shift the trajectory of every student we encounter.”
While these inequities are
not new, the level of funding now available to help address the need is, providing a critical moment to support those communities most impacted. Along with the new research, NWEA released a series of policy recommendations to advocate for deploying the unprecedented federal funding to communities and student populations most impacted by the pandemic, including investing in school counselors and nurses to address mental health and social-emotional well-being of students, tutoring and extending instructional time, professional development geared at meeting the needs of diverse learners and redesigning state accountability systems to better align with recovery plans. NWEA is not alone in this advocacy. Like minded, equi-
“It comes as no surprise that the shift to distance learning proved challenging for many students, parents, and teachers, but the eye-opening numbers from the NWEA study show the true extent of the impact on student learning, particularly on underserved students,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS. “While many Latino households continue the struggle to recover from the effects of the pandemic, a particular focus must be on ensuring that students can succeed regardless of their racial/ethnic and economic background. As we prepare for the upcoming school year, it is critical that our leaders prioritize investments in our schools so that our students are equipped with the support and resources they need to succeed. Only then can we continue to make progress in bridging the achievement gap.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
St. Louis needs Black-owned businesses to ‘win’
We are in this together
By Kathy Osborn President & CEO Regional Business Council
You always know who’s winning by looking at the scoreboard; the same holds true in business. A successful team puts points on the board, but a quick check of the score reveals that, comparatively speaking, Blackowned businesses in our region are still very much behind in terms of their ability to grow and thrive. And this isn’t just a problem for Black business owners, it’s a problem for all of us. We know that cultivating a diverse workforce adds a competitive advantage for a company, and that diverse companies create a competitive advantage for a region and an economy. For St. Louis to grow, we need to diversify our portfolio of successful businesses, and invest in the ability of Blackowned companies and their leaders to build capacity. There is a difference between participating and winning. Far too often, calls for economic and racial equity result in action that marginally improves the status quo. It is not enough for Black-owned businesses to simply exist. For
them to fully realize their economic potential and benefit to the region, they need to be able to scale up, generate wealth, and serve as economic catalysts in the areas they serve. For the sake of our economy, we don’t only need Black-owned businesses to participate, we need them to win.
Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part. This is why the
n Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part.
Regional Business Council (RBC), a consortium of 100 CEOs of large businesses in the St. Louis region, launched two initiatives aimed at building the capacity of Black-owned businesses. Coaching, mentoring and connections have made a profound impact on most successful businesses. In our experience, we find that something special happens when you put two business leaders together and create opportunities to share ideas. This year, the RBC launched the Black Executive Leadership Initiative, pairing twenty RBC CEOs
from successful companies with the CEOs of twenty local Black-owned businesses who will meet throughout the year to provide high-level business advice and perspective aimed at helping grow their business. This initiative was launched simultaneously with our Inclusive Procurement Initiative, which gives RBC members and their teams the tools needed to diversify their corporate spend and specifically do more business with Black-owned companies. At the end of the day, you can provide a business with all the coaching and information, but it won’t mean as much unless people actually buy their products. From bottled water to uniforms, people and companies make choices about where to spend their money every day, and we want to encourage our members and companies across the region to consider the power and potential impact their corporate spend can have for local Black-owned businesses.
Despite how it might look sometimes, we’re all in this together. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We share a community and an economy, and our collective fate is intertwined. And the fact is that if we want our region to grow, we need to focus on growing Black-owned businesses.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Donald M. SuggsPublisher & Executive Editor
Kevin Jones - Sr. Vice Pres. & COO
Editorial
Alvin A. Reid - News Editor
Danielle Brown - Community Reporter
Sylvester Brown - Deaconess COVID Fellow
Karen Robinson-Jacobs - St. Louis American / Type Investigations / Report for America Business Reporter
Sofie Hurwitz - Staff Reporter
JoAnn Weaver - Health Reporter Dana Rieck - Staff Reporter Wiley Price - Photojournalist
Production
Mike Terhaar - Art Director
Melvin Moore - Graphic Designer
Sales / Marketing
Janice Brown - Acct. Executive
Jessica Jones - Acct. Executive
Pam Simmons - Acct. Executive
Angelita F. Houston - Classified Ad Mgr
Digital
Dawn M. Suggs - Interim Digital Director
James LeBine - Web/IT/Promotions Coordinator
Jennifer Sarti - Dow Jones News Fund Digital Intern
Administration
Robin Britt - Controller
Cathy Sewell - NIE Manager
Kate Daniel - Manager, Publisher’s Office
Mary Easter - Receptionist
Felicia Pearson - Operations Support
Fax:
www.stlamerican.com
Kathy Osborn
Ready, set, launch
McCrary transitioned from radio to tech thanks to skills she gained through LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program
By Ymani Wince and Lauren Harms Milford STLMade
For Je’Nell McCrary, getting to her career in tech
wasn’t straightforward. For one, she had long held the dream of becoming a radio and media personality. She’d enrolled at Florissant Valley Community College, where she was involved with the campus radio station, and learned about media and broadcast journalism. In her free time, she enjoyed building websites and being creative with social media. Upon graduating college, she was offered a position with a St. Louis-based radio station. As years passed, and McCrary felt she’d gone as far as she wanted with radio, it was time to make a choice. She could either stay in her role in the media, or she could obtain new skills for a different role. “I started in radio right after college, where I stayed for five years,” she says. “In that last year and a half, I felt like I wasn’t being an artist anymore.”
Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.”
While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
That Googling session led McCrary to the world of technology, a universe filled with languages she’d never spoken, including Python and JavaScript. She learned about LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization that offers free train-
ing, mentorship and job placement for people looking to work in the technology sector.
LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program welcomes anyone who identifies as female and offers eight tracks for participants to choose from, including front-end web development, data analysis and the one that McCrary was drawn to, user experience.
McCrary entered the CoderGirl program with the hope that it would unite her with a purpose-filled position where she could use the skills
n Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.” While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
she already had, along with those she’d learn through the program. “I feel like when people think of tech, they think of coding and men who are nerds
that know everything,” she says. “It’s simply not true.”
With CoderGirl, she was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their
With CoderGirl, Je’Nell McCrary was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their career trajectories.
career trajectories. In fact, that’s the one thing she really wants people to know — that there are lots of job opportunities in the tech industry that don’t require highly technical skills, like the role of scrum master that she now holds at Centene Corporation. On her social media accounts and in life, she finds herself explaining what a scrum master is frequently these days — and how others can follow in her footsteps. “I would consider it most like a coach,” she says. “I’m a coach
and a mentor to software developers. The goal for the scrum master is to make sure the team is running smoothly and is agile.”
“You can be a scrum master if you work at McDonald’s,” McCrary says with a smile when talking about how soft skills transfer to roles like hers. Particularly in a field that may feel exclusive to those who are unfamiliar with it, she wants everyone to know that there’s a job in tech for them. “There are lots of roles in tech that don’t require hard technical skills,” she says.
While the decision to leave radio was difficult, and the months-long CoderGirl program tested her endurance, the desire to do meaningful work that mattered to her helped McCrary push through the moments of discomfort to finish the curriculum.
The benefits of completing the LaunchCode program far outweigh the feelings of despair and sadness she once had in her former career. For one, she was able to reach her goal of living the adult life she’d imagined for herself. Since starting a career in tech, she has moved into her own place, and has dreams of traveling once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The skills she learned through CoderGirl and in her role as scrum master have been useful to her in unexpected ways, too. “I use so much of what I learn from my position in my everyday life,” says McCrary. “I’m even helping a lot of my friends with how to communicate.”
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY,
Photo by Michael Thomas
Study reinforces a brighter outlook when America leads world in energy production
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NewsWire
According to a new study, America’s natural gas and oil industry will need to serve as a vital driver of the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
The industry counts as critical to every sector of the U.S. economy and supports millions of jobs across all 50 states, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that compiles the latest available government data.
The 134-page study, which explores the economic impact of the oil and natural gas industry, revealed that the business supported 11.3 million jobs and contributed nearly $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019.
The study authors reported that the impacts are the result of three channels:
• Direct impacts from the employment and production within the oil and natural gas industry.
• Indirect impacts through the industry’s purchases of intermediate and capital goods from a variety of other U.S. industries.
• Induced impacts from the personal purchases of employees and business owners both within the oil and natural gas industry and its supply chain, as well as from the personal spending by shareholders out of the dividends received from oil and natural gas companies.
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
“Every state in the nation has a stake in continued access to U.S. natural gas and oil reserves, which are critical for the nation’s economic recovery,” the study authors wrote.
In short, as the nation continues to recover from the pandemic and the economic downturn that resulted, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as an engine for longterm growth.
“The industry continues
n In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
to create good-paying jobs and deliver reliable American energy to enterprises, including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, education, and more, in communities across the
nation,” researchers concluded. According to the findings, in 2019, the natural gas and oil sector directly and indirectly:
• Supported more than 11.3 million total jobs or 5.6 percent
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
of total U.S. employment.
• Generated an additional 3.5 jobs elsewhere in the U.S. economy for each direct job in the U.S. natural gas and oil industry.
• Produced $892.7 billion in labor income, or 6.8 percent of the U.S. national labor income.
• Supported nearly $1.7 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product, accounting for 7.9 percent of the national total.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
The U.S. Energy
Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
“This represents an opportunity for the U.S. to meet the world’s rising demand for affordable, reliable fuels with homegrown natural gas and oil,” American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers wrote in an email.
“That said, America’s economic outlook depends on federal and state policy proposals that incentivize resource development, modernize energy infrastructure and streamline burdensome regulations,” Sommers maintained.
“The nation’s hard-fought energy security and GDP growth are at stake, even as the natural gas and oil industry continues to drive the nation’s post-pandemic recovery.”
Sommers continued:
“As America’s economy comes back, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.
“Every state across the country – both blue states and red states – rely on American energy to fuel each sector of the economy and support millions of U.S. jobs.
“This study reinforces that America’s economic outlook is brighter when we are leading the world in energy production, and it serves as a reminder of what’s at stake if policymakers restrict access to affordable, reliable energy and make us more dependent on foreign sources.”
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Fifteen years ago, St. Louis native Rosalind Reese noticed a troubling brain drain -- young, talented people of color were leaving St. Louis “in droves,” due to a lack of opportunity, perceived and actual.
Next month, Reese, director of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience leadership program, expects to welcome one of the largest cohorts in the 15-year existence of the program, a year-long focus on developing each participant’s leadership capacity.
Reese, who has been with the program since its inception, hopes to see the program expand and perhaps give aid to young people just launching their careers.
Whether expanding in number or expanding in mission, Reese said the Fellows Experience, which now has more than 870 alums, has more work to do.
“I think now that the focus [worldwide] is definitely on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is still needed,” said Reese, who grew up in North St. Louis. “Although we’ve made some tremendous strides, we still have a long way to go.
“When you look at the CEOs and the C-suite market, we’re still lagging behind as people with those titles,” she added. “So you’ve got some
Leadership program keeps local talent close to home
Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience program anticipates one of largest cohorts in its history
people who have made it, but we still have a very long way to go. And so we continue this work, still trying to get folks in those positions.”
So far the program, which operates under the Greater St. Louis Inc. umbrella, has helped prepare the fellows, most of them St. Louis residents of color, for C-suite posts, entrepreneurship or service on boards of directors. It focuses on “professional development, relationship building, and civic engagement,” according to its website.
Participants must be nominated by their employers, who agree to pay the $4,250 tuition, and they must be ethnically, racially, or gender diverse midto senior-level professionals, working for at least 7 years, be demonstrated leaders in the community and have a college degree or equivalent skill and abilities, the website said.
The largest previous cohort was 105 fellows in the 2018 to 2019 year.
For the upcoming year, which begins in September, Reese said about 100 future fellows are on board from 27 companies with 10 of those companies first-time participants. Not bad for a program Reese wasn’t sure would be welcomed in town.
“When we initially launched, we weren’t sure how receptive the business community would be to a program that was geared to people
of color,” she said. “It had never been done here. It was launched specifically to attract and retain people of color.
“At the time it was launched people of color were leaving St. Louis in droves because they felt that St. Louis was not open to or was not really focusing on people of color. They didn’t have the same opportunities as our white counterparts and so they decided to go elsewhere to look for opportunities.
The inaugural session, from 2006 to 2007, had 21 participants and 15 companies.
After participating in the program Reese said she’s seen “people grow to all levels.”
“They have been promoted to CEO, and, and other C-suite positions,” she added. “They have also taken the information back to their organizations and used it on their individual teams. Not only [has] the individual ... been impacted, but the companies as well,
“The return on investment for the [sponsoring companies] has been phenomenal.”
This year, health care giant Centene alone has about two dozen participants.
“We understand that our workplace diversity makes us a stronger company,” Centene said in a statement. “We value, embrace and leverage the vari-
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
ety of perspectives that our individual differences provide in strengthening the Centene culture.
“The St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellows Experience Program is one of the tools the organization has leveraged to support this commitment for over a decade.
We recognize that fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, promotion, innovation and productivity of all employees, which allows us to transform the health of the community one person at a time.”
Reese said the program also focuses on “myth-busting,” --
countering advice handed down through generations among some families of color that may be harmful to a participant’s career, such as only speak when spoken to.
“When you don’t speak up, when you don’t show up, you miss opportunities,” she said.
Looking ahead, Reese said she would love to see an early-career version of the program designed to keep recent college graduates from making early career mistakes. That will take financial and human resources, but it’s on Reese’s wish list.
Reese said she is proud of what the program has accomplished to date and its role in keeping some of the region’s brightest minds closer to home.
“A lot of these people don’t realize how powerful they really are,” she said after rattling off the accomplishments of several program alums. “During the course of the year, they know that the power’s within them, but they have to learn how to activate it, and how to be intentional in activating that power that they have within themselves. Once they know that it’s okay to do it, you see, the brilliance just starts shining all over the place.”
“They just needed a push.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Building bridges
Natissia Small reduces barriers for St. Louis youth to pursue higher education
By Nancy Stiles STL Made
It all started with a college tour.
As an undergraduate at Southeast Missouri State University, Natissia Small worked as a campus tour guide, giving her a firsthand look into the students (and their parents) considering higher education, and what resources they were missing.
Today, Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
“The Bridge Program focuses on those student experiential activities that are really critical for students to be able to have strengths in and to be able to help them to navigate all of those different arenas that surround the college transition process,” says Small. Bridge provides services to students whether they plan to attend UMSL or not, and Small estimates there isn’t an institution you can think of that hasn’t had one of the program’s graduates. Ultimately, Small and her team want to reduce or remove barriers to secondary education, especially for underserved communities.
“As we continue to look at what’s happening in this moment in society,” Small says, “we have to make sure that we’re doing this for every single student from a range of academic backgrounds, whether it’s public, private or homeschooled, from every racial and ethnic and socio-
economic group. Creating this type of opportunity for students and parents to partake in this program has been really key. That’s one of the things that motivates me the most in doing this work.”
The UMSL staff of five serves more than 5,000 St. Louis-area students and families each year, with the help of community school partners. Since 2003, 100% of Bridge’s students have gone on to attend college – a staggering success rate that speaks to the team’s dedication.
UMSL debuted this groundbreaking program in 1986, and Small began working as a counselor in the program in 2003. Its biggest component is the Express Scripts Saturday Academy: From March through October, high school students attend a 10-Saturday workshop series focused on math, science, written and oral communication as well as career development and college planning, including financial aid and admissions.
Bridge also offers a Summer Academy for high school students, recently launched a Middle School Academy, and even offers a four-part Parent Academy. It facilitates after-school math and science clubs at several high schools, most notably the NextJenn STEM TEAM at Jennings High School, whose members have participated in several competitions.
Though a little over half of Bridge’s graduating seniors attend the Saturday Academy, there are even more specialized programs that work to expose students to an array of post-grad options. Eyes on Diversity, for
Dr. Natissia Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
example, provides hands-on activities around optometry.
The Advocacy Leadership Program demonstrates “the impact of adverse childhood events and how students can be future change agents” by exposing them to a number of related career paths, such as child welfare, education, and medical or legal advocacy.
The program is open to all students in the St. Louis region, and Small’s team works with partners at K-12
well in the Bridge program, and has seen many of her students reap the benefits of Bridge’s unique curriculum.
“One of the great things about the Bridge program is it’s not just about teaching curriculum or content, it’s teaching students how to think critically and how to advocate for themselves – how to see themselves in a different light,” says Taylor.
This kind of education is particularly helpful for students who may struggle with traditional classroom instruction or feel that they’re not “good” at school. “There’s brilliance in all types of students and that’s what the Bridge program helps kids to see, that there’s space for everyone and different avenues to take to achieve your goals,” says Taylor. “Sometimes the journey isn’t a straight one.”
Bridge went virtual due to the pandemic, and though the team is excited to be back in person, the pivot to virtual learning has allowed Small to reach students in rural areas in Missouri and beyond. For Small, this is an exciting look at what Bridge could become over the coming decades.
schools from Festus to Francis Howell. “There’s certainly a lot of word of mouth that has been taking place over a number of years,” says Small. “Our coordinators are actually going into the school buildings, presenting to students and parents. That’s an amazing partnership, and we’re very grateful that our schools trust us and provide that opportunity.”
Kelly Taylor teaches in the Hazelwood school district as
“I see Bridge continuing to grow leaps and bounds among the St. Louis community,” she says. “I would love to see our Bridge program reaching to our rural communities and provide the same access opportunities for them; I would love to see us maximize opportunities throughout the state. I think the opportunities are really endless.”
However, educational support is just one aspect of the program. The team strives to focus just as much on what Small calls “socio-emotional wellbeing.” “Oftentimes we
focus very much so on the academic needs of students, and we don’t really pay attention to the fact that there’s this other component that’s just as critical for us to address, and that is the whole student,” Small says. “Being able to provide families with access to counseling – whether it be through an avenue that we offer here on campus or in the community – is really important. You cannot focus on the whole student if you don’t include that other aspect.”
Ultimately, this holistic approach aims to set students up for lifelong success, not just in academia. Small stresses that Bridge is so much more than a tutoring service.
“It’s not only providing them with the critical academic skills that they’re going to need when they enter college, but it’s also reaffirming the work that they’re being taught in their high schools,” she says. “And for many it’s helping them to have a leg up in the coursework that they’re being taught while they’re in high school.” “That’s one of the other amazing things about the Bridge program: It is focusing on students to matriculate to a college that’s a great fit for them,” Small says, noting that about half of the graduating students do choose UMSL. “And other students are attending institutions that we maintain partnerships with to make sure that as students from the Bridge program matriculate there, that they’re going to be provided with the same resources that we would provide them if they were going to choose UMSL. We’re very proud of that.”
Photo by Michael Thomas
Diversity: A Business Imperative
For Diverse Business Accelerator, bigger is better
Greater St. Louis Inc. Program to grow this year thanks to more than $400,000 in grants
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer of Greater St. Louis, Inc., takes a regional view when assessing the impact of Greater St. Louis Inc.’s four-year-old Diverse Business Accelerator.
Community business growth, she said, translates into a healthier economy for the region.
“We’re about growing, scaling [and] advancing diverse and women-owned businesses,” said Patton, who has been working on issues related to diversity for nearly two decades.
“That’s really what we want to see at the end of the day: the ability to grow revenue, and the ability to add employees.
“Then that creates a situation where everybody wins with the fact that we are growing the regional GDP.”
The accelerator, one of two signature DEI programs operated by Greater St. Louis Inc., is a 12-week program designed to help mid-tier businesses scale up. Of the nearly 30 businesses to complete the program thus far, most have been owned by people of color and women.
An offshoot of a former St. Louis Minority Business Council effort, the program is open to businesses headquartered in the 15-county, bi-state St. Louis MSA that have at
least 51% minority ownership with annual revenue of at least $500,000 and have a growth plan that demonstrates the business’ capacity to increase revenue by 10%, and add at least three employees within 18 months after graduating.
Thanks to grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, totaling $400,000, the program is able to waive the normal $1,000 tuition for each semi-annual cohort through 2024.
Through the program, participants are assigned a mentor and given coaching on everything from human resources and legal affairs to accounting and marketing.
“We’re going to look at all those pieces and the pieces that they need to improve,” Patton said. “It is really looking at the business, and [asking] how do we create the growth, how do we scale it, how will we advance it within the ecosystem?”
Separate funds from the World Wide Technology Foundation allow the program to offer a pitch competition with a large, non-equity cash prize. For each of the first two years of the competition, the prize was $10,000.
“This year we will have the opportunity to offer a $25,000 pitch prize,” Patton said of the competition, in which participants present their business growth and development ideas to a panel of regional potential investors.
In 2019, former U.S.
n “At the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
– Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and president of the Greater St. Louis Foundation
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross noted minorities owned an estimated 29% of classifiable businesses, which were growing at twice the rate of non-minority businesses. At that time, they employed more than 6.3 million Americans and generated more than $1 trillion in revenue.
Patton pointed to different stats, laid out in a 2019 opinion
piece on LendingTree.com, that showed St. Louis’ minority business development efforts lagging by several measures.
The piece ranked the 50 largest U.S. metros in their ability to nurture and grow minority-owned businesses. St. Louis ranked dead last.
It called the rate of longterm success for minority-owned businesses in the
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
Gateway city “dismal,” noting that just 27.3% survive past six years in business, nearly half the rate of the second-worst city, Kansas City, Missouri.
Only 18% of minority-owned companies in the region had annual revenue greater than $500,000, the report said.
“If we had less racial disparity in our community, we would have added thousands more businesses, which would have employed thousands of individuals,” Patton said.
The ‘hiring’ part of the equation is especially important in communities of color.
“What we know about small business, minority-owned business, is they tend to hire
in their communities, and they will tend to grow in their communities,” she said, “which will mean that the communities will thrive and flourish. So at the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
Bryon Pierson is a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, a website that helps college-bound students apply for financial aid, scholarships, grants and off-campus housing. Pierson, who once had more than $60,000 in student debt according to the company website, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
The program also helped Pierson hone his pitch and get helpful feedback.
“Thanks to DBA, I was able to craft a pitch that led to me raising over $70,000” and adding nine full- and part-time employees, Pierson said in a statement.
Greater St. Louis, Inc. is accepting applications for the program through Aug. 27 at https://www.greaterstlinc. com/diverse-business-accelerator-application/
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
By Art Holliday News Director, 5 On Your Side
How 5 On Your Side will handle police booking photos, or ‘mug shots’
For decades, it has been standard practice in many newsrooms when someone is arrested to use the booking photo released by law enforcement, commonly referred to as a mug shot. It is sometimes debatable what that photo really adds to the story.
KSDK 5 On Your Side is mindful of the effect mug shots have on anyone charged but not convicted, especially people of color. Booking photos can reinforce negative stereotypes and become a barrier to housing and employment, regardless of whether the person is convicted of a crime. In the digital age, a mug shot can last forever
online, even if someone is acquitted or the charges are dropped. If the only time our audience sees a Black face is in a mug shot, it can have a cumulative and negative effect.
KSDK has the duty to seek and report positive stories in our more diverse communities, and we believe making sure mug shots are used for specific reasons represents positive change. While this policy is primarily about booking photos, commonly referred to as mug shots, it could apply to any image or photo of someone suspected of a crime.
KSDK has adjusted its guidelines that determine whether we will use a mug shot. The biggest difference in our updated plan is the requirement that a news manager has to be involved in
the booking photo decision.
One individual will not make the decision. Instead of using mug shots simply because law enforcement makes them available, KSDK will be thoughtful about minimizing harm to people accused but not yet convicted of a crime, while protecting the public and giving viewers information to keep them safe.
We’re explaining our policy in the interest of being transparent with our news audience.
1. News manager input: Use of any mug shot requires talking to a news manager.
2. Be fair and minimize harm: When KSDK covers
initial criminal allegations, we will minimize harm and be thoughtful when using mug shots. Part of our decision to use a mug shot will hinge on whether KSDK intends to follow the story until its conclusion. If charges are dropped or a suspect is acquitted, would we run an update story? If not, we should not use the booking photo. We will still publish mug shots in cases of high news value; for example, if the person is a public figure, such as an elected official, or when a crime is especially high-profile.
3. Danger to the public: Mug shot use could be justified if there is danger to the
public. Police may believe the suspect of the crime is still on the loose and it is important that our audience know what the suspect looks like.
4. Additional victims: Mug shot use could be justified if police have arrested a suspect, but officials believe there could be additional victims and the public needs to know what this person looks like to determine if they too may have been harmed by the suspect.
5. Digital and social media: KSDK staff will not use mug shots as the main image on a story or social media unless it meets the “danger to the public” or “additional victims” criteria. Viewers will have to click on a story to see a mug shot that meets our other use criteria.
6. High profile case: Use
of a booking photo could be justified if a crime has become a national story or regional story. KSDK will give consideration to the age of the accused and the severity of the crime.
7. Follow-up coverage: Before we continue to use a mug shot, we will consider other photos or video available, so that use of a mug shot is not necessary.
8. Common names: If John Smith or Bill Johnson is suspected of committing a crime, using the booking photo might prevent confusion because the names are so common.
Art Holliday is the News Director of 5 On Your Side. He is reachable at aholliday@ ksdk.com.
Art Holliday
The St. Louis American Staff
In November 2020, Schnucks launched a supplier diversity program, designed “to promote supplier participation reflective of the diverse communities throughout the Midwest in which Schnucks operates.”
The program, which has now been running for almost one year, had the initial goal of identifying local suppliers “that are at least 51 percent owned, operated and managed by individuals that are: disabled, LGBT, military veterans, minorities and/or women.”
In July of that same year, during a national reckoning on issues of diversity, inclusion, and racial justice, Schnucks announced partnerships with several local Black-owned restaurants, including Cathy’s Kitchen, Royally Baked, Bold Spoon Creamery, and Ms. Piggies’ Smokehouse.
Specialty Deli Category Manager Andy DeCou and other members of the Schnucks team sought out local restaurant owners who were interested in partnering with Schnucks to reach more customers. “At Schnucks, we’re committed to supporting our neighboring restaurants at a time when many are struggling because of pandemic restrictions on space and occupancy,” DeCou said. “After reading ‘Black-Owned Restaurants
Schnucks works with diverse vendors, local Black owned restaurants
to Support in St. Louis Right Now’ in Feast Magazine, we called these restaurateurs and invited them to sell their unique offerings in our stores.”
Both the supplier diversity program and the Black owned restaurant partnerships are part of Schnucks’ overall diversity and inclusion plan, titled
“Unity is Power.” Schnucks’ website states that the mission of the Unity is Power program is as follows: “We are creating a workplace where our Black teammates, as well as teammates of Color and diverse backgrounds, feel they belong and can grow their careers because they feel
valued, and can see a path forward in our company through intentional inclusion in new management development programs.”
One of the Black vendors whose products are being sold in Schnucks stores is Joshua Danrich, also known as Mr. Fresh, who is just 12 years old.
By Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American
Danrich and his mother say their products have a social mission, according to their website: “Our mission is to use this platform to promote emotional, mental, physical, and financial maturity, as well as self-esteem and self-confidence in African American boys.”
The scents are $7, and are sold in several
tions. Schnucks employs nearly 15,000 people across 100 stores in Missouri, Illinois,
and
by
and have a
are
Like People? Like Driving?
Part-time driver positions start at $17.50 an hour. Health insurance offered following 90 days of employment.
Applicants must be positive, reliable individuals with solid work experience and a clean driving record. Applicants must also pass USDOT physical and drug test, and with ACT assistance, obtain IL CDL B license with air brakes and passenger endorsements. ACT is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.
Cathy Jenkins (center) is the owner of Cathy’s Kitchen in Ferguson. Shown here with her daughters and employees. Micah (left) and Cathy L. (right).
Schnucks loca-
Indiana, Iowa
Wisconsin. They
owned
the Schnuck family,
corporate headquarters based here in St. Louis.
BUILDING A MORE DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE
THAT'S OUR BUSINESS.
We’re the Regional Business Council. Our members include CEOs of over 100 of the area’s leading businesses, generating over $65 billion in revenue and employing over 120,000 professionals. RBC members are passionate about St. Louis and giving back. Our strength, resources, and expertise allow us to act quickly to significantly impact areas of need as they arise. Improving the St. Louis region is a big job, but that’s our Business.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are at the core of everything we do. Whether it's helping attract, develop and retain our region's talent, promoting the opportunities and benefits of skilled careers, supporting minority-owned businesses, or working with key partners, the RBC and its members are committed to advancing equity in our region.
Sue McCollum, Vice Chair
Tony Thompson, Vice Chair
Jimmy Williams, Vice Chair
Kathy Osborn, President & CEO
Vic Richey, Chair
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion A Business Priority
‘It’s more than just the numbers’ Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
~ Page 7 ~
Christopher Tinson
SLU African American Studies program
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
~ Page 31 ~
Min Jung Kim
‘A dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. This makes Kim the first non-white man to be named Art Museum director.
~ Page 3 ~
Nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
Dreamline Pathways:
Introducing minority high school students to careers in health care
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
The
Of
St. Louis American Nationwide, medical school applications are up. Some refer to this phenomenon as the “Fauci effect,” crediting the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for inspiring a new generation of medical professionals. Others attribute this trend to the plethora of doctors, nurses, researchers, and other health care professionals they’ve seen battling the worse global pandemic in
more than 100 years.
Whatever the reason, nearly two dozen medical schools nationwide have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent this fall, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Last month St. Louis Public Radio reported that the movement is mirrored locally with applications at Washington University up by about 22% and around 28% at St. Louis University.
The good news is that medical
school applications are on the rise. But the reality is that racial and ethnic minorities are still woefully underrepresented in health care professions. While African Americans, Hispanics/ Latinos and American Indians together represent more than one-fourth of the US population, they comprise less than nine percent of nurses, six percent of physicians and five percent of dentists, according to report by
See DREAMLINE, page 21
By Danielle Brown The St. Louis American
Emily Pitts demonstrates a strong passion for implementing increased diversity, equity and inclusion practices within her corporate infrastructure.
n Emily Pitts has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner.
She has worked for Edward Jones for 25 years, where she became the first African American woman to be named a general partner. Part of her tenure has involved working as a financial advisor for nine years, helping clients meet personal financial goals and objectives. She was the general partner over inclusion and diversity, where created and oversaw the company’s inclusion and diversity strategy. She launched the firm’s first Courageous Conversation Program (a protocol created by Glenn E. Singleton that works to dismantle racial disparities within systems and organizations) to aid the CEO Diversity Action Plan.
She also executed the firm’s first Cross-Cultural Development Program (CCDP), which assists diverse financial advisors in serving more clients by showcasing more confidence,
Maryville multicultural scholars alumni return
Program has grown to 150 scholars
to guide students like themselves
Sophie Hurwitz
The St. Louis American
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013. When he entered the program, he was one of “maybe about 30” students with the scholarship, which provides up to 75% of tuition and places students within a cohort dedicated to building an inclusive campus culture. Now, the program has grown to around 150 students, Gray said — a massive jump from when he began his time at the school. And Gray himself, like many other
Roslyn Croft
Jonathon R. Gray was one of the first students to go through Maryville University’s multicultural scholars program when he began his undergraduate education in 2013.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Emily Pitts
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
By Chris King For
The St. Louis
‘A
dialogue of varied and multiple perspectives’
A conversation with Min Jung Kim, the first St. Louis Art Museum director who is not a white man
American
On June 22, the St. Louis Art Museum announced that Min Jung Kim will succeed Brent R. Benjamin as its next Barbara B. Taylor Director. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, she will be the 11th director of the 142-year-old museum – and the first who is not a white man. A graduate of Wheaton College who holds a master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, Kim leaves a position as director and CEO of the New Britain Museum of American Art. She also was recently appointed chairman of the Connecticut Arts Council by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.
The St. Louis American: Why did you want to come to St. Louis to direct the art museum?
Min Jung Kim: Well, that’s an easy question to answer in that the St. Louis Art Museum is so highly regarded within the field. I have known about the St. Louis Art Museum throughout my career, and I have always greatly admired it for its extraordinary world-class collection that is encyclopedic with a great range of depth and spanning across all centuries, geographies, cultures, and perspectives. It is such a wellestablished, well-regarded
museum. I knew about it, to begin with, but it was in the process of getting to know it more during the consideration for becoming its next Barbara B. Taylor Director that I really began to dig a little bit deeper in understanding how truly remarkable the museum is. Given its standing within
the community, given its long and distinguished history, all of that notwithstanding the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum also embarked upon a diversity report and a listening project were two sets of very, very important documents among many others that really identified for me what a special and
unique museum this is.
The St. Louis American: What are your thoughts on the museum’s Romare Bearden Fellowship?
Min Jung Kim: The Bearden fellowship as you know, is one of the nation’s
Saint Louis Art Museum
Director Min Jung Kim shared the story of her journey in America and vision for the future of the institution she now leads during her introductory press conference on June 22.
currently showing that it comprises 37% of ethnically diverse visitors is also quite remarkable. Not all museums can proudly claim that. But again, with all of these accomplishments and achievements and progress notwithstanding, the fact that the St. Louis Art Museum still found the importance of the diversity report — that investigates the ways in which the St. Louis Art Museum can apply the principles of diversity and inclusion to virtually everything that the institution does, not only in terms of the collection, exhibition and visitor engagements, but everything from its finances to how its endowment investments are aligned with these diversity principles— this kind of holistic approach as well as the level of specificity that produced a 26-page report with 150 recommended action points is really very, very impressive. So, it was really everything that the St. Louis Art Museum has been doing and is poised to continue to do in many regards as the museum views the area of diversity to be of vital importance.
first and oldest pipeline programs designed to bring greater diversity to the art world, and the fact that St. Louis Art Museum has had this history and tradition for nearly three decades is really quite extraordinary. I also thought that the current St. Louis Art Museum audience demographic
The St. Louis American: What can you bring to the mix as a woman looking at this collection and programming and as a Korean that your predecessors may not have with the different perspectives you bring?
Min Jung Kim: Well, two
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Continued from page 1
things. As you noted, the St. Louis Art Museum has indeed had extraordinary leaders in the past, and I think for me, this is an extraordinary privilege for me to be able to build upon the legacies of my predecessors who have really led the institution in such a way for me to be able to come into a very, very solid, well established, well-regarded institution. It is really a tribute to the great leadership that has happened in the past including most recently my predecessor Brent Benjamin.
That said, I am so honored indeed now to become the St. Louis Art Museum’s next Barbara B. Taylor Director and indeed as its first woman director in its 142-year history. And Chris as you’ve noted, I am indeed not only of Korean descent, I was actually born and raised in Seoul, South Korea until I first came to the United States at the age of 18 to attend college and then returned again in 1996. And I have been in this country since, and I became a U.S. citizen shortly thereafter.
As a woman, and now an Asian-American woman and a first-generation immigrant, I would hope to bring a perspective that recognizes that there are indeed multiple perspectives out there. In fact, it is one of the great beauties of diversity that it is a recognition of a give-and-take. It’s about moving away from history bound assumptions and preconceived notions of any one person, population, culture, history, or viewpoint as a monolith, but rather it’s about recognizing that there are multiple perspectives and stories that can coexist and really enrich our lives as individuals and as members of a community in celebrating the rich and varied complexity of the world in which we all live together. And, so, in doing so, what I hope to bring to this is to also position the museum in such a way that we can continue to
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
open ourselves up to exchange in a dialogue of the varied and multiple perspectives that I think is much needed today more than ever.
The St. Louis American: How do you privilege diversity in the large while still speaking to a Blacker constituency than many museums are responsible to?
Min Jung Kim: Visiting St. Louis specifically, one of the first things that I’m really excited about is going into the community and meeting people. I think the first period during my tenure is really going to be about meeting people, listening to people, and having a better understanding of what comprises the St. Louis community so the museum can reflect the community far more accurately and in a much more engaging way. And I think in doing that, to be able to reflect our communities will also better reflect essentially what art and culture are designed to do: playing a critical role in leaving evidence and traces of not only our previous past but as well as a continued expression and exploration of the human condition as a whole.
And it is the role of the museum to take these extraordinary objects by artists to provide further context to be able to weave together insightful stories of not only our past but that are understanding of our present and future as part of a continuum of ideas. And in exploring some of our past, also recognizing that there are multiple histories as part of that narrative. So, I think, if anything, I’m excited that as I get to know the St. Louis community and its diverse communities — and in particular its African American communities better — we continue to make room for these multiple stories and histories and perspectives to be prominently featured as part of some of the great stories the St. Louis Art Museum will be proud to present and share.
The St. Louis American: Has anyone made any introductions for you to our Asian community?
Min Jung Kim: I have indeed been very, very warmly welcomed albeit remotely by representatives of the Asian community, all of whom I
am really looking forward to meeting in person once I’m on the ground.
The St. Louis American: Are there any aspects of the collection or individual pieces that you’re particularly excited to have at the St. Louis Art Museum?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, you know with the more than 36,000 objects that the St. Louis Art Museum has in collection, I think individually every single work is really a treasure in and of itself.
I think what also makes [the collection] so extraordinary is the collective strength the collection as a whole brings in being able to make virtually endless cultural narratives possible — not only of a particular era or a particular culture or geography. I think the possibilities that exist that can transcend time and place and to be able to draw upon themes and subjects that make art evermore relevant to our society today. And so rather than the one, the fact that the opportunities exist for the many is what’s truly exciting about the St. Louis Art
Museum collection.
The St. Louis American: Are there things from your bag of tricks or best practices that going into this position you’re thinking you want to implement?
Min Jung Kim: The St. Louis Art Museum is such a well-established institution that it already has been adhering to best practices, so that part is solid. From my personal leadership capabilities based on my experience, I guess one of the things I continue to benefit from is being surrounded by incredibly smart, talented, dedicated people. As a leader I think I can only be as successful as the team that I can assemble, comprising some of the best colleagues that I know of. We all work collectively together towards the mission of a museum so that’s probably one thing.
The other thing is to always tell the truth. I think truth, honesty, and consistency are really the only ways I can operate, and that has done me well in virtually every conversation, every negotiation, every discussion because at the end of the day consistency and truth is the only thing that will prevail.
The St. Louis American: What are you reading now? What book is on your bedstand?
Min Jung Kim: Oh, my goodness, which one? I’m constantly reading several books all at once. So, it’s kind of hard to tell and it really depends on whether you’re asking which book I’m reading in print and which books I’m reading by listening to the audiobook. But let’s see, I am reading The Broken Heart of America. And I am just beginning a book called DMZ Colony — not to be confused with ZMD — it’s a book by Don Mee Choi about the Korean peninsula and she’s put together a really wonderful book of prose, poetry, drawing, and photos to look back to the memory of other memories. And I’m constantly listening to various podcasts which I enjoy
very much.
The St. Louis American: Tell us a favorite podcast or two.
Min Jung Kim: As of late, I’ve really been enjoying “Revisionist History” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a great podcast where essentially he takes particular subjects, and he looks at it from a different perspective so it’s a fun podcast.
The St. Louis American: What’s your comfort music?
Min Jung Kim: Oh gosh, I am so eclectic it really kind of depends on my particular mood. It ranges from classical to jazz to opera to traditional Korean music. It really sort of ranges. It’s hard to say.
The St. Louis American: Mozart or Beethoven?
Min Jung Kim: Bach.
The St. Louis American: The Beatles or the Stones?
Min Jung Kim: The Stones.
The St. Louis American: What’s a recent vacation? Where do you go when you want to get away from it all?
Min Jung Kim: Part of my personality is that I never want to actually get away from it all, there’s so much to explore with what already is. I haven’t honestly been able to take a vacation as of late, but not that it’s necessarily a vacation, an annual trip I really love to do is to go back to Korea because all of my family is still there. So that’s something that I like to do to connect with my family and just to see the constant transformation of the country. Every single time I go it’s amazing. So much changes and happens at the same time and yet some things never change. It’s part of its 5000year history, things will always be the same, so it’s a nice mix.
Saint Louis Art Museum Director Min Jung Kim was joined (from left) by Charles Lowenhaupt, president of the museum’s board, and Keith Williamson, Centene Charitable Foundation president and search committee chair, during her introduction to staff members on June 22.
Photo by Tim Parker
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At BJC, your career will benefit from on-the-job learning and mentoring from some of the most accomplished
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Carpenters Union’s Career Connections program ramps up
Special to the American
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council
(CRC) is working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis, and a unique program is helping.
The Regional Council’s Career Connections program brings cutting-edge technical education to schools across St. Louis, helping local employers fill a skills gap in the vocational trades and offering a pathway to a middle-class career for young people in the region.
“Students and their families sometimes become so focused on earning a four-year degree that they overlook or are unaware of vocational options,” said Dr. Art McCoy, former Jennings School District Superintendent of Schools.
“Career Connections provides students an opportunity to learn about skilled trades in a way that prepares them for a successful career. It has been a wonderful addition to our schools.”
The Career Connections Program works in partnership with educators to provide students with a practical CTE education taught by skilled instructors. With more than 1,700 students in 35 programs across our region, our graduates have gone on to earn six-figure salaries as union carpenters. Local high schools include Roosevelt, Beaumont, Jennings, South Tech, North Tech and many others.
“Career Connections helps ensure St. Louis has the next generation of skilled workers it needs to continue growing,” said Al Bond, Executive
Working to fill a skills gap in St. Louis
Secretary-Treasurer of the CRC. “The program provides a leg up to students, who start their career with knowledge and skills that other apprentices don’t have, and it helps ensure a pipeline of talented workers to the local employers who hire them.”
Along with vocational train-
ing, the program also includes preparation in the skills that research shows employers value most, including: goal setting, positive attitude, punctuality, teamwork, and taking initiative. The various skills Career Connections graduates learn help make them employable, while local companies
Celebrating Diversity
remain competitive and ensure St. Louis can build high-quality, safer, lowercost construction projects.
“It is very difficult to find enough skilled workers to perform all the work we have available,” said Bill Lowery, Project Executive with PARIC. “There are projects I would love for us to bid on, but we don’t have the workers available to do new projects in addition to projects we are already committed to. We are glad to see a program like Career Connection stepping in to fill that need for skilled workers.”
The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council (CRC) represents more than 22,000
‘It’s more than just the numbers,’ Tarlton diversity manager says Roslyn Croft has expanded diversity, opened up dialogue
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
The construction industry isn’t known for its diversity, but Roslyn Croft has worked to change that reality at Tarlton Corporation by not only expanding the demographics of the contractors it hires but by engaging its employees in meaningful dialogue about race and diversity.
“As we look at our contract span, it’s great to watch it grow over the years from when we first started to where we are now, but you know — it’s more than just the numbers,” Croft said.
“If someone who may not have been open to dialog a year ago finally looks at what we’re posting on our diversity dialogue teams channel and it opens their mind and they’re willing to come and have a conversation or they’re willing to have a conversation with someone in their family who may be closed-minded and may not be open to a different point of view, than that’s success to me.”
Tarlton is celebrating its 75th year in business this year and is a St. Louis-based, $200 million general contracting and construction management firm specializing in complex new construction and renovation. Croft, Tarlton’s diversity manager, has been with the company since 2009 and has worked on Tarlton’s diversity efforts since 2012.
scious bias.
may not have had that same experience. And so, we try to have those dialogue sessions at least every other month to allow people the opportunity to learn something and to try to grow from within themselves and also share their experiences.”
She said one of the biggest signs of growth in the company’s diversity effort is that she now doesn’t have to be involved in conversations on all the projects going on at the company because everyone knows that it’s their responsibility to provide inclusion and to make opportunities for people who may not normally have them.
In June, the company was named the 2021 Contractor of the Year by the American Subcontractors Association Midwest Council and in the last two months, Croft managed Tarlton’s launch of a diverse contractor registration page on Tarlton’s website and organized a Tarlton virtual subcontractor outreach event.
“I really do love what I do, and I think the biggest part of it is because I’m able to see what an impact it can have,” Croft said.
Croft maintains the com-
pany’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall. In 2020, Tarlton spent 19.8% of its total project spending with diverse suppliers – the highest in its 75-year history.
Croft also oversaw Tarlton’s launch of a diverse subcon-
tractor registration page on the website so the company can get to know more firms and the services they offer. She also chairs Tarlton’s Diversity Committee, which meets monthly to plan educational and culture-building activities and discussions for our company. She said she has coordinated training sessions on uncon-
“I think probably the most impactful dialogue that we’ve had was after the death of George Floyd,” Croft said. “We had a conversation with our team, and we probably had 70 people that joined the call, and we had several people share their experience with policing and I think that opened the eyes of some people that
“It’s little things, it may not be a big thing in somebody’s eyes, but it can make a big difference,” she said. Croft serves on multiple community and industry organization boards and committees including the Associated General Contractors of Missouri Diversity Committee, AGC of Missouri Education Foundation, St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers Diversity Committee, Missouri Women in Trades, PEOPLE Advisory Board, and St. Louis Public Schools Career and Technical Advisory Committee. She sees herself at Tarlton until her retirement, working to expand dialogue and diversity in all facets of the business.
“I feel like as long as people are willing to challenge themselves and their mindset then we have lots of space to grow in,” Croft said.
BOLD LEGACY
Roslyn Croft maintains the company’s corporate database of diverse suppliers, tracks diverse workforce participation, and monitors Tarlton’s diverse contract spend by project and overall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
POWERING THE QUALITY OF LIFE
We power the quality of life not only through the energy we provide, but also through our engagement with and support of the communities and people we serve in their journey to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion.
Botanical Garden encourages residents to make the most of their garden
By Missouri Botanical Garden
“There’s never been a better time for all of St. Louis to experience the Garden,” says Amanda Shields, who in February joined the Missouri Botanical Garden’s leadership team as the Garden’s first-ever director of diversity, inclusion and belonging. “And there have never been more ways to take advantage of this oasis in the city and its offerings for residents throughout St. Louis City and County.” Shields refers not only to the Garden’s status as one of the most popular attractions in the St. Louis area — it has been consistently ranked #1 on TripAdvisor’s “15 Best Things to Do in Saint Louis” list for more than a decade — but also the learning opportunities and community engagement that have helped position the iconic institution as a resource for the region, as well as one of the top botanical research centers in the world.
From early entry on Wednesday and Saturday mornings — free to all St. Louis City and County residents — to evening hours featuring live music and drinks and weekend-long cultural festivals, the Garden offers residents the perfect destination for an entire day of adventures or just a quick walk through some of the most beautiful scenery in the city. Among its 79 acres visitors can figuratively travel the world, from the secluded Mediterranean setting of the Bakewell Ottoman Garden to the expansive 14-acre Japanese Garden that
features winding pathways surrounding a picturesque lagoon where visitors can feed hungry koi fish or relax near multiple waterfalls. The nearby George Washington Carver Garden pays tribute to the pioneering African-American botanist and Missouri native whose work profoundly influenced American agriculture. A shady English woodland is just around the corner from the
Carver Garden, and a few more steps bring visitors to the towering palm trees and tropical rainforest environment inside the glass-dome Climatron® Reflecting the international scope of the Garden’s research and conservation efforts, the Climatron is home to some of the rarest plants in the Garden’s living collections, and in the world. One species on display inside the Climatron,
mauritianus, can only be found one place in the wild — growing on the side of a cliff on the island of Mauritius.
Just outside the Climatron is perhaps the most popular spot in the Garden, at least for younger visitors — the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden, where families can explore caves and treehouses, cool off in a large splash pad and enjoy
other outdoor activities inspired by Missouri’s many natural environments. St. Louis residents receive free admission to the Children’s Garden on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m.
For those who prefer the outdoor environment of their own backyard, the Garden’s William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening is an invaluable resource. Visitors
can draw inspiration from the dozens of demonstration gardens on the Kemper Center for Home Gardening’s grounds or receive specific advice from its staff of gardening experts, whose insights on thousands of gardening, landscaping, and plant care topics are also freely available online at gardeninghelp.org. For a deeper dive, the Garden also hosts hundreds of hands-on, virtual, and hybrid classes in a variety of areas, from gardening to cooking to sustainable living.
Learning opportunities are not just confined to the Garden’s campus in south St. Louis. In addition to the Garden’s other public sites — the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield and Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Missouri — the Garden sponsors and partners on community outreach programs throughout the metropolitan St. Louis area. From community beautification efforts like the Sunflower+ project that transforms vacant land to the Outdoor Youth Corps program, which provides area youth with employment opportunities and on-the-job training alongside Garden staff, the Garden is committed to helping St. Louis and its residents continue to grow. “This is a Garden for all,” Shields explains, “and especially for our neighbors throughout the region. We want to continue to find new ways to both engage the St. Louis community in our mission of plant discovery and conservation and provide residents with resources they can’t find anywhere else.”
We are committed to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth, new investment,and job creation in the innovation district extend to all parts of our community.
Nesocodon
The interior of the Temperate House
Photo by Claire Cohen
Earl Ming is Alberici Constructors’ go-to guy at St. Louis City Stadium
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
Earl Ming started playing soccer as a child, he liked it and was good at it too.
While studying engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, he played with a Georgia Tech club soccer team.
He no longer plays, but he is still quite involved with soccer, and its future in St. Louis.
Ming is a senior project manager with Alberici Constructors. Currently he is serving as project manager of all structural concrete for St. Louis City Stadium near Union Station, the future home of the MLS expansion franchise St. Louis City.
He has been a senior project manager since May, after serving as a project manager on various projects for more than six years.
“I now take on larger projects, my responsibility has escalated,” he said.
“But the day-to-day management is pretty much the same as prior.”
His day at the stadium site starts early and has an interesting twist.
At 6 a.m. a “plan of the day” meeting is held. An hour later, the entire project team gathers in the bowl of the stadium for a 10 to 15-minute session of stretching and safety discussion.
“The whole site, workers and all levels of management. We all stretch. We also have music playing,” Ming said.
Ming’s firm is part of the tri-venture of Mortenson,
His firm cites diversity as ‘core value’
Alberici and L. Keeley. From outside the stadium, it is obvious the workforce is diverse.
Ming is a member of Alberici’s Diversity Committee, which he says is “defining a blueprint to attract more minorities and women
into the crafts.”
“I have seen a lot of change, even before the committee. We still have work to do, but we’re headed down the right path.”
According to its website, “As one of Alberici’s core values, our commitment to
diversity and inclusion begins at the highest level of our corporate leadership team and is pervasive throughout the entire company.
“We foster an environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas openly to help reach their potential,
knowing they have the full support of managers and peers.”
Ming, who grew up in the St. Louis area, had an uncle who was an engineer and served as a mentor.
“But even with having my uncle as a role model, when I
was growing up, I didn’t know how to get here. We have to let students know there is an education component, to show there is a pathway,” he said.
“We have to make that bridge to our industry.”
Ming made the bridge from St. Louis to Atlanta for college, in part, because he has relatives in that metropolitan area.
After graduation, he was an intern with the Kwame Building Group and was hired as a project engineer in 2003.
During his over two years with Kwame, Ming led the Sverdrup|Parsons|Kwame Joint Venture team, which provided Program Management services for Phase I of the Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport Expansion Project.
The project included the acquisition of an additional 1,500 acres of land, demolition of commercial and residential structures on that land and relocation of seven major transportation arteries to the west and north of the Airport.
While at Kwame, Ming said he got “a better feel” of the industry.
“It’s how I was introduced to Construction,” he said.
He joined Alberici in 2005, and his career has continued growing skyward – just like St. Louis City Stadium.
“It is funny. I do have a passion for the sport,” he said.
An easy goal would be guessing that Ming and his family will be part of the crowd when St. Louis City plays its first home game in 2023.
Earl Ming, Alberici Constructors senior project manager, played soccer as a youth and on a club team in college. He is now in charge of all structural concrete for the stadium.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Heartland Coca-Cola committed to education, economic development
By Heartland Coca Cola St. Charles
It was May 25, 2020, and once again the country wrestled with the pain of racial injustices that people of color face daily….this time by witnessing a traumatizing eight-minute forty-six second video of the senseless death of George Floyd. As shock and anger reverberated, a persistent cry to address the long-standing issues of racism, social injustice, and racial biases resonated worldwide. Heartland Coca-Cola echoed these sentiments and committed to addressing these problems head on. Immediately, leadership began working on action items and communication channels used to keep employees well-informed of the Covid19 pandemic were now used to address the pandemic of racism. Heartland listened to the fears, concerns, and experiences of discrimination during companywide “We Hear You” live events on race. Experts were brought in to help educate and improve the culture of inclusion and acceptance.
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed on February 25, 2017, by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman. The Bridgman’s have always had a fervor for putting people first and serving communities. This same passion is indoctrinated into the foundation of Heartland, “We will be a positive influence and active participants in the communities in which we operate,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” These
are the mantras in everything Heartland does. Racism, inequality, and prejudices of any kind go against Heartland’s values and has no welcomed place in its business or practices.
In July of 2020, Heartland’s Chief Operating Officer, Rick Frazier announced the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Council. Justin Bridgeman, executive director began serving as the executive sponsor. Immediately, Justin’s
enthusiasm for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) was evident. He believes in the importance of embracing differences—race, political, gender, religious and more, and wasted no time demonstrating his leadership and dedication to being a conduit of change. Justin’s plan for change is not only immediate—”It is important that we put an emphasis and focus on our work in the DE&I space not just because it affects us in the
here and now, but because of the impact it will have on our future”—it’s generational and goes beyond the organization. “Heartland plans to be a changemaker in education, volunteerism, and economic development of the communities it serves.” Justin envisions Heartland having a greater impact in the St. Louis area and in helping remove the constraints of racism.
Justin understands that change within spans to
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company was formed in 2017 by Junior Bridgeman, a former Milwaukee Bucks NBA player, and an astute businessman.
change throughout. A steering committee for diversity and inclusion was formed along with a strategic plan to properly engage in DE&I issues within Heartland.
Hometown DE&I councils were created to closely serve its Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas hometowns.
Heartland believes education is a key component in finding suitable courses of action to successfully remedy problems. Heartland began
sharing information on the history of racism and the impact it has had within the communities it serves, such as St. Louis. Internally, the “LEAD Method” was developed. LEAD is an acronym for Listening and Learning, Empower and Engage, Advocate and Articulate and Develop. This process is a guide used by DE&I committees throughout Heartland to develop educational material such as weekly diversity awareness notifications, DE&I pamphlets and posters, newsletters, focal groups, future training sessions and more.
Committee member, Robin Blanchard a warehouse supervisor states, “the growth and the support I have received has been wonderful. Diversity and inclusion are an important foundation at Heartland. This is the first employer I’ve had that has created a council for employees as a place for their voices to be heard.”
Jeff Oberman, vice president of the People Team states, “The DE&I Council provides insight and expands awareness of critical DE&I topics enabling us to have better conversations about diversity and social justice at work, as well as in our personal lives. There are many individuals and organizations giving their all to positively influence DE&I and social justice. I really appreciate how Heartland’s Hometown DE&I Councils are comprised of employees that reflect the diversity of our organization and the communities we serve.”
Justin recognizes that there is still a lot of work to do in diversity and inclusion. He and the Heartland family are committed to doing their part.
We stand in opposition to economic inequities, racism, violence and other injustices that tear apart our society. We will continue to conduct meaningful research, convene conversations across industries and pursue initiatives that advance equity, inclusion, economic mobility and resilience for all. The pursuit of those aims is at the root of our ambition as an institution and in the work we do alongside the communities we serve.
Everyone has potential. They just need opportunities to fully unlock that potential. This is the foundation of achieving greater diversity and inclusion for the Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). We still have much to do as we refine our outreach, but I firmly believe we are leading the pack in the construction industry.
When I embarked on my career as an IBEW electrician in 1990, I was one of two minorities in my class at the IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center. Today, the Electrical Connection partnership has sustained a 10-year record of diversity in apprenticeships, a third of which are minorities.
In every grade school and high school in the region there is great potential to create the next generation of electricians and communication technicians who will power everything in life and connect us in ways unimagined. It expresses itself in little ways. An 11-year-old with a fascination with how things work or a 17-year-old who likes to work with his or her hands. The Electrical Connection invests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs to cultivate these gems. We part-
ner with organizations like the Saint Louis Science Center, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, FIRST Robotics and countless school STEM programs. At career fairs, we are the bullseye for STEM careers, and anyone interested in powering and connecting the world.
IBEW and NECA also invest more than $3 million annually in training at the award winning IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center – all free of charge
in a program where students earn a living while they learn the electrical trade. The fiveyear, 10,000-hour education program’s curriculum includes traditional forms of energy, but also renewable energy, smart building and infrastructure technology, communications technology, electric vehicle (EV) chargers and more. Skills are needed, but so is leadership. We are encouraging our contractor partners to help us identify minorities who can run projects as superin-
tendents and general foreman. They have unique skills that optimize labor productivity by managing and teaching workers in ways that make the most of their abilities. In essence, they help workers climb the ladder of success. Our diversity outreach is more than workforce development. When we focus on communities that have long been ignored, we are also laying the groundwork for modernization. New urban housing and multi-family
developments can enjoy the benefits and long-term cost savings of renewable energy, such as solar. So too can office, manufacturing, retail, schools and other businesses. Bypassed communities can also benefit from improvements to communication infrastructure and smart building technologies. And while significant parts of the region are devoid of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the future tells us that EV charging stations must become a greater priority.
The number of electric-powered vehicles on American roadways is growing daily and maintenance and installation skills instruction are part of the IBEW/NECA partnership’s Electrical Connection program.
Potential is squandered when it is ignored. Our Electrical Connection IBEW/ NECA partnership believes opportunity can lift all lives by nurturing potential to create a more diverse workforce and bring modern technology to underserved communities. Learn more at www.electricalconnecton.org.
Sylvester Taylor is director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the IBEW/NECA Electrical Connection partnership.
Photo courtesy of IBEW/NECA
Sylvester Taylor
At the Missouri Botanical Garden, we are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming community within the Garden and among the region we serve and work in. Whether visiting us, taking advantage of our educational programs and home gardening help, or finding your next career, we hope that you will be a part of our Garden for all!
What would you tell someone who asked you why they should visit the Missouri Botanical Garden?
The Garden is an oasis in the middle of the city. You can enjoy nature, learn about plants and their environment, and meet people from everywhere and all walks of life.
—Ayanna Woods, Manager, Visitor Services
There is so much to experience at the Garden, from beautiful floral displays to events like Garden Glow. I’ve been to other botanical gardens and ours stands amongst the best.
—Cassandra Nelson, Senior Manager, Systems and Telecommunications
What is unique about the sense of community at the Garden?
We work on vastly different programs, projects, and goals all over the world, but we are a united front striving to meet the mission of the Garden.
—Joyce Gorrell, Sustainability Projects Manager
The Garden recognizes many cultures and in its diversity shows us what a unique community should look like.
—Alice Ransom, Garden Receptionist
What makes the Missouri Botanical Garden different from other places you have worked?
Every day, I’m surrounded by people who are just as passionate about plants as I am. We all seem to speak a unique language that connects us and brings us together.
—Daria McKelvey, Supervisor, Home Gardening Information and Outreach
I am inspired by the natural beauty of the Garden. I enjoy coming to work because I know I make a difference for my team and Garden visitors.
—Joseph Tumblin, Construction Project Coordinator
Special to The American
For years, Huxlande Petigny has dreamed of becoming a doctor. After giving birth to her daughter, Samara, however, Petigny put those dreams aside to support her family. Working in sales with no prior experience, Petigny said she had never felt more incompetent in her life. To remedy that, she earned a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance. Even with all the accolades and financial success, however, she remained unfulfilled.
Then, a car accident changed the trajectory of her life. Petigny sought care for her musculoskeletal pain from Lawrence Weiner, DC, whom she had known for more than 10 years. The two talked about Dr. Weiner’s fulfilling career as a chiropractor and how he helped people live healthier lives through the work of his own hands. Highlighting the projected growth of the profession, Dr. Weiner suggested Petigny consider a chiropractic career for herself and offered to write a letter of recommendation on her behalf.
“At that moment, I knew this might be the only chance I get in life to make my dreams a reality. I took Dr. Weiner up on his offer, and the rest is history,” Petigny said.
Petigny moved from Miami, where she was born and raised, to St. Louis with her mother, Mimi, and her daughter to pursue her doctor of chiropractic degree from Logan University.
‘Chiropractic chose me.’
Logan University student Huxlande Petigny pursues dream of becoming a doctor
a
at Logan University, is also pushing for diversity and representation
“Logan has a beautiful campus and a strong reputation when it comes to academics,” she said. “The Logan community is incredibly warm, welcoming and caring, and the fact that the library was once a place of worship resonated highly with me as well since I am a very faithful person.”
Currently in her ninth trimester, Petigny is participating in a clinical rotation at the VA St. Louis Health Care System. She hopes to dedicate her life’s work to serving veterans, a population she said is often underserved and underappreciated.
“I appreciate the VA’s focus on complementary and alternative forms of medicine,” Huxlande said. “What is most important to me is increasing an individual’s quality of life through chiropractic care.”
Luckily for Petigny, her business experience has proved to be beneficial on her journey to becoming Dr. Petigny.
“My background in business has taught me that building relationships is the very foundation to longevity and success,” Petigny said. “As a future health care professional, these skills will be necessary in not only my interactions with patients but with other health care professionals as well, such as primary care providers, physical therapists, pain psy-
chologists and acupuncturists.”
As she strives to treat each patient as a whole person, Petigny, a Haitian-American, is also pushing for diversity and representation within the chiropractic profession.
“Diversity comes in many different forms—whether its race, culture, religion, education, school of thought, gender, etc., diversity allows us the
opportunity to gain a greater perspective, which helps us to create better solutions,” Petigny said. “In chiropractic, diversity is especially important because we must be open to seeing a variety of patients with a variety of complaints to assist in their journey to good health. Furthermore, patients appreciate seeing diversity in their health care providers.”
To support the diversity and inclusion initiatives of Logan University’s Office of Student Affairs and the success of students like Petigny, Community Standards Coordinator Tim Williams implements programs that meet students’ needs and positively impact their overall experience. For example, the student affairs department recently hosted a discussion on the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status as well as a Women’s Career Roundtable, both of which were offered online so the entire university community of alumni, faculty, staff and students could attend.
While at Logan, Petigny has maintained an exceptional academic record and become an active member of the community, including Omega Sigma Phi, which furthers the development of women in the chiropractic profession, and the Student American Black Chiropractic Association. She has also worked as a class tutor and tour guide and has received numerous awards and honors, including Logan’s prestigious Founders’ Scholarship, which covers full tuition for trimesters four through ten.
Greater St. Louis is your home. It’s where you live, work and find a sense of community. It’s home to Regions too. We understand that when our communities succeed, it makes life better for everyone. That’s why we have specialized teams that work within our communities to direct resources to areas where they are needed most. As we strive for inclusive growth, we will continue to take a deliberate approach to invest in, and serve, communities of color. The people of our community inspire us, and we are committed to continue listening, learning and developing a plan of action to move toward racial equity.
1.800.regions | regions.com
Huxlande Petigny, a Haitian-American,
student
within the chiropractic profession.
Five ways to find diverse candidates seeking employment
A Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) study found that 57 percent of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates.
n If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Diversity is also important for prospective employees who are being recruited. An industry survey found that 67 percent of active and passive job seekers said that diversity is an important factor when considering companies and job offers.
Recruiters and talent acquisition leaders are being tasked to increase workplace diversity.
“So why is it so hard to move the needle,” asks the business website ideal.com, which was established by Somen Mondal and Shaun Ricci, who serve as CEO and COO, respectively.
“Is it a pipeline issue as it’s often argued? Are unconscious biases interfering with recruitment decision making?
As with most complicated issues, it is all of the above,” they ask in an online blog.
As part of extensive online tutorial on increasing diversity in American workplaces, Ideal offers five tips to find qualified minority and female candidates.
Carefully write job posts to attract more diverse candidates If you want to attract a more diverse candidate pool, the language you use in your job posting makes a difference. A study on job postings found those using masculine-type words like “ambitious” and “dominate” were less appealing to female applicants.
Offer workplace policies more appealing to diverse candidates
Research has found that one of the best workplace policies to attract diverse candidates is flexibility. A PwC survey found that compared to older generations, Millennials place more importance on a company
culture that emphasizes work/ life balance. Offering flexibility such as work from home options and flexible hours not only helps you attract more diverse candidates, it helps prevent expensive employee turnover.
Use a personality assessment to recruit more diverse
candidates
A valid and reliable personality assessment is a great tool to measure candidates’ personality traits, motivations, and skills. Personality assessments increase workplace diversity because they do not show adverse impact, that is, personality scores do not differ for minority group members. A
study of 150 companies found that those that used a personality assessment in their hiring had more racially diverse workforces.
Use sourcing methods that contain more diverse candidate pipelines
One of the reasons why candidate pipelines can be a bottleneck for diversity is a reliance on hiring through referrals. In general, people’s networks are comprised of people who are similar to them demographically. To increase the number of diverse candidates in your pipeline, take advantage of third-party websites to post your open roles. Also, create a mediarich page of your company showcasing your culture, leadership and employees.
Seed your pipelines with more diverse candidates Research featured in the Harvard Business Review found that when the final candidate pool has one minority candidate, he or she has virtually zero chances of getting hired. However, a “two in the pool effect” represents a promising method for reducing unconscious biases and increasing diversity in the workplace. If there are at least two female candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a female candidate are 79 times greater. If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
Visit ideal.com/workplace-diversity to review the ideal.com diversity assessment and the company can assist employers.
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
Increasing the pool of diverse candidates for employment is on the minds of many business owners and CEOs. Diversity on the job is essential to future success for most of today’s top firms.
By Cigna
At the heart of Cigna’s mission is the pursuit of health equity for all. But even with broadly available COVID-19 vaccinations giving us hope against the ongoing pandemic, critical issues in health care persist. The pandemic has shined a spotlight on what we have long known to be true – people with poor social determinants of health face greater barriers to good health and well-being. Unfortunately, systemic racism and discrimination play a role in these avoidable and unjust differences in health care.
Much work still needs to be done to drive meaningful, lasting change across the health care system and our broader society overall. And it needs to come from collaborative efforts between people, leaders and organizations of all kinds who share the same commitment. Together, we can work to address racial discrimination within every aspect of our lives, including our schools, communities and businesses.
“We view systemic racism and discrimination as critical health care issues in addition to human rights issues,” said Susan Stith, VP of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Civic Affairs, Corporate Responsibility, and executive director of the Cigna Foundation. “Cigna remains committed to driving efforts that make a real difference for everyone we serve, and that includes accelerating our ongoing diversity equity and inclusion and health equity strategies to address pressing social needs and build a more equitable future for all.” Over the past year, we have
Cigna remains committed to helping cure inequality
continued our efforts to create a more equal and equitable society, starting within our own organization. The recent launch of Cigna’s Enterprise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council, chaired by our President and CEO David Cordani, will play an important role in advancing and reporting out on our ongoing DEI and health equity efforts internally and externally. We also continue to host Inspiring Inclusive Conversation “listening sessions” that offer ongoing opportunities for dialogue about DEI topics – through which we have reached more
than 10,000 employees. Our efforts to create a more equitable and equal society go well beyond Cigna’s walls, and we remain committed to helping combat health disparities among our customers and communities of color. The launch of our five-year Building Equity & Equality Program last year demonstrates our expanding efforts to support diversity, equity, equality and inclusion for communities of color. As part of this, we have started piloting programs and solutions that address health disparities among African American/Black, Latinx and
Hispanic customers, who are disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continue to grow our external partnerships, including the selection of Dr. Gjanje Smith, Cigna’s first CEO Action for Racial Equity Fellow, as part of a yearlong fellowship to address racial injustice. Cigna is also partnering with Wake Forest School of Medicine to advance equity and equality through a $250,000 endowed scholarship that supports students of color as they begin their medical studies as doctors, nurses and health care workers.
“As leaders in the St. Louis
Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan.
an initial investment from Cigna, the University of Missouri-St. Louis piloted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator in 2020 as a means to close the access gap to startup capital for minority entrepreneurs. The DEI Accelerator successfully launched and supported six diverse businesses. The program will continue to grow and support eight minority-owned companies annually for the next five years.
We also continue to support the STL 2030 Jobs Plan and Access Point, a program that identifies entry-level technology jobs and aligns those needs with high school and higher education curriculums. Starting back in April, 25 students began Access Point courses at St. Louis Community College’s Florissant Valley campus. By early August, they’ll have completed 11 credit hours and will start paid apprenticeships at Evernorth, a Cigna company that includes Express Scripts. The STL 2030 Jobs Plan recently added some star power with local celebrity Nelly championing the effort.
community, we have a responsibility to drive meaningful change to improve equity and inclusion in the areas where we live and work,” said Amy Bricker, President, Express Scripts. “That’s why Cigna and Express Scripts are committed to initiatives like the STL 2030 Jobs Plan. These programs are a powerful catalyst to ultimately create a healthier and more equitable future for underserved and marginalized communities.”
Cigna is also working to address inequality within our nation’s workforces. On a local level, with help from
We’ve accomplished a lot, but our work is far from over. We take our role as a leader in the health service industry seriously. We will drive forward through COVID-19 and the fight against systemic racism – both of which we see as critical health issues. And, together, we will continue to chart a positive path forward in every interaction with our colleagues, customers and communities.
To learn more about our commitment to equity and equality, visit Cigna.com/ ActionforEquity.
Pitts
Continued from 1
competence and credibility.
Pitts also developed the firm’s first Women’s Leadership Forum, Minority Leadership Forum and Inclusion Mentoring Program and oversaw Inclusion Council and Business Resource Groups.
In previous roles, she worked with Charles Schwab, Dean Witter, and Merrill Lynn analyzing individual and corporate oversights and creating innovative ways to address them.
Her dedication to increase visibility in DEI and strengthen its central focus lays the blueprint for other Black women to follow in her footsteps. The advice she gives is to continue to develop yourself and educate yourself about DEI and the benefits of it.
“It [diversity, equity and inclusion] is beneficial to the organization that you’re with to create its growth and sustainability,” Pitts said.
“Don’t be afraid to have your voice heard, speak up, be courageous, but also do it in a way that brings people along. Meet people where they are so they can hear you. You get more done when people can actually hear you.”
Recently, Pitts was named Lindenwood University’s chief diversity officer and director of the center for diversity and inclusion. She will work with faculty, staff and students to create strategy practices and
programs to create a more diverse and inclusive university. She said she is increasing her awareness and listening to learn more about the cultural opportunities and the university’s current climate. She’s found in the past the best way to do that is through courageous conversations.
“You get a chance to hear from each other, seek to understand, be empathetic to the experiences of different people and learn how to integrate that into your everyday interactions,” Pitts said.
“I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Pitts said prior to her transitioning to her new role, the university already had several different programs in place to increase new freshmen enrollment and promote diversity.
Some of those programs and initiatives include various Black student groups that help new students adapt in a new environment, stay focused on their studies and stay connected by building a community within the university. Additional academic support, coaching and mentoring is also incorporated to ensure their success.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
They have a “Day of Dialogue” where speakers discuss campus diversity. Pitts was the keynote speaker.
Through her role, Pitts believes increasing the traffic of Black students and other people of color relies on not only assimilating through the university but also by partnering with organizations.
“I think the important thing is to make sure the message is out in the community, that the community knows that Lindenwood is very serious and committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and creating an inclusive environment on campus as well,” Pitts said.
“We want to make sure that we’re partnering with organizations or with companies to build a diverse pipeline as students begin to graduate. As far as attracting the students we just wanna make sure that we are representing Lindenwood in a way that is attractive to students of all different backgrounds and cultures so that they know that they can get an excellent education and have a community they can feel a part of.”
Pitts said she is excited to join the Lindenwood family and make a difference in the lives of young people who will be future leaders in our country.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully develop or create more inclusive leaders so that they can be great leaders within the organizations that they go off to to work for when they graduate.” Pitts said.
Enterprise Bank & Trust announces Enterprise University
n “I’m looking forward to implementing a courageous conversation program as well as a new diversity, equity and inclusion training class. The university has some really good courses on different biases, but I wanna create some consistency in language and understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion really means to Lindenwood as a whole.”
Enterprise has helped shape area business leaders for more than 18 years, offering classes on a variety of business-related topics, which are
Eight-course schedule provides students exposure to senior executives Enterprise Bank & Trust’s acclaimed Enterprise University, a no-cost business education program available to local business leaders, has announced its summer weekly course schedule with topics geared toward college students. Courses cover a variety of business topics including strategy, marketing, business culture and more.
designed to both challenge and energize participants. After a successful program kickoff last summer, this is the second year Enterprise University is offering classes specifically for college-age students.
Enterprise UniversityCollege Edition courses will be held virtually and take place
weekly on Wednesdays from June 9–Aug. 4. Each hourlong class will be taught by an Enterprise Bank & Trust executive or business partner. All courses are from 4-5 p.m. CDT. Topics are:
• Making the Most of your Internship
• Strategy and Leadership
• An Effective M&A Strategy
• Marketing & Sales
• Human Resources and Corporate Culture
• Principles of Investment Management
• Leveraging LinkedIn™ in the Job Search
• Life After Your Internship Students can elect to attend individual courses of interest or all eight. Classes are offered at no cost, but registration is required and limited. For more information and to view the full course schedule, visit enterprisebank.com/eu-college.
Investing in diversity, equity & inclusion pays off for everyone.
At Edward Jones, we partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. Committing to diversity, equity and inclusion plays a critical role in creating a place of belonging, advancing our firm’s purpose and improving life for us all.
– Emily Pitts
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Commerce’s new DEI leader brings passion and commitment to her role
Special to The American Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan, has come a long way during her 28 years with the organization. She started working at the bank to pay her way through college, encoding checks at night while attending school during the day. In the years that followed, she steadily rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president of operations before being named to her new role in June.
Leading DEI efforts for a large organization with team members in 11 states is a great deal of responsibility, but Hogan is excited about the opportunity. “It’s a huge honor,” she says. “DEI is very important to me. At the end of the day, I want all the people who work here to know Commerce is a place where they can grow their careers and have all the right tools in place to help them succeed.”
Despite being new to her role, Hogan has a long history of being involved in Commerce’s DEI efforts, and she’s proud to take the reins of the DEI programs that the bank has had in place for many years. For example, she played a prominent role in the establishment of VIBE, Commerce’s multicultural employee resource group (ERG), and has been a sponsor of the group ever since.
“I’ve really had a frontrow seat to Commerce’s DEI journey, which started a long time ago,” she says. “It’s been an evolution that’s included training sessions, our ERGs
— which help our team members find a sense of belonging — and our ‘Listen, Talk and Learn’ sessions, where people can share their experiences, be vulnerable and have courageous conversations.”
She sees her new responsibilities as an expansion of the work she’s already been doing.
“It’s going to allow me to play an even greater part in building an environment for everyone, where every group is accepted, valued and respected,” she says. “I want to ensure that people have the ability to thrive and be their authentic selves as they contribute to our organiza-
tion’s success.”
Hogan says a primary element of her role as DEI director will be to help reinforce Commerce’s core values throughout the organization.
“Our values are the foundation that shapes how we live and work,” she adds. “They call out our commitment to DEI at work and in our communities. And that commitment helps us communicate openly and candidly with each other. It helps us trust each other and treat each other with respect.”
As director of diversity, equity and inclusion, Hogan will set the strategic direction
Commerce Bank’s new senior vice president and director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Felecia Hogan
share their lived experiences. We all have to meet people who aren’t like us in order to understand them better.”
If Hogan sounds deeply passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, that’s because she is. According to Sara Foster, Commerce’s executive vice president of talent and corporate administration, Hogan’s passion is one of the qualities that made her the ideal candidate to continue growing the momentum of the bank’s DEI efforts.
“I’ve worked with Felecia for many years, and she’s always thoughtful, curious and very strategic about the way she thinks through any issue,” Foster says. “She’s always been a strong supporter of our people-development initiatives and is always raising her hand to learn more.”
and manage operational oversight of the goals Commerce has set for itself. She notes that she will work closely with the bank’s leadership and talent management teams to establish the direction the organization will take with its DEI programs, and to ensure that the bank is held accountable for making measurable progress on its goals.
Hogan says these efforts are a critical part of retaining and attracting talented people.
“People want to understand that diversity is valued,” she notes. “They want to know if we have policies and practices in place
to make things more equitable, whether our environments are inclusive, and whether diversity is celebrated, not just tolerated. Job candidates are going to look for organizations with a strong culture of diversity.”
The ultimate goal of Commerce’s many DEI programs, Hogan says, is to encourage team members to learn about other people’s experiences. “We want everyone to lean into their discomfort and diversify their circles of people they interact with,” she says. “We’ve had more than 2,000 people participate in various sessions where they
Foster says Hogan is always thinking about what else the bank could be doing to create programs that help people — especially women and people of color — find their next-level opportunity. “Through her lived experiences, Felecia can help people see past their unconscious biases and make an impact on the way we develop, promote and hire people. She’s just so perfect for this role.”
For her part, Hogan is excited about what’s ahead for Commerce’s DEI initiatives. “We have so many good things in the pipeline,” she says. “We’re very intentionally focused on how we operate internally and externally. We’re looking at how we can improve upon everything we do. I’m excited to continue the great work that’s already been started.”
BUILDING A CULTURE OF INCLUSION
At Alberici, we believe an inclusive workplace is essential to driving innovation, enhancing productivity and strengthening our community. We strive to ensure that our corporate staff and project teams represent the communities in which we live, work, and play. The Power of People makes all the difference.
BELONGING A CULTURE OF
At Mercy, we see all people as created in the image of God. We’re committed to providing a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for patients and co-workers across our healing ministry.
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Board guides our efforts to create a culture of belonging by:
• Improving health in communities of color and among the underserved
• Extending employment opportunities and training to people with disabilities
• Ensuring diversity in Mercy’s talent and leadership
• Advancing the professional development of women leaders
• Supporting the needs and careers of people in low-wage positions
If you’re looking for meaningful work and the chance to make a difference, explore career opportunities near you at mercy.net/DEI
Ayanna Baldwin Director of Benefits & Diversity Officer
“DEI is the essence of what being human means. We’re all so different in so many ways. But our differences make life fun, challenging and rewarding. Diversity is the innate trait that allows organizations to be successful. It sparks innovation and constant growth.”
Denise Hill
Executive Director, Compliance Privacy Officer &
Diversity
Officer
“DEI makes the workplace better for everybody. When people come from different backgrounds and experiences, they see things through different lenses. From a health care perspective, it’s essential because patients want to receive care from people to whom they can relate.”
Bridget Marzette-Bender Vice President, Talent Relations Center & Diversity Officer
“Diverse and inclusive workplaces cultivate diversity of thought. That’s when innovation and success start to thrive. People want a sense of belonging in the workplace because we spend more time there than with our own families. When you have a diverse organization, people want to work there.”
Binu Mathew, MD Vice President, Medical Intelligence & Analytics
“External views of an individual, such as appearance, accents, presentation styles, etc., may introduce conscious or subconscious bias — but true diversity lies in internal viewpoints. Leaders who listen, understand and assimilate individual differences help take them to a new level for Mercy’s ministry.”
Danielle McPherson
Executive Director, Managed Care Contracting & Operations & Diversity Officer
“The workforce is changing, and it’s more diverse than it’s been in the past. To stay competitive and relevant, companies must prioritize their efforts around DEI. It’s become an imperative. Differences across the board should be welcomed, acknowledged and celebrated.”
Kenton Saunders
Manager,
Patient Transportation Mercy Hospital St. Louis
“Our supported co-workers who have disabilities are as much a part of the team as everyone else. In many instances, they end up being leaders for the department and the most tenured co-workers. I can’t say enough about what they bring to our team. It’s phenomenal to see.”
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Inclusive workforce creates higher-quality productivity, less job turnover
An inclusive work culture mirrors the community the organization serves and yields many benefits for both the organization and its employees, says Angelica Ogando, founder and CEO of The Enriched Mind, LLC.
One of the key benefits of an organization having an inclusive work culture is that it has a lower turnover rate, Ogando says.
“If an organization is attracting more diverse candidates, it has people already in the organization who look like me, sound like me, and talk like me,” she notes.
“It is far less likely that I’m going to leave, especially if those other people who are like me are happy there.”
Another benefit to the organization is greater and higher-quality productivity.
“In an inclusive work culture, people feel respected and valued,” Ogando says. “Happy employees tend to give the best of themselves, generating higher-quality production. This ties into innovation. Do you have people who are different? If so, is your work environment one where people are encouraged to be themselves, be creative, and give their input?” Employees should be recognized for their contributions, Ogando says. Recognition for bringing something different to the table, such as perspective from a diverse group, can create a very empowering work culture.
On the other hand, organizations that don’t have inclusive work cultures tend to take steps backward in production and stagnate in terms of innovation.
“They have a higher turn-
A National Association of Colleges and Employers report
Diversity in the workplace is a great deal for employers who realize the intellectual, financial benefits of an inclusive work culture.
over rate because they have disgruntled employees who feel like they’re being overworked and overlooked, they are not being seen and heard, and they are not being promoted,” Ogando points out.
“These organizations create cultures in which employees are unhappy and morale is low. The organization is not being innovative because employees aren’t exchanging ideas. It is actually forcing people to leave.”
This impacts the bottom line in several ways. An inability to retain employees is costly as it requires resources for recruiting and training new employees.
In addition, the damage done by word of mouth by disgruntled ex-employees in the job market, in the marketplace, or on social media is immeasurable and difficult to contain.
Ogando says there are three main elements of creating an inclusive work culture, including:
Self-Analysis—If the organization is trying to be more inclusive, it must do a self-analysis of where it stands in this pursuit. “Are you merely checking off boxes when it comes to diversity and inclusion, or do you have a strategy in place through which you are changing the culture to be more inclusive?” Ogando asks. “It’s about becoming self-aware. It is a challenge for an organization to sit down and say it is lacking in its efforts and prog-
ress. However, that awareness will allow the organization to identify action steps and then take them.”
Education—What is true diversity and inclusion? “We think that diversity is just attracting a diverse pool and that it covers gender, race, and sexuality,” Ogando says. “This is not completely true because we forget the inclusion and equity components. We are hiring diverse people, but are
we really being inclusive? Do we welcome people who have disabilities? Are we hiring people who land on spots all along the spectrum? Are we making them feel included? A lot of companies are falling short when it comes to hiring people with disabilities—especially those with hidden disabilities— because they don’t understand and address the scope of it.”
Training Programs—
Figure out what employees need so that they feel they are valuable contributors to the organization. Do not assume that you know what each group needs; ask them.
“Create training programs and initiatives that tackle diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Ogando recommends. “Create employee resource groups in which people feel like they are being heard and understood, and someone is being an advocate for them. Train them because it is not enough to just hire diverse talent and invest in them by committing to their development and promoting them into management positions and executive-level roles.”
“Creating an inclusive work culture is not a final point,” Ogando explains. “It is an ongoing process. Once the organization undertakes its self-analysis, education, and training, it needs to assess progress internally and benchmark externally to see where it stands toward its goals. Then it needs to update its education and training to maximize its efforts in this incredibly important area.”
Photo courtesy of National Association of Colleges and Employers
BJC hopes to build bridges, help re-energize community as a Delmar DivINe tenant
As a tenant in the Delmar DivINe, BJC HealthCare will be helping to build a bridge. Not over a river or ravine, but across a divide that has long symbolized social and racial inequity in St. Louis.
Historically, Delmar Boulevard has been a dividing line between neighborhoods with a predominantly Black population and limited access to economic, educational and health resources, and predominantly white neighborhoods that are economically well-off and well-served.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louisarea non-profit and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable apartments.
The Delmar DivINe, like the tech-focused Cortex district to the south, is intended to foster collaboration and innovation among the tenant organizations, and, crucially, to make their services more accessible for community members. The development is designed to be a catalyst in the surrounding area –building community, ending inequities and connecting a divided St. Louis.
BJC plans to open the BJC Career and Community Hub Connection Center at the Delmar Divine in December, says Terrie Hart, BJC manager for workforce diversity. “The BJC Career space will be used for the community to explore BJC careers and apply for jobs,” Hart says.
and service organizations and several businesses, along with about 150 affordable
homes.”
“We’ll have rooms for candidates to use for their virtual interviews, and we plan to hold career workshops like resume writing, how to apply for jobs and professional presence.” In addition, St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Raising St. Louis program will be utilizing the space as a “community hub” — the fourth such hub for the program.
“We utilize the hubs as a gathering space for community programming,” says Greta Todd, St. Louis Children’s Hospital executive director
for diversity, inclusion and community affairs. “We offer all kinds of classes and resources, such as mothers support groups, yoga, a father’s class, breastfeeding support, resume writing and fun events like Pancakes & Pajamas or Thanksgiving dinner. It is also a place that our parent educators or community health workers can meet with families if they are still building trust and are not yet invited into their
The space may also be used for video consults, eventually.
“We are looking forward to sharing the space with Career Connection, as jobs are often one of the top needs for the families we serve,” Todd says.
The Delmar DivINe and BJC’s involvement in the project was spearheaded by local philanthropist and Build-A-Bear founder Maxine Clark. Clark sits on the Barnes-
Jewish Hospital Board of Directors and its Nominating, Governance and Diversity Committee.
When Clark came upon the vacant Delmar site several years ago, she envisioned it as a place to locate organizations, businesses and residents who could help re-energize the area.
“The entire concept for BJC’s Career space was designed after Maxine pro-
posed that it is often difficult to navigate while on our campus for those seeking employment with BJC,” Hart says. “We pitched what we envisioned BJC occupancy could look like and we have been planning towards ever since.”
The Delmar DivINe was originally slated to open in December 2020, but construction was postponed by the pandemic.
The Delmar DivINe, at 5535 Delmar Boulevard — the site of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and closed Connect Care facility — hopes to bridge the divide by providing space for St. Louis-area non-profit
apartments.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreamline
Continued from page 1 the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce.
For the past eight years, A.T. Still University (ATSU) in partnership with Truman State University has offered a unique and innovative program aimed at addressing the urgent need for health professions to better reflect the populations they serve. The summer program, “Dreamline Pathways,” introduces high school students to health professions. Students who are interested in the profession spend a week on Truman State University’s campus in Kirksville, MO under the supervision of resident staff and student alumni. Students gain experience and make valuable long-term connections aimed at nurturing and supporting them and helping them enroll in medical schools.
In describing the summer program, Stephanie McGrew, assistant director of diversity and inclusion coordinator at A.T. Still University, said it provides “conversion experiences, internships and mentorships that allow students to get to know what possibilities are available in healthcare initiatives.”
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well. Research has shown, McGrew added, that students are influenced as to what profession they want to pursue at early ages: “Our goal is to get students at younger ages so they know what different health professions they can consider for their career. We created this program to encourage students, to help them and coach them so they can make it a reality.”
Students are recruited mostly from city schools. They must be recommended by a principal, counselor, or other
qualified school official to be a part of the summer program. Students are exposed to a variety of health professions, including osteopathic medicine, nursing, and allied health careers such as exercise science, audiology/speech pathology, athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, and nutrition.
The program was put on pause in 2020 due to the pandemic but 23 high schoolers attended this summer. As with national enrollment, applications for this year’s Dreamline
Pathways program increased, McGrew said. During the weeklong visit, students stay in dorms with roommates and experience full campus life including access to the dining hall, rec center and other campus facilities. Each day, students participate in a variety of scheduled activities with health care professionals, professors, and alumni students and engage in real life simulations where they attempt to address problems confronted by health care professionals.
Energizing Electrical Careers for more than
High school graduates wanting to enroll in medical school must not only have high GPA’s and a solid foundation in basic sciences, they also need letters of recommendation from peers, teachers, and mentors. Dreamline Pathways gives them the opportunity to establish relationships and internship opportunities with mentors.
ATSU seems to place special emphasis on “diversity education and inclusion.” Its websites states: “By valuing the contrast differences, we’ve
The Dreamline Pathways program is designed for high school students, but ATSU offers several programs for K-12 students as well.
Photo by Wiley Price
become more reflective of the communities we serve. Our mission is centered on service. By serving our community partners, students, and employees, we are now a more culturally proficient organization.”
ATSU has received numerous awards for its diversity work, including the “2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED)” award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the only diversity and inclusion
publication in higher education. The pandemic has underscored disparities in the healthcare field as it relates to populations and professions. Because “marginalized populations,” have suffered the most from COVID-related infections and death, McGrew said: “It’s more important than ever to introduce young minds to career opportunities in healthcare.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
IF ONLY DISCRIMINATION HAD A VACCINATION.
former multicultural scholarship students, has returned to Maryville to work post-grad.
He’s a residence life coordinator, a position that’s more essential as the school strives to re-establish a sense of on-campus community.
Gray spent the last week feverishly preparing for student leader training, which begins in mid-August.
“We’re trying to create different programming and different initiatives to really get our students to get back to being involved,” he said. “I think last year we had a lot of students who kind of missed that.”
That doesn’t just mean social programming — pizza nights and so on, the sort of thing Gray says “people think res life usually does” — but also building a residential staff made up of students who will understand and respect the culture of others.
“We have passive and active programming that does pertain to diversity and inclusion work,” Gray said. One of the most basic elements of that work is cultivating a very diverse Resident Assistants [RAs] workforce.
“Oftentimes we have a lot of our RAs that are part of those underrepresented communities,” he said.
“Because we understand that representation matters.”
Many of those RAs are, in fact, part of the same multicultural scholarship program that brought Gray to Maryville. Another alumna, Chinyere Turner, is now the university’s program coordinator for diversity and inclusion.
“I see her as a big sister,” Gray said. And for both Turner and Gray, the multicultural scholars program — even in its early stages — was pivotal to their time at Maryville and helped make them want to come back during their postgraduate careers.
Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
Gray remembers the feeling of support from staffers and fellow students during his time as an undergraduate.
“When you’re a multicultural scholar, you automatically have that kind of support system from the diversity and inclusion office,” he said.
Though some moments were difficult, he said, having that system helped him get through it.
“When you do have those moments where you’re like, oh wow, does anyone know where
I’m coming from? You have those people who can definitely relate to where you’re coming from...especially when it comes to being at a predominantly white institution like Maryville is,” he said.
After Gray graduated from Maryville, he completed his postgraduate studies at Old Dominion University, then worked at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. The experience made Gray realize something special about Maryville. He said the
school administration’s willingness to listen to the concerns of minority students and work towards improving campus culture.
“I’ve worked at other universities...it’s not often you get that!” Gray said.
“So to actually get that out of the university that I’m an alum of, it makes you feel great, because it’s like, oh wow you actually weren’t all talk when I was a student, you actually want to do that.”
Many of the organizations
that were getting off the ground during Gray’s tenure as a student remain at Maryville — the Association of Black Collegians, for example, and the Latino Student Alliance.
“When we see that those organizations are still being successful in creating fantastic programs...it can help us with being like, I didn’t do this in vain,’ Gray said.
But the school is still working towards becoming a more deeply inclusive place.
Residence life, under the leadership of people like Gray and Turner, is a big part of that effort. They are trying to create gender-inclusive housing options on campus, and working closely with Maryville’s administration to do so.
“And the awesome part is that we have an administration...where they want to say okay, what can we do to make this possible, and how do we push this forward?”
Our perspective
Maryville’s Jonathan Gray, a residence life coordinator for the university speaks to students Wed. July 11, 2021 in Walker Hall.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Transformation Through Inclusion
We believe quality healthcare should be both local and personal— because every community, and every individual, is unique. To fulfill our purpose of transforming the health of our communities, one person at a time, we rely on a dedicated team of employees whose diverse perspectives and experiences mirror those of the members we serve.
To learn more about how you can join us, visit jobs.centene.com.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
A Business Priority
AUGUST 19 – 25, 2021
Mapping inequities
Using geospatial
By Dana Rieck For STLMade
When Kemba Noel-London tells people she’s an athletic trainer who is working toward a doctoral degree, they’re surprised – most athletic trainers practice in the field rather than continuing on in school.
When she tells the people that as part of her Ph.D. program, she’s using geospatial data to assess inequities at the intersection of athletics and public health, they’re even more surprised. Geospatial data is most often associated with tech.
“Nobody really talks about applying geographic information systems to sports and to sports medicine,” laughs Noel-London. “That is not the first thing people think when they think GIS (geospatial information system).”
n Using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
But using geospatial data provides essential information about space and context, which influences many aspects of health care.
“I think applying that spatial context brings a different flavor to the conversation of equity,” Noel-London says.
”And I think also incorporating athletic trainers into that conversation when we’re talking about sports is something that I’m trying to do very intentionally so that when we’re talking about sports and access to sports, we’re also talking about that this needs to be safe, so we need to talk about access to athletic trainers too.” As a former national athlete for Trinidad and Tobago who tore her ACL at the age of 17, Noel-London knows personally how sports-related injuries can affect all aspects of someone’s health, and how important rehabilitation is. The negative experience she had with her ACL injury and rehab drove her to become an athletic trainer so she could help others have better care. After graduating with her master’s degree in athletic training from Saint Louis University, she worked at the University of South Carolina for a year before heading back home to her native Trinidad – and then hopped on a plane to Scotland three days later, to accompany the national youth
See MAPPING, page 32
Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) brings diversity to the Design and Construction industry by mentoring and exposing minority/underrepresented and under employed men and women to career development in construction. We are working to build the foundation for change.
As a SLU student, Kemba Noel-London had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region.
Photo by Michael Thomas
We need you, a lot .
We thrive best when we’re surrounded by people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and identities. And when we thrive, our communities do, too.
You can’t make chicken noodle soup with just chicken, or cookies with only chocolate chips. The Save A Lot team is the same way—a handful of diverse ingredients that come together to be something greater than we could ever be alone. We can’t be our best selves without you here, bringing everything that makes you special. We need you a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
CCDI, St. Louis Job Corps connecting minorities to construction career paths
By Clayco
At 20 years old, Shutaun Williams is one of the first St. Louis Job Corps graduates to participate in the Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI) program, a nonprofit founded by Clayco in 2015 that provides career development opportunities to minority men and women who are underrepresented in the construction industry.
After completing St. Louis Job Corps’ Facilities Maintenance Pre-Apprentice training program in March of 2020, Shutaun had a difficult time finding work during the pandemic. Through his instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, Shutaun was connected with CCDI to assist with career placement and help to secure reliable transportation. Clayco subsidiary Concrete Strategies hired Shutuan full-time as a first-year apprentice carpenter this past January.
“I got involved with Job Corps because after coming home from living with my dad out of town, I didn’t want to just not do anything, so I decided to check out the program because I heard a lot of good things about Job Corps,” said Shutuan.
“My experience there was good and the best thing about the program is that it’s free. My instructor, Mr. Roosevelt Robinson, helped other students and me by always pushing us to do better and keep us on track. Making sure we got there on time, finishing what we started, and staying focused. Also, he opened my eyes to what I could receive as a reward by working hard and staying focused.” Through the CCDI men-
toring program, students are matched with an industry professional to help guide and support them from high school through career placement. In Shutuan’s case, the mentor was
a part of St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a vocational instructor at St. Louis Job Corps, you are more than just an instructor—you are a counselor, mentor, and role model,” said
Roosevelt Robinson, a Home Builders Institute instructor within St. Louis Job Corps.
“Being a former student [of St. Louis Job Corps], I am also a success story. As an instruc-
In your Community, and in your Corner
tor you must be patient and willing to help and learn from people from different parts and walks of life. This job takes passion and with passion you can tell what the best solution is for the students.”
CCDI’s new partnership with St. Louis Job Corps will create another strong and diverse pipeline of talent to help fill a growing labor shortage in the construction industry. St. Louis Job Corps has 15 Career Technical Training Programs and six are in the construction trades. The program also draws students from St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County; most Job Corps participants hail from St. Louis City and north St. Louis County, the areas of CCDI’s focus.
Dr. Dave Baker, a longtime advocate of CCDI and partner at North Technical High School in Special School District, took a new part-time position this year at St. Louis Job Corps. “CCDI has become integral in the northern portion of the St. Louis region in regard to ensuring a diverse and competent workforce for the construction industry,” said Dr. Baker. “CCDI has taken on the task of connecting young men and women interested in the field of construction to the companies who will mentor and eventually hire them.
Young people need more validation of their hard work and good decisions; CCDI and its partners are providing that validation.”
CCDI hopes to continue to build productive partnerships with educational institutions, contractors, subcontractors and nonprofits with aligned missions. Together, these partnerships strive to create more success stories for young people like Shutaun who make up our future workforce and are the backbone of our great city. This article was provided by Clayco.
AARP St. Louis is creating real, meaningful change. We’re proud to help all our communities become the best they can be. Like providing family caregivers with tips to take care of loved ones, helping to make our communities more livable and virtually hosting fun, informative events.
AARP is in your community, and in your corner. Get to know us at aarp.org/stlouis /aarpmissouri @aarpmissouri
Clayco founded its nonprofit Construction Career Development Initiative program in 2015 and it continues to provide career development opportunities to minority men and women. Its mentoring program matches students with industry professionals to help guide and support them from high school through career placement.
Photo courtesy of Clayco
By MoDot
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS) program.
After spending 16 years in federal prison, Cotton was granted clemency by President Obama. He enrolled in Save Our Sons for a fresh start. And, after completing the program, he participated in SOS/ MoDOT career fair and on-thespot interview and impressed human resources and maintenance representatives. He interviewed for a seasonal position but was offered a full-time job with MoDOT in the Maintenance division. He currently works in the Signing and Striping department.
Never missing a day at work, Cotton contributes his success to a great support system, including his supervisors, James Henson and Mike Love, MoDOT, and SOS.
“From the very first day Johnnie came to work for MoDOT, he was eager to learn and had a great attitude,” says Mike Love, Signing and Striping Supervisor at MoDOT. “He is always wanting to learn new tasks, and he has a great attitude and work ethic. He does a great job for us.”
Tydrell Stevens, Director of SOS, speaks highly of Johnnie Cotton and how he has given back to his community. “He has been back several times to speak with other men at Save Our Sons about the diligence needed to move forward in life. He has also spoken with the Regional Business Council members about what Save Our Sons and MoDOT has done to change his life,” Stevens goes on to say.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Road to the future Hard work, dedication spurs life U-turn
So often, ex-felons or either overlooked or are considered too great a risk for employment. Because of this and other preconceived notions, companies fail to realize the potential in these individuals. The Missouri Department of Transportation looks for qualities each individual has and judges them on their character and potential for success. Today, Cotton has the opportunity to receive
development training through the Maintenance Leadership Academy for career advancement and a potential leadership position with MoDOT.
“MoDOT gave me the chance to get my CDL Class B license and sent me to St. Louis Community College, and I am working on my Class A right now,” says Cotton. With a full-time position, benefits, and a pension plan, this father of four has his whole
life to look forward to. Cotton goes on to say,
“Working for MoDOT for 19 months, I have had the chance to find God in my life, my fiancé, looking for my first house, and having a stable life; something I can call mine. In just over three years, I will be vested with MODOT, and I will receive a check the rest of my life when I do retire. Hard work pays off when you have help behind you. It’s
up to you to prove yourself and work hard at whatever you do. Never give up when you have so many people helping you. Thanks to MODOT and the Urban League, I will never give up. I plan on going as far as I can.”
Johnnie Cotton was also featured in the Enterprise Bank & Trust’s 2020 Community Impact Report: https://www. enterprisebank.com/impact.
MoDOT supports equality
program.
and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, or disability. Anyone interested in applying for a position, visit our website: https://www.modot. org/careers For more information, please contact Shirlyn Myles at (314) 453-1811 or shirlyn.myles@ modot.mo.gov.
Johnnie Cotton started with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on December 2, 2019, after participating in the Urban League’s Save Our Son (SOS)
By Ymani Wince Of STLMade
Black people who hike
New hiker encourages other Blacks to find peace and purpose in parks and on trails throughout the region
Since March 2020, many people across the St. Louis metropolitan area have found solace in nature. Whether that meant flocking to historic St. Louis fixtures such as Forest Park or venturing further out to destinations like Don Robinson State Park, Missouri saw a rapid increase in its residents stepping into the outdoors.
And for good reason. The transition of working in-person to at-home was a culture shock for most Americans. Keeping children entertained and educated was a struggle for parents. And the usual destinations for escaping and socializing, from movie theatres to restaurants, were no longer options. So with stay-at home orders in effect during the spring of 2020, everyone was eager to just get out — for exercise, fresh air and a change of scenery. And for two local hikers, they found more than they expected on the trails.
One of them, Debbie Njai, stepped into the world of hiking for the first time shortly before the life-altering events of March 2020. “I went on my first hike in August of 2019,” Njai says. “I was going through a lot personally, and hiking was something always in the back of my mind that I wanted to start, but I didn’t really know how to get started.”
With the help of a good friend who had outdoor experience, Njai says she was encouraged to go on her first hike at Castlewood State
Park in Ballwin. While the trail was a brief 1.7 miles, Njai remembers feeling like the hike was exactly what she needed. The beauty of the park provided therapy, and so Njai began hiking every Sunday for the next 40 weeks.
“When I was hiking, I noticed a couple of things,” Njai says. “I didn’t see anybody else on the trail that looked like me. I was so in love with hiking, and I was
trying to share it with people that I knew and looked like me.” The other thing that she noticed was that her invitations to family and friends to join her were not met with enthusiasm. That’s when Njai realized hiking was a need for the community, not just her own network. The group Black People Who Hike was born. Historically, Black people have been excluded from the conversation and
representation of people who enjoy the outdoors. People of color were not allowed equally into the National Park system until the 1950s. During that time, the National Park System had no regulations of its own regarding segregation in its parks. Instead, it abided by local laws and regulations of the states parks were in. In Northern states where segregation was not enforced, there were no
segregation facilities on park grounds. But in states that were formerly part of the Confederacy, segregation was enforced. Of those 11 states, Missouri was included. Even if Black Americans were allowed inside national parks, there was no guarantee of safety, especially during the Jim Crow era.
“This doesn’t apply to all people of color, but Black people typically have this fear of spending time outside,” Njai says. “Majority of the parks that we visit are in rural areas where it may be unsafe to travel, or be out there alone, so that does limit our access.”
Providing the space and encouragement for Black people to begin hiking starts with community, Njai says.
She believes having a group of people that represent one another creates a feeling of safety and trust. People have come to hike with Njai’s group and have realized that trails further away from the city can become a barrier. She says people tell her they’d never try hiking if they had to go it alone.
“In Missouri, 87 percent of Black people live in nature-deprived areas. So when you talk about access, it starts with where you live,” Njai says. To combat this, Njai recommends the AllTrails app, where users can see parks and trails in their area and beyond, as well as locate groups such as Black People Who Hike.
“Try a short trail to start with, and then look on the app to find something super scenic,” she says. “Maybe
it has a waterfall or nice overlook. And then, just create everlasting memories.”
Creating Black People Who Hike was a simple venture for Debbie Njai to find other Black people who enjoyed the outdoors like her. But the movement has created something much larger than a local group. With nearly 30,000 Instagram followers, Black People Who Hike has evolved into a movement around the world. The group has expanded to include any and every outdoor activity, including kayaking, swimming, running, visiting pyramids in Egypt, and more. The platform began with three followers. But each week, more people joined at a consistent rate for almost a year. When stay-at-home orders were announced, Njai made the pivot to virtual hiking sessions, eventually creating Black Hikers Week online, which included weeklong virtual events on Instagram. That was the moment that the page’s presence exploded, adding nearly 10,000 followers in one week.
But for Debbie Njai, the community she’s built was not about gaining followers. It started with a search for self and a need for calm in the chaos. “I feel happy. I feel calm and at peace,” she says. “Hiking allowed me to find myself, and unapologetically be myself and walk in my purpose. I know that what I’m doing is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Melissa Powell, LaShaye Giles and Debbie Njai take a break during a hike.
Photo by Michael Thomas
Let’s make a difference together
Join us at Norwood Hills Country Club Sept. 10–12
Friends and neighbors —
Ascension and the Ascension Charity Classic, presented by Emerson, are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion — today and always. When professional golf returns to St. Louis in September, our goal is to bring economic growth, charitable investment, and greater opportunities to north St. Louis County through support of our official tournament charities — Marygrove, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Alonzo Byrd Director of Business Development and Community Engagement, Ascension Charity Classic
SLU African American Studies program gains full departmental status
By Sophie Hurwitz of the St. Louis American
The African American Studies program at St. Louis University has been around in some capacity since the early 1970s.
It was only in 2021, however, that the program was made into a full academic department—thanks both to student and professor advocacy, and to the social movements that swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd.
“I think this moment speaks to the seriousness of the University’s approach toward intellectual production of the African diaspora and will help our faculty and students contribute to the intellectual and social aspects of Saint Louis University,” said the program’s director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., who will become the new department’s first chair. In an interview with the American, Tinson described the 40-year path the program has taken to department status. The program is small, but mighty: it includes four tenured professors and cross-lists courses with professors from 9 other departments. One of those four “core” professors, Vice President of Diversity and Community Engagement Jonathan Smith, passed away on Juneteenth. Smith commented on the program’s new designation in early June: “I have had the great fortune to work for every chair and director of African American Studies at Saint Louis University,” Smith said.
“I am humbled. And I honor and respect and love the work that each of them did to bring this department into the current moment.”
The change from “program” to “department,” which might seem only nominal outside academic circles, means big things for African American Studies at SLU: the department now has control over more of their own hiring, can tenure more Professors, and can exert more impact over the curriculum at the University as a whole.
While the George Floyd protests are what pushed the university to finally bestow departmental status on the African American Studies program, the program has been at the center of social change and advocacy efforts there since at least 2014. During the Ferguson uprising, SLU students and professors could be found in the streets, and brought their protest to their home campus, too.
“Our students started looking at the universities,” Tinson said. “They always do. They say, I’m a student here, what are we doing? That’s always the energy that happens.” In 2014 and 2015, this led to the well-known “Clocktower Accords”: an occupation of SLU’s campus by massive numbers of students, which pushed the University to further its commitments to diversity and inclusion. One of those commitments, Tinson pointed out, was to direct more funding into African American studies. The accords do not mention departmentalization specifically, because, Tinson said, “community members, they didn’t really know to ask for something like that. But they identify African American Studies as part of the transformation that the university should embrace to bring us more into the center of the campus, rather than the periphery.”
Tinson came to SLU as a full time faculty member in 2018, at a time in which he said the activist energy on campus seemed to have hit a lull: in the aftermath of the Ferguson and Stockley protests in 2014-15 and 2017, students and community members were tired. “You guys had already gone through the fever pitch of Mike Brown, the Stockley trial…and when I got here, I kind of expected that same kind of energy,” he said. That energy emerged, though, in the summer of 2020, as protests proliferated across the United States and the globe.
Now, Tinson said, the program will be able to expand its offerings—and will be able to reiterate to its students that African American studies is, indeed, “not peripheral” but is a crucial field of study.
“When you’re seen as a legitimate intellectual enterprise with a move like this, it lets the students really have faith in what they’re studying in your class, rather than them thinking that this is just an optional view,” he said. Now, the department’s classes on subjects ranging from African diasporic literature to afrofuturism to the global influence of Black culture to the prison-industrial complex to African American psychology will be offered as a part of a framework that allows this field of study to take a central place within the university.
“It also affords us the opportunity to play a more active role in the educational needs of the greater St. Louis region,” Tinson said, “partnering with local schools and colleges, and delivering region-wide programming that extends beyond our campus for years and decades to come.”
“I think…we caught ourselves in a moment where we couldn’t turn away. Many of our students and faculty were participants in many of the movements, the efforts to call attention to things like police brutality. Close the Workhouse, locally, but also nationwide, just the attention on police brutality,” Tinson said. And in that atmosphere, the already-written proposal for the departmentalization of African American studies was passed unanimously. I got a lot of good questions, but I didn’t get any pushback, and I didn’t get any stubbornness or unwillingness to engage,” Tinson said of the university’s administration. “They were ready to listen. We got unanimous support from the trustees. But I think it wouldn’t have been as accelerated were it not for Minneapolis.”
The African American Studies program Director Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., will become the new department’s first chair.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Mapping
Continued from page 25
netball team. It was a full-circle moment for her work with young national athletes. But even as an athletic trainer, she felt she wasn’t doing enough to better the health care system as it relates to youth sports.
“I realized there were skills that I did not have to answer the questions I had,” NoelLondon says. “And the best framework I thought to do it was through public health because it was representative of things that were going on in the wider health care system.”
As a SLU student, she had noticed anecdotally that there seemed to be a greater variety of sports offered at schools depending on where they were located in the St. Louis region. For her doctoral research, she wanted to see if that was in fact true, and if so, what factors contributed to it.
“To explain how I use geospatial, I say that everything within American society is not an accident,” Noel-London says. “There have been systems and policies in place that have shaped the way that the society looks, and in St. Louis, the way that the city and county are made up.”
The idea of using geospatial data came from one of her professors at SLU, Enbal Shacham, Ph.D., who has used geospatial data in health care research in a number of areas including tracking the spread of COVID-19. Noel-London used GIS to map out the variety of sports available in the region’s school districts.
“I created something called the Sport Diversity Index, which is looking at the variety of sports that are available to different school districts,” Noel-London said.
She examined the funding of various schools and districts and compared that to the proportion of rent-occupied housing as a proxy for state and local tax contributions. NoelLondon hypothesized that in school districts located in areas
that are majority rent-occupied, there would be a lower number of sports programs and sports medicine that were offered because of the smaller amount of property tax collected.
“And it was disheartening to be right — it was one of those times where I really wanted to be wrong,” she said.
While Noel-London used GIS to conduct data and analysis to provide insight into the local youth sports scene, she also has years of experience,
having worked closely with the students as both an athletic trainer and head of the Athletic Training Club at Roosevelt High School.
She says her experience with those students is why she researches these societal inadequacies and pushes for a more equal shift in athletic resource distribution. A particularly impactful experience she had as an athletic trainer was with a student who wanted to play basketball in December, but
came to her with an arm that he had broken months ago – but was still wearing in a sling, and hadn’t received rehab for his injury.
“His arm was locked at 90 degrees because there was miscommunication between him going to therapy at the hospital and then his mom was also working multiple jobs. The time they scheduled therapy didn’t work for her, so then he just didn’t do therapy at all,” she said.
She was able to help him recover in time for the basketball season.
“That experience for me was like this is why I do this, this is why I think it’s important to examine things like schoolbased health centers and how we can place athletic trainers within them to increase access in a really cool and interesting novel way that is designed for public health,” she said. Roosevelt High School also houses Nahed Chapman New
American Academy, which helps immigrant and refugee children adjust to St. Louis before enrolling in mainstream school. As head of the athletic training club at Roosevelt, Noel-London also worked with many refugee students from Nahed Chapman, kids she believes she was able to connect with on a deeper level even though the way she came to St. Louis was very different than the student refugees’ experience.
“I think it’s very reassuring when you walk into a place and somebody looks like you but also sounds different to everybody else,” she said. “There’s a certain camaraderie — and I experience it as well.” She’s glad to be able to help these students when they’re injured.
“To come here and now, you sprain your ankle, but you have somebody who’s there to actually take care of you and help you get back to playing soccer a lot faster is such a great and comforting thing to have in a space and a country that is kind of always telling you that you don’t belong. For me, as an immigrant and an international student, that was a new layer of this profession and working in that space that was also really fulfilling.” After using geospatial technology in her public health research, Noel-London sees geospatial data as a natural part of her future work in public health.
“To think that our profession, and the things that I do, are not impacted by space, would be me willfully ignoring a whole history and ignoring all of the other research that suggests that public health is influenced by space and context,” said Noel-London. “I think using GIS, we can help figure out some problems, figure out some patterns, but would also help solve them, too.”
Dana Rieck wrote this piece as a freelancer for STLMade before joining The St. Louis American as a full time news reporter.
THOMPSON COBURN PROUDLY SUPPORTS DIVERSITY AND THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN BUSINESS IMPERATIVE
Kemba Noel-London works with members of the Roosevelt High School Athletic Training Club.
Photo by Amelia Flood, courtesy of Saint Louis University
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
BioSTL: Building an equitable and wholly-inclusive innovation ecosystem
By BioSTL
For more than a decade, BioSTL has been working to address the inequities in bioscience and innovation in the St. Louis region, and the work has only progressed as the racial uprising across the country in 2019 demanded a renewed effort to address systems of inequities.
BioSTL began building a holistic ecosystem approach starting in 2008, bringing together 81 leaders and practitioners from organizations throughout the community with a goal to increase diversity in the biosciences. Over the years, the non-profit dedicated to building St. Louis’ innovation economy, has continued to learn, build partnerships, and further build on its mission of economic growth in a way that increases equity and reduces economic disparities with new trainings and supports.
For the entire ecosystem to thrive, there must be a systems approach supporting youth and families, as today’s youth will be tomorrow’s innovators. And, for the entire bioscience and innovation ecosystem to be wholly-inclusive and provide an opportunity for all to succeed, BioSTL continues to provide new support through
its ecosystem initiatives:
• BioSTL Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy works to empower underrepresented talent throughout the entrepreneur lifecycle.
A key pillar of support is training, providing business concepts, skills development and personalized advising to entrepreneurs to further develop and scale their business.
As a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Heartland Challenge grantee, BioSTL has funding to launch a new training program to help address the systemic challenges entrepreneurs face. The new training program will focus on providing mentorship, training, and access to capital for Black, Latinx, women, and foreignborn small business owners and entrepreneurs with early-stage businesses focused on health and wellness, plant and ag science, or food and nutrition. BioSTL will welcome a local minority serial entrepreneur, who will develop and launch this new training program.
glaring gap in the amount of minority founders supported,” said BioSTL Program Manager Lindsey Harrison. “I am excited to launch a new program that will specifically support underrepresented entrepreneurs in STEM. We will also help meet one of the largest challenges facing minority-led startups and provide access to capital to support their business development.”
learning opportunities for St. Louis PreK-12 students. With this valuable tool, navigating the world of extracurricular STEM learning just got easier for families to locate specific STEM programs that are the perfect fit for their kids. The portal is available at blueprint4. com/stem.
Bioscience Workforce
Collaborative to transform St. Louis’ talent into a strength of the region for the bioscience ecosystem. The Workforce Collaborative will focus on four initiatives:
• Bioscience Skills Match Framework Investment
• Career Fund • Skills-based Hiring Framework
• Workforce Policy Advocacy Network
platform.”
“BioSTL has successfully supported bioscience founders for decades, but there is a
• STEMSTL is a collaborative consortium committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM learning and employment opportunities for all learners in the St. Louis Metro region. To help reach its mission to collectively develop and deploy quality systems-level changes that will advance STEM learning and career opportunities, in July 2021, STEMSTL launched Blueprint4STEM. It is a free, easy-to-use search tool that connects St. Louis area families to out-of-school-time STEM
“By aggregating the STEM programs in one database, we identify STEM gaps that exist throughout the region,” said Kate Polokonis, Interim Executive Director, STEMSTL. “Armed with this information, STEMSTL, as the ecosystem backbone, is positioned to help drive funding and partnerships that will eliminate gaps in informal STEM learning, in an effort to build a system in which all students, regardless of race, geography, or socio-economic status have access to high-quality extracurricular STEM programs.”
• BioSTL’s Workforce Strategy is launching the
“Understanding that diverse and inclusive teams are critical to the future of the bioscience sector, BioSTL is building a bioscience workforce collaborative to foster equitable talent development and deployment efforts through partnerships between academic and training institutions, community organizations, and industry employers,” said Justin Raymundo, Manager of Regional Workforce Strategy, BioSTL. “Through these multi-stakeholder partnerships, community leaders will help build critical infrastructure for an industry-responsive and industry-accountable workforce development
• St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective is a cross-sector regional collaborative supporting advocacy, equitable capacity building, and access to resources to improve the journey of entrepreneurship for women and Black and Brown entrepreneurs. The Collective has conducted community engagement of focus groups and 1:1 conversations to guide the development of a new initiative that will focus on removal of structural barriers, increased access, and creating new pathways through practices and policies designed to remove systemic factors causing inequities in the number of new businesses starts, business ownership, and economic outcomes in St. Louis.
BioSTL continues to lead this work knowing that there is no real systems change without engaged community partners and continued learning and development. We all must be open and willing to move past what was and what is and embrace change – creating an ecosystem where all have the opportunity to learn, innovate, and succeed.
Mizzou biz school announces inclusion, diversity and equity director
By Casey Baker Trulaske School of Business
Trulaske School of Business Dean Ajay Vinzé recently announced the hire of Erika Aaron as the inaugural director of inclusion, diversity and equity at Trulaske, at the University of MissouriColumbia. Previously, Aaron was a faculty recruitment specialist with the MU Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity.
At Trulaske, Aaron will be a strategic leader in bringing best practices in inclusive
excellence to all areas of the Trulaske College of Business. In her new role, she will develop, manage and support initiatives that promote a diverse and inclusive community in the college; provide
Aaron
training and programs to support the needs of faculty, staff and students; and offer recommendations for innovative best practices in the IDE area to all college constituents.
Aaron brings a rich career history to this new role. Before joining the university, she was a global marketing and communications consultant with Community Consent; corporate director of community engagement and communications for Waste
Management in Atlanta: associate manager of national consumer marketing programs for Coca-Cola in Atlanta; and marketing manager in the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network Division at Motorola in Schaumburg, Ill.
Kate Polokonis
Lindsey Harrison
Justin Raymundo
Erika
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
-MLK
At Dierbergs, we believe that getting to know someone’s story is the first step to building an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong.
Together, we can make an impact.
Lindenwood launching ‘Diversify the Pride’ major initiative
By Lindenwood
Located in the heart of St. Charles, Lindenwood University has a rich history of connection to the community. With a focus on the future and enthusiasm for disruptive innovation, Lindenwood strives to be a leader in the higher education ecosystem and intentionally differentiates itself from competitors.
Recognized by Colleges of Distinction for commitment to equity and inclusion, the University has intentionally selected diversity as a vital component of the school’s forward trajectory. As part of Lindenwood’s new five-year strategic plan set to be unveiled this fall, the University has named Diversify the Pride as one of six strategic initiatives and continues to transform the traditional model of higher education.
Diversify the Pride is led by Senior Vice President of Human Resources Dr. Deb Ayres and Dr. Shenika Harris, associate professor of Spanish and teaching and learning specialist for the Lindenwood Learning Academy. As a campus-wide initiative, the committee’s work focuses on ensuring that Lindenwood is an attractive place to work and to learn for all people. The committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges. These characteristics make each individual unique and deserving of respect, acceptance, engagement, and inclusion in all that Lindenwood offers.
The first two initiatives
launched by the Diversify the Pride committee focus on expanding the diversity of applicants for Lindenwood employment opportunities across campus and enhancing the culture of teaching and learning. The R.I.S.E. Project, created by Lindenwood Learning Academy’s Director of Faculty Development, Dr. Kristen Norwood, aims to provide faculty with the knowledge and tools they need to elevate learning for a diverse student body.
Through the R.I.S.E. Project, Lindenwood will establish a shared framework for effective teaching and provide faculty development focused on improving rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement in course design and instruction. The project launched to faculty at the start of the fall semester, and included a keynote address by Dr. Saundra McGuire, author of “Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student
Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation.” As an educational institution, Lindenwood utilizes its classrooms as a platform to embrace diversity. The R.I.S.E. Project provides faculty with tools and resources to create an effective learning environment for all students regardless of their identities, backgrounds, levels of preparedness, or abilities. Examining four aspects – rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement, the R.I.S.E. Project better
The Diversify the Pride committee embraces the idea that every person who works and learns at Lindenwood comes with their own background experiences, demographics, knowledge, strengths, and challenges.
enables faculty as advocates for diversity. Resources, workshops, and roundtable discussions engage professors in meaningful conversations to share best practices across campus. Additionally, each academic college has named a R.I.S.E. scholar who will champion these efforts in their respective programs.
Outside of the classroom, Lindenwood expanded resources for the campus community to explore their understandings of diversity,
equity, and inclusion. In March 2021, Lindenwood hosted its inaugural Day of Dialogue. Students, and employees examined their individual and institutional roles in creating a shared community during this virtual campus-wide event. Participants engaged in small group discussions exploring ableism, ageism, race, scholarly engagement, and university processes and procedures. Dr. Claude Steele served as the keynote speaker, and Mrs. Emily Pitts closed the day with an enthusiastic call to action that resonated with participants. Pitts profoundly impacted the Lindenwood community and established herself as an ideal candidate for Lindenwood’s Chief Diversity Officer, a position she began in July 2021. Pitts joins a community dedicated to advancing the campus and transforming the University into a more diverse and inclusive place for all. Aligning with work started by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce comprised of students and employees, Pitts will work closely with the group as planning for the second Day of Dialogue begins. Lindenwood University, founded in 1827, is an independent university offering more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in diverse areas of study and traditional and accelerated formats, including online. Lindenwood is dedicated to providing real experiences, promoting academic excellence, optimizing resources, and delivering a high-quality experience with the goal of successful student experience leading to a lifetime success.
Webster U. online course helps educators cope with COVID-19, racial challenges
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
Of The St. Louis American
Sometimes, out of chaos comes creativity.
Such is the case for two Webster University professors, Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren. The professors have launched an eight-week online course for K-12 educators, called “Social Justice and Inclusive Learning.”
Its goal, according to Webster University, is to give teachers the opportunities and tools to meaningfully “address systemic, personal and societal influences that impact culturally proficient instruction.”
The idea for the course, according to co-designers and co-instructors, Flewellen and Warren, came to them after the spread of the Coronavirus and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policemen last year.
“We were thinking in terms of how Webster can show up once again and lead critical conversations that are needed at a time when we’re faced with some serious racial reckoning,” Flewellen explained.
“We wanted to figure out what we can do, not only for the internal community at Webster but the entire St. Louis region as well.”
Combined, Warren and Flewellen have worked in the arena of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for more than 30 years. Among their various roles in the field, Flewellen serves as chief diversity officer at Webster University and Warren is an adjunct professor and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Belleville Township High School District 201. Both knew that long-term
University professors
damage to Black youth whose communities were hit especially hard by COVID-19 and police violence needed to be addressed. Also, educators should be better prepared to recognize, understand and tackle the racial trauma that disproportionately impacts students of color.
When designing the program, no one could definitively predict when the COVID19 pandemic would end. Therefore, their priority was to craft an online course that
enabled educators to be safe, while learning the tools and responses needed to address issues of diversity and inclusion in the classroom.
The three-credit-hour, eightweek course, is designed for educators seeking their undergraduate or graduate degrees.
“We ask the students (teachers) to tap into themselves first,” Warren explained.
“They need to understand their own cultural biography before they aim to understand the cultural situations or make-
to say or what to do. We want teachers to have an open heart and open mind when they’re approaching students to help them see diversity as an asset and not a deficit.”
The professors note that “diversity, inclusion and equity” have been industry buzzwords in recent years.
Several organizations, businesses, schools and universities have hired “diversity officers” to help navigate the complex world of equity and inclusion. It’s a positive step, Flewellen stressed, but not enough to meet the damaging and fluctuating racial challenges teachers face in today’s classrooms:
“Some organizations hire people of color simply because they’re people of color,” Flewellen said.
“I’ve been doing this work for 20 years and it’s not just because I’m a Black, gay man that I’m able to check the ‘I’m able to do this’ box. My partner is responsible for human resources and DEI training for school districts. Professor Warren and I are educators. We’ve been in this lane for years working within educational settings not in corporate spaces; two entirely different lanes.”
up of their classes. We ask them to do their own cultural reflections first.
“It’s an inside/out approach; If you don’t do this work first then you can’t be effective in facilitating a welcoming respectful environment for students.”
Activities are designed to “push reflection and guide teachers to be better prepared to facilitate conversations,” Flewellen added.
“We didn’t necessarily set out to have a toolkit of what
The professors emphasize that the course was not just designed for white educators who teach students of color.
“Black educators have to deal with the trauma of race, too,” Warren explained. “So, to have to teach it can be burdensome to some.”
“We all have ‘stuff,’ even Black folk,” Flewellen added.
“Internalized racism is so deep and so systemic that it even impacts the way black folk view black and other people of color. We are part of a larger society that’s fed the
same messages that our white peers are fed and sometimes it may seep into our inner, deepest thoughts and we are unaware of how or when they may play out.”
Ironically, the online course has been introduced in a chaotic political and social environment. There’s widespread pushback against the idea that racism is a social construct embedded in legal, business and educational systems and policies. This hotly debated hypothesis has been loosely defined as “critical race theory” and legislatures, mostly conservative, are drafting bills seeking to ban its use in classrooms.
“This only further underscores the need for these conversations,” Flewellen countered. “This type of thinking emphasizes the need for roles like mine across the board of institutions, particularly academic institutions.”
Although the course was designed to be implemented in a world impacted by the coronavirus, Warren and Flewellen believe it will be relevant and useful in a post-COVID world as well.
“Even when this global pandemic ends, one thing we know for sure is that the other pandemic is not going away anytime soon,” Flewellen said.
“The need for this course is obviously more important than ever. It’s being offered at a time when everybody wants to figure out what they can do.
“We’re simply telling educators you can become more culturally proficient in your delivery of instructions by enrolling in this course.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
Webster
Vincent C. Flewellen and Marshaun Warren
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Fellowship advances a generation of museum leaders
By Renee Franklin Chief Diversity Officer
Saint Louis Art Museum
Much of today’s discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion within museums and cultural institutions focuses on offering one-off programs and events rather than examining organizational structures. If museums indeed want to be welcoming and inclusive institutions reflective of all Americans, they must make systemic changes through intentional commitments all levels. That’s why the Saint Louis Art Museum is focusing its diversity efforts on staffing and leadership. Increasing the number of people of color working in professional positions influences critical operational decisions at museums, from the art on the walls and programming to community collaborations and board representation.
The underrepresentation of people of color in leadership or professional roles in museums is not news to those working in the museum and cultural arts fields. However, over the past several years, organizations like the Alliance of American Museums and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have provided quantitative data that all point to the same thing: more museums must have the will to change and become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.
To meet the goal of advancing truly transformative inclusion, in 1992, the Art Museum established the annual Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship. Nearly 30 years later, it is among the earliest and longest-lasting efforts in
the art museum field to focus on increasing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Named to honor African American artist Romare Bearden (1911–1988), the Fellowship prepares outstanding museum professionals from historically underrepresented groups—particularly people of color—to work in and lead the field.
The paid, fully benefited Fellowship aims to develop fellows’ skills, networks, and expertise to advance them into art or cultural careers of their choice. All fellows receive individualized mentoring and training in functional areas throughout the Museum from senior museum staff, fostering confidence-building critical to entry-level museum professionals.
Today, 90 percent of Bearden Fellows are working in prominent positions across the arts and cultural field, with program alumni holding a range of leadership positions in the art world as curators, educators, and development directors at prestigious museums and universities, includes the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the University of Texas at Austin, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, among many others. The Bearden Fellowship began with the wish of philanthropists Adelaide and Daniel Schlafly to create opportunities for African Americans. The Schlaflys wanted to ensure that early-career professionals who were underrepresented in the art museum field had an opportunity to gain work experience that would position them to pursue profession-
al positions in art museums nationally. Together the Art Museum and Schlafys were innovative, forward thinking and intentional in trying to do their part in leveling the playing field through the Bearden Fellowship.
Continuous funding was one significant contributing factor to the Bearden Fellowship being one of the oldest museum Fellowship programs. Mr. and Mrs.
MoDOT supports equality and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions alone without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin or disability.
community an innovative approach to developing their resources to successfully bid on federally funded highway projects. For more information visit: www.modot.org/ecr
Schafly anomalously funded the program 100 percent for the first four years, after which funding has been funded from a restricted fund from the Schaflys and supplemented by the Museum. In 2020, the Museum received a generous gift from the Frost family to establish a Romare Bearden Graduate Fellowship Endowment and is offering a challenge to match up to an additional $100,000 in contri-
butions from others received through December 31, 2021. Until the Fellowship is fully endowed the Museum will continue its funding.
Three decades later, the Bearden Fellowship continues to meet the needs of emerging museums professionals, and this month the Fellowship will see yet another transformation as we welcome our incoming Fellows. The Fellowship will expand from a one-year
• The minimum requirements for certification in the DBE program ar e:
training program to a two-year training program. A new fellow will begin work each year, which will allow first-year fellows to work closely with those completing their second year of the program. The Art Museum is gratified by the impact the Bearden Fellowship has had on the field, and recently shared its experiences through a case study available at the museum’s website, www.slam.org. The document, which was developed with support from the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI), funded by the Ford Foundation and Walton Family Foundation, provides guidance to museums and other organizations that seek to create new, or to refine existing, fellowships that lead to greater diversity in the field. When museum staffing better reflects the changing demographics of America, so too will the art collections, programming, membership, volunteers, and stakeholders. A diverse staff contributes to the welcoming and inclusive culture that museums desire as they cultivate new audiences, search for ways to remain relevant to future generations, and increase revenue. The Bearden Fellowship was initiated to advance the hiring and training individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds for museum work. Bearden Fellows, without exception, credit the Fellowship as being seminal in refining their career goals and most importantly, enabling them to envision themselves as museum professionals. Each Bearden Fellow working at an institution is another opportunity for a community’s story to be shared.
• The for-profit business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) who has a personal net worth of less than $1.32 million.
• The business owner must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States.
• The firm must meet the Small Business Administration’s size standard and not exceed $26.29 million in gross annual receipts.
Romare Bearden Fellows convene at the Saint Louis Art Museum for the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship. Back row, left to right: Alona Cooper Wilson (1994–95), Vanity Gee (2012–13), Danielle Burns Wilson (2008–09), Sherri Williams (2009–10), Kimberley Jacobs (2013–14), Rochelle Caruthers (2011–12), Michelle Moseley Young (2010–11). Front row, seated left to right: Alisa Swindell (2007–08), Jordia Benjamin (2014–15), Jennifer Doyle (2005–06), Yvonne Osei (2016–17), Courtney Baxter (2015–16).
Photo by Tim Parker
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Erin Brooks helps students become superior optometrists
By Jessica Rogen UMSL Daily
There are not enough hours in the day for Erin Brooks.
Whether she’s animating the physiology of a breathing lung in PowerPoint, creating a play about kidneys for her students to perform or relearning optics from the inside out to teach students in a different way, the assistant clinical professor of optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis often finds herself up into the wee hours of the morning almost seven days a week.
Her goal is to reach students in ways that will engage their attention, instruct conceptually and ultimately help them become superior optometrists.
“I want my students to be successful,” Brooks said. “I use all these different tools to help them see things. ‘Oh, they’re not understanding this. Let me see how else I can fix this. Like, what else can I do?’” Brooks, who earned her BS in chemistry, OD and MS in vision science at UMSL, has taught in the College of Optometry since 2011. She’s devoted to her students’ success, offering intensive tutoring for those struggling in school or who don’t pass boards. She’s also passionate about the profession and known for her efforts in UMSL Eye Care’s Pupil Project, which addresses visual learning disabilities in children.
Specifically, it asked why only 2 percent of practicing optometrists and 3.2 percent of students are Black when 13.4 percent of the U.S. population is Black and what could be done to increase the presence of underrepresented minorities.
“It’s important for patients to see people who look like them be their doctor,” Brooks said. “Just like some people want female doctors because they are female, and African Americans often want AfricanAmerican doctors because they feel that we’ll understand them better.
“If you look at the history of our country, and how sometimes minorities have been treated in health care, there’s a lack of trust. I think that trust is hard to build back. It’s easier to start with, you see me, and I look like you, and you’re more comfortable.”
Born to one white and one Black parent, Brooks initially couldn’t see herself as an optometrist but encouragement from her father, a liking for her family eye doctor and a visit to UMSL’s Pre-Optometry Club inspired her. As a doctor, she’s done significant work with students in Girls, Inc. – a junior high outreach program for minority girls – and in outreach at schools in Missouri and Illinois.
But even for Brooks, participating in the article and hearing about the experiences of one of her students awakened her to the importance of representation. “I think I’m unique because I never grew up thinking I was a minority,” she said. “Maybe it’s not fair
Earlier this year, Brooks became known to an even larger crowd when the American Optometric Association featured her on the cover of its magazine, AOA Focus. The story, titled “Optometry’s Reflection,” examined racial and ethnic diversity within the optometric profession.
Being on the cover of the optometric profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Erin Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. who can see that optometry is a viable profession for people of color.
to say I didn’t think I was a minority. But I grew up thinking that that wasn’t fair to put me in that box.”
Going through high school and the UMSL Bridge Program, Brooks was one of the only mixed-race students and felt that her experience stood apart from both her Black and white peers. “I’ve been told a lot of times I’m not Black enough,” she said. “It’s hurtful. I’ve also been asked a lot of times what I am, which is really fun. But I was not raised to see myself as a
minority, and I think that was a good thing for me because I didn’t see the barriers that other people might see. I didn’t realize those barriers existed.”
Those barriers came home this year after learning that one of her students had decided to attend UMSL because of Brooks and Assistant Clinical Professor Angel Novel Simmons. The student had met the two during the admissions process and felt like she belonged.
Hearing that hit Brooks hard. She had bowed out of the
admissions committee since due to her other obligations. She rejoined. “I’m back on there because it’s important for our students who interview,” Brooks said. “She chose UMSL because she saw people like her. That changed things for me, and yes, the article definitely changed me.
“Optometry schools have very few minorities in them. It’s really hard for us to recruit, and it’s hard for them to feel like they belong when you have, you know, two people in the class or no people in
the class who are minorities.”
That’s why being on the cover of the profession’s largest member organization’s magazine is important, not only to Brooks, but to prospective students across the U.S. The experience was also empowering for Brooks herself, especially doing the cover shoot. She spent several hours with the photographer, who worked hard to capture the significance of the subject.
“I felt there was this power kind of posing that that he was trying to accomplish,” Brooks said. “Not just you’re posing for this magazine, but you’re showing minorities in power, and that’s important for our patients, for our students, especially the girls because they get to see STEM careers, and I think that optometry is a very valid, viable career that doesn’t take quite as long as medical school to get through.”
Brooks has received positive feedback about the cover and the article from a wide group that spans her students and peers at UMSL to researchers and academics and administrators across the country.
Though she already devotes much of her time to outreach, the experience has left her wanting to increase her efforts. She’s planning on getting into more schools to share her passion for optometry. “I love getting people excited about stuff,” Brooks said. “A lot of people go to optometry school because they have a family member who did it or someone who they know who did it. They’re not going to find optometry school, for the most part, on their own. I love helping people understand what optometry really is.”
Photo by Paul Nordmann
New Cortex DEI VP hopes to change ‘male and pale’ perception
Natalie Self joined innovation hub July 6 as VP of equitable economic impact
By Karen RobinsonJacobs The St. Louis American
Intentional.
That’s how Natalie Self describes her mission in the newly created post of vice president of equitable economic impact with Cortex, an innovation and technology hub in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood.
As one of the main forces at Cortex pushing a message of diversity, equity and inclusion across the board, Self sees progress as a goal that will require deliberate effort from everyone in the organization.
“We have to do work in a very intentional way to ensure that the job opportunities, the entrepreneurship training opportunities, the wealth-building opportunities ...can be accrued to folks across the region, and especially ...to Black and brown St. Louisans and other St. Louisans who have been historically left out of economic development opportunities in the region,” said Self, a Chicago South Side native who has been in the Cortex job since early July.
Sam Fiorello, Cortex’ chief executive as of last year, “was really clear that the work of Cortex now is to take the assets and deploy them in a way that ... the benefit accrues to everyone in the region, but particularly Black and brown folks,” Self added. “That’s why my position was created.”
Born in 2002 as a joint effort of Washington University in St. Louis, BJC HealthCare, the University of
Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Cortex Innovation Community is an innovation hub where workers help technology find commercial uses. Self, 34, said the early years of the hub were spent on designing and building out the 200-acre project, which is run as a nonprofit. Her role now, she said, is to help move the region beyond the notion that workers in the hub are largely “male and pale.”
Officially, according to a Cortex news release, Self’s role is to “lead organiza-
n “If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
–
Natalie Self, Cortex vice president of equitable economic impact
tion-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation; build and advance a talent development strategy for Cortex; and work with the Cortex team to develop systems for supporting
organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.”
“What this position allows is for someone whose full-time job is to think strategically and intentionally about not just doing programming, but really
Natalie Self, shown speaking in 2018, recently joined the Cortex Innovation Community as vice president of equitable economic impact. She now directs its organization-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation.
served as executive director of STEMSTL, a regional collective committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM education and employment opportunities locally, sees her task as to change both the reality of inclusiveness at Cortex and the perception.
“I think when people think about Cortex, they think about white guys and lab coats,” she said. “And the reality when you walk around here is not like that... We have to continue to tell that story.”
Self, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Social Justice from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, said she plans to craft ways to connect applicants of color in the region with “high quality, well paying, way above living wage jobs, with, frankly, low barriers to entry.”
how are we going to spend all of our assets: people or money or facilities, or relationships,” said Self, just days into her new job.
Earlier “there wasn’t someone who had really the kind of the bandwidth to do that,” she said. “So I see this as a double or triple down on that initial investment.
“And my CEO has literally said to me, ‘you’re making the decisions, you tell me what we need to do, where we need to move money, how we need to do things differently.’” she recalled. “I mean, that is just ... irresistible.”
Self, who previously
“We want that perception to change because Cortex, in partnership with other organizations, has really, in five years I hope, that we have demonstrated that Cortex is able to work with partners in a radically different way.
“If I just change people’s perceptions, but Black people aren’t raising money at the same rate as white entrepreneurs, and aren’t starting companies and aren’t getting opportunities at the same rate, then I haven’t done my job.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Photo by Lance Thurman / Startup Missouri
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Bouldin-Jones to receive Webster
U. award for service to humanity
By Webster University
Kim Bouldin-Jones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17. We wanted to know what motivates her to serve and what it means to be honored for her volunteerism.
First, we asked Webster University Chancellor Elizabeth (Beth) Stroble to share why Bouldin-Jones, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Webster in 1987 was chosen for this honor.
Q: Chancellor Stroble, how does Kim Bouldin-Jones exemplify Webster’s values represented by the Loretto Award?
A: The Loretto Award is presented to a graduate who has given significantly of themselves in service to humanity and social justice. Kim has, and continues to, make an impact on the world by dedicating her life to improving the health and welfare of underserved people at home and in the developing world. Kim’s commitment to meeting an unmet need epitomizes Webster’s mission and values and is indeed worthy of the Loretto Award.
Q: Kim, why do you place such high importance on serving others?
A: My grandmother was the person who influenced me the most. She was a person that always was helping people. She was always the first one that people called. And so, I’ve always tried to emulate my grandmother in that way.
Q: Did you have any other influences?
A: I think my mom was my biggest professional influence because I saw how hard she worked and all the things she accomplished in her career in education. I also saw the things she was able to accomplish despite her race and gender.
Q: How do you live out your desire to serve others?
A: It’s important to me to feel like I am giving something back to the community – and the community can be large
as in the world community, or small as in the local community. I’m on three working boards currently: Global Youth Leadership Institute, Webster University School of Communication Advisory Board and Doorways Interfaith Residence. All represent a passion of mine.
Q: Why did you start your nonprofit, Medical Facility Aid?
A: I previously worked as an educator and disease specialist in HIV and global
disease prevention. In 2003, moving to full-time job at John Burroughs School in St. Louis, I was taking a break from that work. But I quickly found myself in Africa again, working with a doctor to do HIV prevention. On that trip, I realized that the medical infrastructure of hospitals there were in serious disrepair. I came back to the States, and I thought, “I’m going to help these hospitals find a way to pay for a roof, or plumbing, or whatever they need.” I couldn’t find any organizations
Kim BouldinJones will receive the Webster University Alumni Association’s Loretto Award on Sept. 17.
that did that work, though. So, I decided to start a nonprofit called Medical Facility Aid. And we decided we were going to help medical infrastructure in rural communities, in the developing world.
Q: Tell us about one of your Medical Facility Aid projects.
A: The first hospital I went to in Africa serves a region of about 7 million people. There was one hospital, and they had 250 beds, with NO running water. That’s what
drew me into thinking about the lack medical infrastructure in the developing world. What I managed to accomplish was helping the hospital get running water. It took a long time, but we actually did it. It’s been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
Q: Was learning the importance of serving others something that was reinforced at Webster University?
A: While I was at Webster University, I discovered I really enjoyed helping people because Webster encouraged community service work. I really enjoyed working with people and being around different people and diverse atmospheres and environments. It just kind of stuck with me all these years.
Q: What does that mean to you to be recognized by Webster University with the Loretto Award?
A: I don’t see anything that I’ve done as being extraordinary. This award was a complete shock. But at the same time, it really is nice to be honored by Webster, because I think it shows that trying to help other people is a good thing. Sometimes people notice. I really appreciate that Webster has noticed.
(Kim Bouldin-Jones currently teaches health and works in the Counseling and Wellness Department at John Burroughs School, in St. Louis. She continues to support the goals of Medical Facility Aid. She lives in O’Fallon, Missouri, with her partner, Mike, and her three children).
At Commerce Bank, we recognize that workplace diversity makes for a stronger company. We value, embrace and leverage the variety of perspectives that come as a result of our individual differences. Our inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, innovation and productivity that allow us to better serve the needs of our customers and communities, now and in the future. Our differences
PBS announces effort to increase DEI on screen, behind camera
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
African American filmmakers in the region served by KETC [Channel 9] in St. Louis could benefit from a future Public Broadcasting System [PBS] initiative designed to cultivate this “underrepresented” segment of the film business.
Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, announced on Aug. 10 that the network would make a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment” to support the work of underrepresented filmmakers through the nonprofit Firelight Media’s Groundwork Regional Lab.
“The effort will put 40 fledgling filmmakers in partnership with local PBS stations,” Kerger said during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.
Groundwork Regional Lab supports “diverse, emerging documentary filmmakers living and working” in the U.S and U.S.-controlled territories, according to its website.
Kerger said the program is part of an overall push to recognize and strengthen diversity and inclusion throughout the network and its shows.
She said, while the network has a “long legacy of attempting to reflect our country and the diversity of it, I think we don’t always look as carefully in the mirror and recognize that there may be areas where we are not doing our best.”
“I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
Cecilia Loving has joined PBS as senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and will report to Kerger.
Loving had been serving as a deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer for the New York City Fire Department. “PBS is one of the most trusted institutions in America, impacting people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics. My goal is to build upon PBS’s strong foundation through transparency, trust, and ongoing collaboration with employees and key stakeholders across the public media system,” Loving said in
n “I think these are important moments to pause and to look at ourselves very carefully.”
– Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO
a release. According to Kerger, PBS will require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agree-
ments, series renewals, and direct-to-PBS programs.”
For General Audience and PBS Digital Studios content, producers must submit a plan that outlines: A description of how the
Cecilia Loving was recently named Public Broadcasting System senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and says PBS impacts “people of all ethnicities, ages, and other demographics.” The network will now require producers to provide their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan “as a deliverable at the proposal stage and for all new agreements, series renewals, and directto-PBS programs.”
For each area of reporting (e.g., above-the-line, belowthe-line, on-screen talent, etc.), producers must indicate whether DEI goals outlined in the plan were met, surpassed or missed. When goals were not met, producers must provide details on which aspects were found challenging to address and why. This is due within 45 days of completion of principal photography.
A final report addressing the project’s successes and challenges related to DEI must be turned in after final reporting/delivery.
For all PBS KIDS proposals, producers must submit a written overview of how their projects and staffing efforts support the values outlined in PBS KIDS’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which recognize that the work of accurately reflecting a diverse audience on-screen requires a commitment to embracing diversity and inclusion behind the camera as well.
“All children should grow up believing that the world is full of possibilities, and so are they,” said Linda Simensky, PBS KIDS head of content.
production includes perspectives of underserved populations. This should include content subject matter, on-screen talent and key editorial personnel/behind-the-camera staff. This must be completed prior to pre-production. Diverse representation for production team members, including above-the-line talent (directors, writers, producers, creators) and belowthe-line positions. Again, completed before pre-production.
“When children see authentic, positive representations of themselves in media, it has a measurable effect on their self-esteem and long-term success.
“PBS KIDS and our partners believe that authenticity doesn’t happen by accident, but rather through intentional efforts affecting all areas of production—and that the resulting content is made richer and more impactful in the process.”
ST. VINCENT GREENWAY CONNECTS!
This section winds through the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and beautiful St. Vincent County Park.
New connection under construction NOW from St. Vincent County Park over to the Rock Road Transit Center.
Design with neighbors is underway to connect it all together, through the heart of Pagedale, finished by 2025.
Construction of a new section from the former Eskridge High School site to Trojan Park starts this fall (with local contractors!)
This section connects the Missouri History Museum at Forest Park through Ruth Porter Mall Park and on to Trojan Park in Wellston.
Whether you take a walk, go for a run, push a stroller, roll a wheelchair or ride a bike, this greenway is for you — more coming soon!
With 128 miles of greenway paths and counting, there’s always something new to explore!
Photo courtesy of PBS
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Team members at Save A Lot reflect on COVID times
By Save A Lot
Listening and giving back to the community are the keys to career success for Save A Lot team leaders, Laura Farr, Quinn Woodard and Walter Lloyd. Each of them works to keep the lines of communication open for their teams as well as the customers and neighborhoods they serve. For Laura Farr, store manager at 91 North Oaks Plaza, listening to her team over the past year and half has been vital. With many of them concerned about their health and safety while working, communications has been her focus.
“Taking time each day to talk with them about safety protocols and let them know I heard their concerns was important to me,” Farr said. “I wanted to let them know their concerns were valid and
I was going to do what I could to help them.” This tactic of listening and responding to her team allowed her to hold onto the same crew throughout the initial phases of the pandemic.
That same strategy of keeping lines of communication open is what Save A Lot Store Manager Quinn Woodard said helps him connect with the community surrounding the store located at 3645 Page Boulevard. “I remember when I saw one of my regular shoppers back in the store after being gone for several weeks. I asked her how she was doing, and she said she was happy to be out of the hospital after recently recovering from COVID. Just being back to her normal routine meant so much to her, so I knew I had to recognize her loyalty to the store,” Woodard said. During that store visit, Quinn gave
Laura Farr
her a gift card to show his appreciation for her continued support and wish her well in her recovery.
“Being able to give back to the community that supports the store is one of the best parts of working at Save A Lot,” said Walter Lloyd, store manager at 8000 St. Charles Rock Rd. During his three years with Save A Lot, he’s
been able to donate food and water to several organizations. “I try to do what I can when it comes to giving back to churches and community groups that come to my store looking for food and other supplies.” Knowing the positive impact, he has on his community keeps him enthusiastic about coming to work.
Woodard and Farr both
agree that Save A Lot’s commitment to serving local communities with quality and value and promoting from within is what makes working at Save A Lot so fulfilling. During her 11 years with Save A Lot, Farr has had several opportunities to learn and grow. “I started out as an assistant manager. I worked hard and tried to treat everyone well,” Farr said. Her commitment to team building and communication was quickly recognized, and she was promoted. One of the opportunities she most appreciated during her career so far with Save A Lot, was the opportunity to travel to Alabama to assist with new store openings and help build a solid store relationship with the community. “The opportunity to open a brand-new store and let people know about it was one I won’t soon forget. It was great to
connect with a new community and help people there,” she said. Woodard echoed Farr’s sentiments about being empowered do so what is right for the community and his team is what he appreciates about working at Save A Lot. “I not only get to be myself and lead a team of people, but I have others right there with me supporting my success as I grow as a store manager. The support of others is really important,” he said. In his five and a half years with the company, Woodard says he’s been able to partner with countless churches, community groups, including the Urban League to give back whenever he can. He understands the value of being part of the neighborhood and plans to continue building on those strong relationships for years to come.
Building an inclusive pipeline into the water industry
By Missouri American Water
In the 1980s, Renee Lawrence did not see many women or people of color in the water industry, let alone the engineering field. Today, she and LaMarr White of Missouri American Water aim to widen the pipeline by inspiring future generations of STEM leaders.
There is one problem…the talent pipeline for the water workforce is running dry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates “roughly one-third of the
water sector workforce [will be] eligible to retire in the next 10 years.” This is despite the industry supporting more than 200 different occupations “ranging from skilled trades like electricians and technicians to financial, administrative and management positions,” according to The Brookings Institute. Creating a pipeline of diverse candidates is not only important to the community but also imperative for the country.
Both Lawrence and White prove there are traditional and non-traditional ways for peo-
ple to enter the field.
Lawrence, a senior project engineer for Missouri American Water, studied electrical engineering at the University of Kansas. Born to Acme W. Price, Jr. and Roberzene C. Price, two St. Louis Public School educators, it was engrained in her to pursue leadership positions.
engineer was meeting Bruce Aiton, Missouri American Water’s engineering director at the time. From the time I sat down to interview with him, he respected my perspective and made my transition into the company an easy one,” Lawrence said.
“What got me excited about my role as a project
“As a person of color, at first I didn’t see folks that looked like me, but now there’s diversity within the engineering department. I saw
diversity improve for women in engineering, too. I was used to being the only one,” she explained.
For White, it took time to consider the water industry his calling. “I thought it was just a job until I became a field service representative…then I realized it’s a career,” said White.
“My perspective started to change when I saw other people in higher positions. I realized if I was going to make a difference then I had to sit at the table and be a voice. I had to impact change where I was.” White held various posi-
tions within the company ranging from a utility worker in the 1990s to becoming an operations superintendent by 2020. He explained he saw the tides turn when he joined different committees within the company to effect change.
“If you have a passion, your passion will lead you to your purpose,” White said. Throughout the years, they both used their platforms to give back to the community. White dedicated his time to Housing 180 and inspired the company to donate resources
See WATER, page 47
LaMarr White Renee Lawrence
Walter Lloyd Quinn Woodard
Hospital leader discusses her vaccination story
By Gina Calder, FACHE, MPH President of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and Progress West Hospital
When I heard about life-protecting vaccines being made available to health care workers, I did not trust it. I
Water
Continued from 45
and Every
Lawrence
and
her
the
mittee
Missouri’s chapter of the American Water Works Association and mentoring future STEM leaders through the St. Louis Science Center’s YES program. She often invites the children to annual industry conferences to create a talent pipeline.
“I like making those connections before they enter the trade or go to college,” Lawrence said.
To keep safe, clean, reliable drinking water flowing, both Lawrence and White agree that it is imperative to catch children while they are young and get them interested in science.
“You don’t always need a four-year degree. Often, an associate’s [degree] or attending a trade school can help a young person enter the field,” she said.
White uses his position as the head of the company’s North Service Center to foster outreach and education about the water industry.
“Being present at career days and job fairs plants the seed of possibility, to education and to provide an opportunity for our community,” White said. He asserts that anyone interested in the field should obtain a mentor to help them navigate their career.
was among the first to receive my vaccination invitation and ignored it. As a young Black woman, I had a long list of “what if” questions. At best, I would wait to see how the pandemic and/or vaccine data played out. At worst, I would let fear and misinformation cause me to put my life
“This is a field for a person with a civil servant’s heart,” says Lawrence. “It is not a loudspeaker position, or a job with a sexy title, but there’s a
and the lives of others at risk.
I remember talking with my sister, who is my best friend and a physician, as we wrestled with this decision together. She said if we got vaccinated our family, friends and
Gina Calder
sense of pride when you drive down the street and can say ‘I built that. I am supporting my neighborhood.’” Creating an environment
teams would be much more likely to also get vaccinated. I realized that the vaccine was a powerful weapon in our battle against COVID-19. And, fear was a tool that was helping COVID-19 continue its rampage.
where everyone can bring their whole selves to work is at the core of Missouri American Water. Named one of America’s Top Corporations
I realized I could not both be a “hero” in the fight to conquer COVID-19 and be on COVID19’s side of this battle. I had to choose.
Armed with answers from those I trust, my own personal research and prayer, I chose to be vaccinated and continue to encourage others to do the
same. As a result of the courage of those who went first, we know much more about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines than we did in the earlier days of the pandemic. Because it was not an easy decision for me, I can fully support others on their own journeys so we can go far together.
by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council for supplier diversity and included in Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, the company remains committed to supporting current and future diverse leadership within the water industry. This article was provided by Missouri American Water.
Make a new world happen
Our diverse workforce inspires, builds and delivers business results from idea to outcome.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion A Business Priority
• A special publication of the St. Louis American newspaper •
Dreaming big
Empowering at-risk youth with skills to set their life on course
By Cheryl Baehr STL Made
Michael Woods stands on the sidewalk directly in front of an abandoned, burned-out duplex in North St. Louis’s Hyde Park neighborhood, giving his crew a pep-talk as if they are headed into a big game. His team – a group of five high-school aged kids dressed in jeans, sweatshirts, sneakers and matching orange and yellow construction vests – are indeed going into a physically and emotionally demanding situation where the stakes are not just high, but have the potential to change the course of these kids’ lives. He needs to make sure they understand what they are getting themselves into. Now, however, he’s focused on one young woman’s ill-fitting vest.
sures and untucks the back fabric from one of the armholes, getting her all straightened out. “There you go. Now you’re good.”
n Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship, scholarship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves.
“These are supposed to be your brothers, and they’re going to let you go around looking like this?” Woods laughs as he adjusts the clo-
For Woods, making sure the kids that go through Dream Builders 4 Equity are prepared to go about their lives goes far beyond straightening up a work uniform. When he and his business partner, Neal Richardson, founded the organization in 2017, they recognized they had a chance to have a meaningful impact on at-risk youth by empowering them with the skills to set a course for their lives. Through a combination of mentorship, entrepreneurship and leadership training, Dream Builders 4 Equity hopes to empower its participants to see the potential in themselves and in their neighborhoods, thereby effecting change both at the individual and community levels.
See DREAMING, page 51
Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Michael Woods and Neal Richardson knew a new approach was needed for real estate investment to make lasting change in disinvested neighborhoods. They created Dream Builders 4 Equity to connect with communities and positively impact youth while transforming homes, blocks and lives.
Racism Bigotry Inequality Discrimination Has no home at Purina
any where.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Dreaming
Continued from page 49
In retrospect, Richardson and Woods seemed destined for this work. Richardson, vice-president and director of Business Impact Group for U.S. Bank, has spent the past fifteen years in real estate, finance and community development, working to build up under-resourced communities. Coupled with Woods’ background in real estate, entrepreneurship, writing and mentoring, the longtime acquaintances realized they had the knowhow to make meaningful change in their communities. They also had the drive to do so; both men acknowledged the difficult path they had to get to where they are in their careers and wanted to use what they’d learned to make things a little easier for those coming up today.
“We were feeling that our success was great, but how do we give that to younger people at an earlier age?” Woods says. “We had to bump our heads so many times to get to where we are today. How can we provide these services to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth? What we actually did is take our lived experiences and bottle it up into a program called Dream Builders 4 Equity.” Dream Builders 4 Equity is a nonprofit that aims to give youth from underserved communities the tools they need to escape poverty in the form of job skills, personal development training and wealth accumulation. The organization does this through a three-prong approach that includes a summer youth academy, a real estate program and a book publishing program. The operation centers around skill-building through real estate development and construction wherein participants get on-the-job paid training in the industry from minority contractors through rehabbing homes in North St. Louis City. However, the students do not simply walk away with the skills and a paycheck. Equity earned from the sales of these homes goes back to students in the form of scholarships, which gives them a stake in the outcome. As Richardson explains, it’s a bigpicture approach that builds both monetary and social investment in the people and the communities that need it.
“It’s really a holistic program that’s provided for our students to be ready for the jobs of the future, but also, it creates opportunities for them to impact the community,” Richardson says. “When we show up to a neighborhood, we don’t come from a place of, ‘this is what we want for this community.’ We really believe in economic and equitable development principles of centering the community’s voices and elevating those
voices in order to achieve their desires and their dreams. We listen, we learn, we partner with the community organizations. We work with the youth that we’ve already trained and developed, and we go out into those communities to make a difference and make an impact.”
Both Richardson and Woods recognized that North City’s disinvestment problems are not just about property values; they’re about
disinvestment in people and communities. By rehabilitating properties – and empowering the communities’ youth in the process – they hope to change the narrative about the area. If people see real investment happening, it builds momentum for more investment and generates excitement.
Hyde Park is their test case. The North City neighborhood, centered around the storefronts of Salisbury Street, is
characterized by stunning, three-story brick buildings that rival in their splendor the manses of Benton Park and Lafayette Square. However, unlike those South City jewels, much of the area sits in disrepair, the product of decades of disinvestment that Richardson and Woods hope to turn around. Over the next five years, Dream Builders 4 Equity, in partnership with the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, is executing a $5 million community development plan, investing in 25 homes that they will rehab for first-time homebuyers; 25 home renovations for seniors; a chess park; a daycare center and a 6,000 square-foot building they plan to turn into an educational hub and the center of their operations.
“It all ties into what the community wants and what they need,” Woods says. “Again, we’re hiring the young people from the community. We’re also engaging the contractors from the community. And then we’re also making sure that each community member has a say on what happens and how it happens, so we’re not doing a development to them, we’re doing a development with them.” Richardson and Woods believe Dream Builders 4 Equity’s comprehensive and community-centered approach has the potential to not only change Hyde Park; it has the potential to transform similar communities throughout St. Louis and beyond. This is why they are being intentional about every facet of the organization – they feel a responsibility to get it exactly right so that they can build on what they create in Hyde Park as a model for the future of community development.
Editor’s note: Neal Richardson recently became the director of St. Louis Development Cooperation.
“If you are given a forum to express how you feel and help guide advancement, you have the ability to make a real difference.” Our formally chartered African American Business Resource Group brings African American associates together at Enterprise Bank & Trust to create community and opportunities for improvement and engagement. Read our Community Impact Report to learn how the group got started and the goals they are working toward at enterprisebank.com/impact
Read the report at
Contractor Robert McCully with Michael Woods and Neal Richardson after a successful day on the job. Photo by Chris Ryan / Once Films
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Scott Air Force Base is woven into many parts of the region
By Eric Schmid St. Louis Public Radio
Scott Air Force Base is well known as an economic anchor in the Metro East, with connections to the surrounding communities where many active-duty personnel and their families live. The base also has less obvious, but equally deep, connections to other parts of the St. Louis region, like its robust medical community.
A prime example lies in the Air Force’s Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, C-STARS, which trains and exposes Air Force medical personnel to scenarios they’ll likely experience when deployed. Every two years, medics travel to a large U.S. hospital where they participate in medical simulations and shadow local medical professionals, said Maj. Stephen Ray, the deputy director of C-STARS St. Louis. The Air Force also has such partnerships in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Omaha and Las Vegas, he said. “The kinds of injuries that we see in our military hospitals, we only see when we’re deployed or when we come to readiness places like this,” Ray said. “These are the places, like St. Louis, that our medical personnel need to stay current.” In one recent simulation at St. Louis University, a group of nurses and one doctor balance caring for two “patients,” one whose left leg is in a tourniquet and another who’s suffered a blast from an improvised explosive device. The patients are mannequins, but the medics don’t treat the injuries any less
seriously. “The simulations are designed based on feedback from the field,” Ray said. “The instructors, like myself, and others at different sites across the country have gotten together and said, ‘What patient injuries have we seen that we need to replicate here?’”
While C-STARS officially is run from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Scott played a role in the program’s establishment 20 years ago. The initial idea for the program came from Col. Michael Hayek, a doctor who developed a medical skills
training laboratory at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis County, Ray said. In 2000, Hayek pitched the idea to Dr. Paul K. Carlton Jr., the surgeon general of the Air Force at the time, who committed to expanding the model, he added.
C-STARS St. Louis was established a year later at SLU Hospital thanks largely to the relationships Carlton built while at Scott Air Force Base between 1988 and 1991, said Dr. Carl Freeman, the trauma medical division director at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital. “He realized that Air Force
personnel needed further trauma training and reached out to SLU to work with the university and the hospital,” he said.
Freeman, who served 21 years in the Air Force, experienced how crossing between the medical and military environment aided him as a young surgeon. “It allowed me to have exposure to trauma patients, including ones that are shot and correlate the care I provide here to overseas,” he said.
Since retiring from the military in 2016, Freeman sees the medics from the Air Force
More direct involvement in Illinois
Air Force medics treat a life-size mannequin during a Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills simulation at St. Louis University. Active-duty medics must undergo such training every two years.
and Missouri Air National Guard who rotate through the hospital. The unfortunate reality of gun violence in St. Louis provides an important perspective for the medics who shadow doctors in the emergency department, he said. “The major thing people say they take away from this is how to take care of a very sick patient and not be scared,” Freeman said. “A lot of these people have never seen these type of injuries, and it’s really important for them to learn how to take care of them and not be distracted by the injury.”
Scott is also closely involved with St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s three-year family residency program. Eight of the 14 residents the hospital welcomes each year are on active military duty, said Dr. Marjorie Guthrie, who directs the program. “Having the residency partnered with the United States Air Force does give us more manpower, and more manpower means more patients seen,” she said. St. Elizabeth’s also gets instructors from Scott adding a layer of depth to the hospital’s courses, Guthrie said. She added that the military has a good focus on alternative medicine with some of the faculty from the base bringing expertise on acupuncture and osteopathic manipulation, for example. While some Air Force members use the medical facilities on base, others turn to what’s available in the surrounding community. Scott’s proximity also broadens the type of people residents care for, something Guthrie said is important for family medicine, since those doctors are trained to treat a wide age spectrum. “If you think about resident education as an opportunity to see diverse health care systems, then being exposed to the military system is just one of them,” she said. “You’re not just working with underserved patients, or you’re not just working with military patients. You get a good, broad variety.”
SIUE is building a legacy of equity and excellence. We are actively engaged in cultivating an equity-minded campus ecosystem, dedicated to shaping a changing world.
SIUE is nationally recognized for its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Under the visionary leadership of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jessica Harris, PhD, SIUE is committed to operationalizing inclusive excellence at all levels of the institution.
Photo provided by Saint Louis University
Jessica Harris, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity,
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is ‘all in’ on DEI
By Karlos Ramirez President & CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan
Louis
St.
St. Louis is full of possibilities. In order to reach our full potential as a region, we need to double down on diversity, equity and inclusion. While we’ve made significant strides, there is more work to be done. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (HCC) of Metropolitan St. Louis has a mission to improve business
opportunities for Hispanic firms and professionals, thereby improving the economic development of the St. Louis region. Improving business opportunities for ALL is an imperative, particularly for minorities, who disproportionately have less access to capital and mentoring that they need to succeed.
Rising tides lift all boats, and too often, we come up short in our policies, which can leave some behind without intentional efforts by third parties. The HCC is one of those
third parties and I am proud of the role we are playing. We have a dedicated team that provides counseling to small businesses at every stage of planning, funding options, and educational resources. Examples of our programming include:
• Contractor
Connect – industry experts educating and empowering small construction businesses.
• Restaurant Training – where to start and best practices for restaurants.
• Working Women annual event –providing inspiration and resources to working women.
• Hispanic Leadership Institute – leadership development program, one track for high school students and a separate track for business
professionals. We believe that it’s imperative for businesses and non-profits to have a plan and regularly evaluate that plan to determine if adjustments are needed. Too often, organizations are stuck in their day-today execution and unable to plan their future.
The HCC couldn’t do what we do without allies and are proud to work with corporate and strategic partners throughout the region. The HCC also has many non-Hispanic members that are attracted to our
programming and interested in marketing to Hispanics, the fastest growing demographic in the region. As a region, we are making strides, but there is more hard work to do, and we must do it TOGETHER. Being an inclusive region in business can impact education, representation at decision making tables, and more. One group’s success does not come at the expense of another but makes the entire business community stronger. Our time is now, St. Louis, it’s time for action.
It
takes all of us
We all have a history. A story. We bring with us life experiences that shape who we are and make us better.
At Spire, we know our individual stories only make us stronger as a whole. That’s why we’re committed to an inclusive work environment where all that makes us unique is embraced, encouraged and valued.
Because it truly takes all of us—our backgrounds, our perspectives and our experiences—to move forward.
Karlos Ramirez
Together we can make an impact
The
By Dierbergs For The St. Louis American
For more than a century, Dierbergs has prioritized supporting the communities we serve and the people that live in them. As our environment continues to evolve, we recognize we have much to learn about the impact of these changes and how Dierbergs can positively contribute to making a difference within our company and in the community.
We believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
So, we listened. As we did, it only reinforced how important it is that our associates feel they can bring their own unique version of themselves to work and the powerful and meaningful impact a diverse workforce can make.
The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Wendell, a store director, who has developed his career at Dierbergs over the last 21 years:
“I am from St. Louis and graduated from University City High School. University City was extremely diverseeven back in the 70s and 80s. My graduating class was about 60% white which really allowed me to experience diversity and understand [my environment] at an early age.
I attended Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri. As an 18-year-old, it was a tough transition. I knew very few people and was suddenly faced with many social issues that I hadn’t confronted before.
Many townspeople didn’t like Blacks and they let you know it- I was called names and I didn’t know why. I hadn’t done anything to them; I was just simply going to class. The first few months did not go well with my roommate. He moved out after 10 days simply because I was Black. But it was fine. I understood that. Not everybody makes those adjustments. Shortly after I joined a fraternity, and the foundation of service and acceptance helped me grow and come alive in
n “For those that look different than me, if I take the time listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine.”
– Wendell, Store Director, Dierbergs
new ways. [I found] a voice that I didn’t know I had. It helped me understand that I have to work with people in order to make this a better place. My life began to change;
I grew up and became more mature.
Later, as an assistant store director at Dierbergs, a customer called me an “Obama boy” because we didn’t have a spe-
At Dierbergs, we believe taking the time to get to know an individual’s unique story is the first step to building an inclusive environment. One where everyone feels they belong.
bag for him to make myself present and I said “I see you got the bottle while you were looking for. Glad we could help you out.” I was not trying to be controversial, but at the same time, I was trying to express a point that “no matter what you say, no matter what you do, I’m going to be professional, and I’m going to do the right thing.”
cific $9 bottle of wine. When I did not find the wine in the back, he said “that’s just great Obama boy. I asked, “what do you mean by that?’ He yelled “you know what I mean by that,” and the entire store stopped. For someone to yell that, he must have felt pretty comfortable, so I asked him to leave. We didn’t have what he was looking for and he was not a customer who was behaving acceptably. He came back within 5 minutes, which was concerning. He had a different bottle of wine. I proceeded to
At Dierbergs, we have all sorts of individuals who work and shop with us, and you never really know what is on a person’s mind, or why they feel the way they do. Having some of these challenges in my life helped me understand where they’re going and how they’re feeling. I can redirect misunderstandings and mistrust into a place where other people of color can begin to grow and understand. Just because they feel a certain way doesn’t mean they’re the only one who’s ever felt that way, and many of us have succeeded regardless. For those that look different from me, if I take the time to listen to your story and understand where you are coming from, I’d like the same opportunity to share mine. You might find that my story, in many ways, doesn’t differ quite that much from yours. Yes, my skin may be different, sometimes my talk may be different, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care any less, or don’t want the same things that you want. I’m willing to go get those things, and I’m not going to put down anybody in the process. I’d rather bring you along with me.” What’s your story? Together, let’s make an impact.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Ascension Charity Classic brings professional golf to North County
The St. Louis American Staff
When word began to leak in the summer of 2019 that professional golf would be returning to St. Louis, the expectation was that it would take place at either Bellerive or Old Warson, two West County courses with a long history of hosting major golfing events.
But at a press conference in October 2019 at Norwood Hills Country Club in Jennings, Ascension executive vice president of marketing Nick Ragone explained why golf’s newest professional event would be taking place at the historic North County golf course.
“We want the Ascension Charity Classic to stand for two things,” he said before a packed ballroom of media, community and civic leaders.
“First, we want this to be a ‘tentpole’ event that stimulates and encourages additional economic and charitable development in North St. Louis County, and second, we want this to be the most charitable tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions schedule.
This isn’t about golf, it’s about giving back to North St. Louis County and encouraging others to do the same.” For those familiar with Ascension, one of the nation’s largest Catholic healthcare systems and headquartered in St. Louis, it came as no surprise that the ministry would create a signature brand event in an underserved and neglected part of St. Louis with a focus on giving back to area charities.
“Our Mission, quite literally, is to serve underserved
areas and advocate for a more just and compassionate society,” Ragone noted in his remarks that October day. “As a region and community we’re only doing well if we’re all doing well, and as corporate and community leaders it’s all our responsibility to make sure we’re investing in growth and opportunity for all St. Louis. That’s what the Ascension Charity Classic is all about.” Now called the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson, after the Norwood neighbor came on board as presenting sponsor, the tournament has been set up so that all net proceeds will be distributed to North County charities, beginning with the
What:
Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson
When: Sept. 9-12, 2021
Where: Norwood Hills Country Club, Jennings, Missouri
Tickets and more information: ascensioncharityclassic.com
Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, and Marygrove, a residential facility for neglected and abused children based in Florissant.
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000
Even with the tournament being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson distributed $225,000 to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
With the tournament moved up in the schedule this year to the first week of September, excitement continues to grow with additional sponsors and partners joining the effort –and the recent announcement that legendary golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson would be competing in the “Legends Charity Challenge” at the inaugural event, with proceeds going to First Tee of Greater St. Louis and PGA REACH, two organizations committed to making golf a more inclusive and diverse sport.
to the three charities, the first time ever a PGA TOUR event donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to charity without playing a single shot.
“It shows the level of engagement and commitment by Ascension, Emerson, World Wide Technology and the other corporate partners that in an especially challenging year for charities and communities, the tournament was still able to give back so generously,” said Michael McMillian, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.
“Just imagine how this event will make a difference once it has been played. It will be a game changer for the community.”
As the St. Louis region continues to rebound from COVID, the Ascension Charity Classic will be a unique chance to showcase the strength and diversity of North St. Louis County as the tournament is aired live nationally for all three rounds. “We love that the nation will be able to see something that we’ve known for a long time – that the St. Louis community is committed to investing in our entire region and that by doing so, we foster hope and opportunity for everyone,” said Dr. Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Which reflects Ragone’s original declaration on Oct. 8, 2019, at the press conference at Norwood Hills: “Giving back to the community is more than just providing care and healing the sick,” he said. “It’s also about long-term investing in our communities, and encouraging others to invest in the community, so that we can bring about a more just, inclusive and equitable society. It’s incumbent upon all of us to make a difference.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Missouri School of Journalism wins national diversity award
Award recognizes journalism, mass communication programs achieving equity and diversity goals
By University of Missouri-Columbia
The Missouri School of Journalism is the recipient of the Equity & Diversity Award by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). This national award is one of the highest honors in diversity and inclusion. The annual award recognizes journalism and mass communication programs that are successfully achieving equity and diversity goals. Programs must display progress and innovation in racial, gender and ethnic equality and diversity over the previous three-year period.“The Missouri School of Journalism strives to be a place where all people feel valued, where their talents can be developed, where personal and professional growth is nurtured. A place where all have an opportunity to be heard and respected,” said Dean David Kurpius. “I am thrilled our efforts are being recognized by AEJMC.”
Judges noted the School’s sustained commitment, efforts, and investment in diversity and inclusion activities. Among the judges’ comments:
• “Mizzou has really worked hard to try to change the tide that has existed there in terms of people’s perspectives.”
• “They look like they are invested.”
• “The School has been intentional and forward-thinking in trying to bring forward those persons who represent
As part of the efforts of the Diversity and Inclusion committee, the School works to bring in diverse speakers to engage with J-School students. Jemele Hill (center) a staff writer for The Atlantic and a former ESPN correspondent, columnist and host, spoke with various student groups about mentoring, internships and having passion for your job.
where they are trying to go in its efforts to diversify. We found the School’s progress in hiring diverse faculty and its specific initiatives in programming and mentorship particularly impressive.”
Renewed Commitment
In 2016, the School’s faculty and staff recommitted to the importance of developing a more diverse and inclusive culture. Goals included hiring and retaining more diverse faculty,
diversifying and establishing an inclusive curriculum, and providing mentoring opportunities for historically underserved students.
To help support these efforts, MU’s Division of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity has partnered with the School to help strengthen its IDE efforts in a competitive hiring marketplace. Campus leadership provided permanent funding for one-time new faculty lines as well as additional incentives such as spousal
accommodations to attract diverse minority candidates. These resources allowed the School to accelerate its plans for diversity and inclusion. Through intentional recruitment and hiring, the School increased its percentage of faculty members of color from approximately 11% of faculty in 2015 to 23% today. Representation of African American faculty members increased from less than 3% to nearly 9% of all faculty. To change culture, hiring commit-
tees within the School routinely request diversity statements from candidates to ensure that prospective faculty understand the School’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity.
Faculty committee work
For the past three years, the School’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Cristina Mislán, regularly review the School’s diversity and inclusion strategic
plan to address ever evolving understanding around inclusion, diversity and equity in higher education and the workplace. To ensure the School is making progress toward its IDE goals, the Committee solicits input from faculty, student leaders and staff on an annual basis. This feedback keeps the plan fresh and relevant.
“It’s important to be recognized for our efforts in making the school more inclusive, diverse and equitable,” said Mislán. “We have a long road ahead, but as a community we are committed to engendering an institution that trains responsible scholars and journalists, one that will enhance journalism and mass communication education.”
Embedded in the curriculum
In the classroom, diversity and inclusion are part of the core of what students learn. All journalism students are required to take a CrossCultural journalism course to provide context and tools for students as they report, edit and generally communicate in a complex, diverse and changing society. In the School’s hands-on, real world newsrooms and agencies, information about the race of an alleged criminal, a person’s age, membership in certain groups, photo depictions and the like all provide teaching
Construction is a team sport that relies on diverse talent
Ralph Powell Jr., expanding opportunities in construction community
By Ralph Powell Jr. Director of Diversity at McCarthy Building Companies
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to play and watch sports.
Growing up, I shot hoops with kids in my neighborhood, was a competitive high school athlete, and cheered on both of my older sisters in Division 1 college basketball. Through sports, I experienced the thrill of competition and the power of teamwork. I also learned that the most successful sports teams rely on a diverse group of players, each of whom brings unique talents, skills and experience to the group.
Since joining McCarthy Building Companies as a project engineer in 2003, I’ve discovered those same principles are just as true for the construction industry. During my 18-year career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on dozens of commercial construction projects—from hospital expansions to school renovations. Through those experiences, I’ve honed my skills in managing complex construction projects, built long-term relationships and continued to advance my career. Recently, I’ve stepped into my newest role as Director of Diversity for McCarthy’s 28-state Central Region. In this position, I will draw on my field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community. This includes building and nurturing relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses to
In his new role as director of diversity at McCarthy Building Companies, Ralph Powell Jr. (pictured in the blue shirt) is drawing on his construction field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community.
mentor, support and help them succeed. I’ll also drive diversity initiatives for major building projects across the St. Louis region.
My work is part of a national Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program that leverages best practices from every McCarthy region. Our team’s priorities are to promote inclusive hiring practices; equip and empower employees to grow their careers; and continue to expand our sup-
plier diversity and community engagement programs. In short, I will continue the excellent work of my predecessor, Monica Bailey. As the first— and longest-serving—full-time diversity director among St. Louis contractors, she helped advance McCarthy’s commitment to an inclusive work culture by helping teams recognize the benefits of diverse perspectives. In doing so, she paved the way for McCarthy and other firms to build rela-
tionships with diverse businesses and help position them for success.
As the largest contractor in St. Louis, McCarthy believes we have a unique responsibility to help foster a diverse, thriving community of local businesses. Having a strong team of qualified industry partners supports innovation and creativity that not only drive better solutions for our clients, but also is good for our community. And as our region
continues to face a construction labor shortage, it’s important to attract the next generation of construction workers who will build St. Louis’ future schools, hospitals, research facilities and infrastructure projects.
I probably wouldn’t have discovered construction as a potential career if my brotherin-law hadn’t introduced me to it. As a teenager, I spent a couple of summers working as a laborer for his newly launched small construction company
and also had the opportunity to shadow him as he interacted with clients and ran the business. He encouraged me to pursue a construction management degree and played an influential role in my eventual career path. For that, I’m extremely grateful. Now I have the opportunity to pay it forward by serving as a role model to young people who may be unsure what opportunities are available to them. I want them to envision what’s possible by meeting someone who looks like them and has progressed from an entry-level position to Director of Diversity at St. Louis’ largest general contractor. When I look back on my construction career, my favorite memories are the relationships I’ve built with clients, coworkers and trade partners. I just love the team aspect of the job—working together on tough challenges, overcoming obstacles, celebrating the completion of a successful project and having fun along the way. In my new role, I’m privileged to focus on expanding those relationships, with the goal of ensuring that our project teams reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
In many ways, my role is similar to that of a sports team coach: a motivator, a communicator, a strategist and an advocate who helps players achieve their full potential. Ultimately, I want to build bridges that strengthen the entire St. Louis construction community. Because, at the end of the day, we are all part of the same team.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Mizzou’s Perry wins national award for achievement in diversity and research
Earnest Perry, associate professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research, has been chosen to receive the 2021 Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The Barrow Award recognizes outstanding individual accomplishment and leadership in diversity efforts for underrepresented groups by race and ethnicity. “Thank you to the Minorities and Communication Division and the Commission on the Status of Minorities for this award,” said Perry. “This is not just for me. It is for the Missouri School of Journalism and to those who work every day to infuse our programs with the tenants of diversity, inclusion and equity.”
“Dr. Perry’s dedication to and strong work in the area of inclusion, diversity and equity has benefited numerous students, faculty and staff,” said Dean David Kurpius. “His ability to understand the complex systems that are core to a functioning university and school and then address inherent ineq-
Award
Continued from page 56 opportunities about not discriminating when reporting or developing campaigns.
Alumni/student connections
uities systematically forms the core of his work and is why he deserves this recognition. I am honored to have him serving as associate dean and I am proud of his significant and ongoing work.”
Perry’s co-edited the book, “Cross-cultural Journalism: Communicating Strategically About Diversity.” It was developed out of the first required journalism diversity, equity
The School’s desire to advance a culture of welcome, respect and acceptance is one that is embraced by alumni, as well as the news and communication industry. Their involvement as speakers, mentors, recruiters, supporters and more benefits future leaders and the profession at large. In 2019, Associate Professor Ron Kelley launched a pilot mentoring program for junior and senior minority students
and inclusion course in the country. Adopted nationally at other universities and now in its second edition, the book is designed to teach college students to critically think about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the work of journalism and strategic communication with a strong connection to the history and context of this work in our society.
“Dr. Perry encourages dis-
who are matched with minority journalism and strategic communication alumni. The goal of this program is to provide guidance’s to students for retention and professional development. The mentorship will continue after graduation to help students make the transition from college to their professional careers. As Kelley noted, the first years of a new career can be daunting, and
cussion in classes—sometimes lively, always respectful—and he challenges students to analyze their own assumptions about the way they think about differences among people,” said Kurpius. “Both undergraduate and graduate students have flocked to him for classes and advising. His mentorship—the hidden teaching work—is significant and ongoing.”
Perry’s research interests
the mentors help navigate any potential challenges faced.
“The participation from alumni of color has been great and we are thankful for their willingness to give back,” said Kelley. “Many of them have said they wished they had a program like this when they were in school.” There is also strong support – both financial and mentoring – for various student identity-based
Earnest Perry is the 2021 recipient of the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity and Research.
center on African-American press history, specifically the Black Press during the first half of the 20th Century. Perry has also done research on the media’s role in serving underrepresented groups and the lack of ethnic minority journalists in the mainstream media. He currently chair’s AEJMC Publications Committee and previously served on the Standing
Committee on Teaching and as chair of the Standing Committee on Research. He also served as president of the American Journalism Historians Association. Perry has published articles on history and media management in several journals including American Journalism, Journalism History and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. His professional career includes stints as a reporter for newspapers in Illinois, Connecticut and Texas. He has also served as a consultant to news outlets in Texas and Missouri on issues such as newsroom management, reporting in ethnic minority communities, news writing and editing.
Dr. Lionel C. “Lee” Barrow, Jr. served as an advertising executive and civil rights activist and retired as the dean of 10 years from the Howard University School of Communications in 1985. During his life Barrow chaired various committees and commissions that worked to increase the number of women and minority students in the communications field.
organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), Women in Media, and the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM). These organizations provide students with various opportunities and resources that will help propel their careers forward.
“The Missouri School of Journalism is committed to creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable culture, one that enriches the lives of our faculty, staff, students and our communities,” said Kurpius. “Such transformation is a never-ending process, but it’s a challenge we welcome each day with a fresh commitment.”
Lewis Rice diversity outreach includes honoring late Black legal pioneer
By Dana Rieck
The St. Louis American
St. Louis law firm Lewis
Rice has posthumously honored the region’s first Black legal partner, Larry Deskins, with two annual scholarships for members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups starting in fall 2022.
Deskins became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985. He was a corporate attorney who remained with the firm for over 40 years. He died in March 2020 after a long illness.
Attorney Ronald Norwood said the scholarship is just one of several “next level” efforts on the firm’s behalf to encourage the success of a diverse pool of lawyers in the region.
Norwood serves as chairman of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI). He joined Lewis Rice in 1988 as a litigation associate.
“We felt as a firm that in honor of Larry Deskins and the exceptional contributions that he made not only to Lewis Rice but to the St. Louis legal community, serving as a trail blazer, an advisor to corporations large and small in the St. Louis region that it would be a fitting tribute to establish these scholarships in his honor,” Norwood said.
The Lewis Rice Scholarship in Honor of Larry L. Deskins will award two $7,500 scholarships to first-year law students at Washington University, Saint Louis University or
Firm has launched several inclusion efforts
University of Missouri law schools who are members of economically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups in the legal profession starting in fall 2022. But that’s not the DAI’s only recent effort, according to Norwood. They’re also establishing a Lewis Rice HarrisStowe State University internship beginning in the summer of 2022.
This will be a paid, fourweek internship to a qualified Harris-Stowe State University student from an economically or academically disadvantaged group who is interested in a career in law.
“[This will] provide an opportunity for them to come in to work with our firm, to get acclimated with the practice
of law, to learn from lawyers about the business of law,” Norwood said. “And to hope they entice them into continuing on that track.”
A 2021 Missouri Bar report stated that voluntarily collected demographic information shows just 12% of Missouri lawyers are racially or ethnically diverse, compared to the nearly 22% of Missouri resi-
Larry Deskins (left) became the first African American partner of any major law firm in the St. Louis area in 1985.
Ronald Norwood (right) serves as chairman of law firm Lewis Rice’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DAI).
in diversity and if all of the businesses become proactive as a relates to diversity, we’re going to be a better society and we’re going to be a better region.”
Norwood said a third action in the Next Level program has implemented works to incentivize lawyers within the firm to become more active in diversity and inclusion efforts. Lewis and Rice is offering billable credit hours for attorneys who engage in activities such as serving on the Diversity and Inclusion (DAI) Committee, a bar association or affinity group dedicated to diversity and inclusion and participating in activities designed to recruit, mentor and retain underrepresented attorneys and staff.
“We felt we had done a lot of positive things as a firm and as a committee,” Norwood said. “Our view is that we don’t want to rest on our laurels, we want to continue to move that needle and continue to progress in a positive way to be an example to law firms and other corporations of what a genuine commitment to diversity is.”
dents who reported ethnic and racial diversity in the last U.S. Census.
“I think the important thing is that if corporations and law firms like ours double down and become more committed in diversity efforts — whatever they might be — that is the important thing … because if all of the law firms come together and become proactive
In November 2017, Lewis Rice received the Corporate Diversity Award from The St. Louis American. In addition, Lewis Rice’s Management and DAI committees last year joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a group of more than 350 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners committed to building a more open and diverse legal profession.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
Diversity is key to mission of Council of Construction Employers
Offers ‘earn while you learn’ program
By CCE
The Council acts as the management arm of the nationally renowned St. Louis Construction Cooperative labor/management organization that strives to Build Better Together. One of SLCC’s finest accomplishments is the Careers in Construction manual which lists each construction craft along with its entry requirements and contact information: https://stlouisconstruc-
tioncooperative.org/construction-careers/ Diversity Efforts and Inclusion
Part of CCE’s mission is to collectively address issues that concern the St. Louis commercial construction industry. Working together with our union trades partners we provide first-class, accessible training opportunities through our various apprenticeship and training programs. We’re also engaged in efforts to promote the development of minority and women craft workers through the Building Union Diversity (B.U.D.) program. CCE also supports the efforts of the Regional Union Contractors Center, a business incubator designed to assist minority and women-owned businesses build and maintain successful construction companies. Several member organizations have built their own models to increase inclusion; like the CHAMPIONS Program, a partnership between Plumbers and Pipefitters Local #562, the Plumbing Industry Council and the Mechanical Contractors Association. CHAMPIONS is an intensive, six-week program that introduces participants to the technical aspects of the trades. Graduates are guaranteed a minimum of one year employment as a pre-apprentice by one of the participating CHAMPION contractors.
The St. Louis Electrical Connection, a partnership
between Electrical Workers Local #1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), has named Sylvester Taylor as its new Director of Diversity to continue to strengthen the bonds it has established with under-served communities in St. Louis.
A recent effort that will provide more transparen-
cy and help lift the veil of mystery regarding careers in construction is the St. Louis Construction Career Center, located at 6301 Knox Industrial Dr. 63139, inside AGC of Missouri’s Construction Training School. The Career Center operates as a single point of contact for information about careers in the various construction trades, as well as architecture, engi-
neering and construction management. The Career Center also helps bring into focus the career paths available, the admission requirements for those programs and individualized support to help in the process.
Sometimes a job-seeker doesn’t meet the requirements of a particular trade but the Career Center may be able to steer that candidate to a pro-
gram that’s right for him or her.
COVID-19 dramatically curtailed opportunities to spread the word about the Construction Career Center. Career and Job Opportunity Fairs were cancelled during the pandemic, substantially reducing outreach but our efforts continue. We expanded our partnerships with other St. Louis area career organizations and we’re developing virtual opportunities to ensure that future construction industry professionals can be placed in meaningful careers.
Learn while you learn Union construction training programs do not charge for their services. There are no fees. Program participants do not incur student loan debt. In fact, pre-apprentices and apprentices actually work to earn wages and benefits while not in the classroom or training facility.
We believe that a more diverse and inclusive workforce, along with higher wages and fringe benefits, provides better, safer working conditions and helps elevate the standard of living for the entire St. Louis community. Come investigate the high paying careers in the construction industry. Contact Sergio Munoz at (314) 644-1525 or smunoz@stl-cts.org to discuss a construction career and determine your best strategy for advancement.
St. Louis Symphony’s diversity efforts boosted by $200,000 in grants
By Jeremy D. Goodwin St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra is stepping up its efforts to reach out to Black audiences and musicians.
The organization will use $160,000 from the Bayer Fund to support a cluster of programs called IN UNISON. They include the orchestra’s IN UNISON Chorus, which focuses on works by Black composers, and Peer To Peer, a mentorship program for young African American musicians.
The League of American Orchestras is contributing $19,500 to related efforts. The money is earmarked for anti-bias training for the organization’s personnel and an ongoing review of practices that would increase diversity among the organization’s patrons, musicians and other employees.
“How do we recruit? How do we form the talent of the St. Louis Symphony — whether it’s on the board, whether it’s on staff, among our volunteers, in our orchestra, in our choruses,” said President and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard. “And how do we serve the community?”
A growing partnership with the Black church The roots of IN UNISON stretch to 1992, when the orchestra formed the chorus in partnership with a handful of Black churches, whose members populated the group. The network of churches has since grown to 33.
Orchestra musicians play chamber recitals in churches throughout the year. Last month a string quartet, brass quintet and members of the IN
UNISON Chorus performed in celebration of Juneteenth at Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in the Midtown neighborhood of St. Louis. Education programs under the In Unison umbrella
Church last year.
include six scholarships for African American college students studying music in St. Louis, and the Peer to Peer program, in which four Black musicians in middle school and high school are paired with members of the SLSO Youth
Orchestra.
The duos meet regularly for coaching, to attend SLSO performances and occasionally play with orchestra musicians. The organization received a one-time donation to expand the program to 16 student
pairings for the 2020-2021 season.
From onstage to the office St. Louis Symphony created a committee on its board of trustees to explore diversity, equity and inclusion in 2016, Bernard said. A separate task force made up of orchestra members and administrative staff formed during the 2020-21 season. Musicians, administrative staff and board members have participated in an initial anti-bias training. The orchestra has made strides in terms of gender parity. In 2014, Bernard said, it became the first major symphony orchestra in the U.S. to feature a majority of female musicians. But there is a pronounced lack of racial diversity among the organization’s leadership, which is not unusual among the largest arts organizations in St. Louis. Bernard, Music Director Stéphane Denève, board chair Steven L. Finerty and 39 of 44 total board members are white.
“The work will never be done. This is an evolution. It’s an investment in the future, forever. In five years we’ll look back and in 10 years we’ll look back, and some things will take more time than others,” Bernard said. “It’s about, how do you continue to stimulate the flow of ideas that doesn’t just come from me or my music director or board, but the people who come from St. Louis.”
The programs and partnerships give orchestra leaders a chance to solicit suggestions from Black St. Louisans, Vice President and General Manager Erik Finley said. “We can’t do it on our own. We don’t know enough,” Finley said “We have to really listen to our churches, listen to our partners, listen to all of the diverse corners of our community.”
Malena Smith, a graduate fellow with St. Louis Symphony’s In Unison program, performs with orchestra members at New Sunny Mount Missionary
Photo by Bob Olimpio / St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
St. Louis native serves as a member of U.S. Navy’s ‘Silent Service’
By Rick Burke Navy Office of Community Outreach
A St. Louis native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) one of the world’s most advanced nuclear-powered submarines. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High School graduate, joined the Navy four years ago. “I joined to fight the fight that no one else can,” said Davis.
According to Davis, the values required to succeed in the military are similar to those found in St. Louis. “My mother told me that once you start something to see it all the way through,” said Davis. “Be authentic and always be yourself.”
Fast, maneuverable and technically advanced, submarines are some of the most versatile ships in the Navy, capable of silently conducting a variety of missions around the world. There are three basic types of submarines: fast attack submarines (SSN), ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and guided-missile submarines (SSGN).
Fast attack submarines are designed to hunt down and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships; strike targets ashore with cruise missiles; carry and deliver Navy SEALs; carry out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions; and engage in mine warfare. Their primary tactical advantage is stealth, operating undetected under the sea for long periods of time.
The Navy’s ballistic-missile submarines, often referred to as “boomers,” serve as a strategic deterrent by providing
an undetectable platform for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. SSBNs are designed specifically for stealth, extended patrols and the precise delivery of missiles. Their design allows the submarines to operate for 15 or more years
between major overhauls.
Guided-missile submarines provide the Navy with unprecedented strike and special operation mission capabilities from a stealthy, clandestine platform. Armed with tactical missiles and equipped with
superior communications capabilities, SSGNs are capable of directly supporting combatant commander’s strike and Special Operations Forces requirements. Each SSGN is capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, plus a comple-
ago.
ment of heavyweight torpedoes to be fired through four torpedo tubes.
Serving in the Navy means Davis is part of a world that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strength-
ening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“It’s important because of our versatility,” said Davis. “We can do missions from being out on the front lines and leading an assault, or we can be on the other end doing reconnaissance.”
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
“What our undersea forces accomplish every day is vitally important to our nation’s defense,” said Vice Adm. Daryl Caudle, Commander, Submarine Forces. “Our Submarine Force is a critical part of global maritime security and the nation’s nuclear triad. Every day, our submariners are at the tip of the spear, forward deployed and ready - from the depths, we strike!”
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Davis, as well as other sailors, know they are a part of a service tradition providing unforgettable experiences through leadership development and world affairs. Their efforts will have a lasting effect around the globe and for generations of sailors who will follow.
“Serving here is an accomplishment,” added Davis. “I’ve achieved a goal that at first, I never thought I would achieve. When I was young, I never thought about joining the Navy or being on a sub, but here I am and now I am a part of a tight-knit family atmosphere.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaelen Davis, a 2015 Hazelwood West High graduate, joined the Navy four years
Photo courtesy of Jaelen Davis
New director of St. Louis Development Corporation says economic justice is the priority
By Corinne Ruff St. Louis Public Radio
Just a short time ago, it was announced that Neal Richardson was hired as the new director of St. Louis Development Corporation, replacing longtime stalwart Otis Williams who recently retired.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones touted Richardson’s credentials in a statement, noting his 14 years’ experience in community and economic development. “Neal Richardson understands that equitable development is more than just brick and mortar. From his time leading the
Business Impact Group at U.S. Bank to his work as president of Dream Builders 4 Equity, I know Neal will encourage forward-thinking, holistic development that opens up opportunities for families across our city,” she said.
Richardson said his vision for the department focuses on economic justice — “which is really addressing the historical barriers, the economic inequities and closing the racial wealth gap, and creating opportunities for everyone to participate in the economic system within our region,” he said. “That’s how we grow together in a stronger and more strategic way.”
He said the focus needs to be on revitalizing neighborhoods in north St. Louis, which have been neglected by developers for decades. The work is personal for Richardson, who grew up in the Lewis Place neighborhood, which is just north of Delmar Boulevard and the Central West End neighborhood.
Over the past four years, he’s built up a place-based model for equitable development through an organization he co-founded, Dream Builders 4 Equity.
The nonprofit works with
Neal Richardson
community groups to identify and rehab dilapidated homes in distressed neighborhoods, including Hyde Park. It also provides jobs for minority contractors and young people. Richardson said his vision for economic development has the potential to dramatically transform people’s lives in neighborhoods that are most in need of investment.
“When you invest in wealth-building opportunities for our youth and for our underserved communities, you will have a reduction in
crime because you’re creating opportunities for people to really think about their future, and not worry about surviving every day,” he said. “We have to create an environment of a thriving mentality, rather than just survival to make it to see the next day.”
Richardson said he plans to use the Equitable Economic Development Framework recently developed by the St. Louis Development Corporation as a jumping-off point. He said there are many strategies that could be implemented, but he wants to focus on using the framework to create a new action plan around four
priorities:
• Equitable and inclusive real estate development.
• Neighborhood revitalization.
• Business empowerment.
• Workforce development. Richardson said his biggest challenge will be to bring politicians, business owners and residents from across the region together to work toward a shared vision. “But in order to do that, we must do it with the focus on economic justice and addressing those historical barriers and gaps that have prevented everyone from having a seat at the table,” he said.
FCB Banks offers a diverse team with diverse products
By FCB
FCB Banks has been serv-
ing the St. Louis area for three generations, under local family ownership and management.
After originally opening banks in New Baden and Albers as early as 1901, customers quickly associated FCB with quality service, competitive rates, and personal customer care. FCB is a full service bank with 16 convenient locations in St. Louis and the Metro East. We are located in the heart of the Florissant’s shopping center point, across from The Shoppes of Cross Keys and are pleased and excited to continue serving Florissant and the surrounding communities.
Our staff at FCB Banks - Florissant has expertise in financial services dating
back to the 1980’s, including decades of leadership in management, lending and community service. Our team has serviced communities all across the St .Louis area from South County to St. Louis City to our current home in North County, resulting in broad experience with every type of customer regardless of their social-economic condition, education or class. With a multi-generational and multi-cultural staff, we are able to connect with and assist our customers at every stage of their financial journey. Since opening our location in Florissant, the team has made it a priority to be involved with community engagement efforts, centered on financial empowerment by partnering with many community and social services organizations.
Lending with a personal touch
FCB is proud to offer knowledge and expertise in a wide range of loan products by being able to assist a variety of homebuyers. Whether a first time homebuyer or the repeat homeowner looking to finance their dream home, we specialize in providing lending options including down payment assistance, real estate investment lending, and smaller loans than traditionally available. The FCB Florissant Loan Officers, Jeannine Murphy and Bria Williams, are eager to help you every step of the way, by fostering a long-term relationship focusing on your goals. We are here to guide you through the entire process and assist you in determining what solution best
fits your need. FCB’s lending solutions are comprised of numerous financing options with competitive rates and low fees. As a bank, we believe community development and stabilization is paramount. Therefore, we have unique programs specifically designed for low and moderate income residents, in communities where there is a need. We have solutions for the homebuyer no matter who you are.
Full service with a diverse product suite
Our knowledgeable and friendly staff is here to build strong relationships with each of our customers, welcoming them to our FCB Banks family. FCB offers more than the standard checking or savings account. Our suite of products
has been developed to meet the needs of every type of accountholder from second chance banking to the financially savvy depositor. In addition to main stream accounts, we also offer onsite bill payment service and postage stamps to help save time waiting in lines. For our customer still desiring savings clubs, we offer Vacation and Christmas club accounts.
FCB offers Investment Services and for those interested in alternatives for accounting; we have a Tax and Bookkeeping department to provide tax services for individuals and/or bookkeeping and payroll services for business owners.
FCB understands that the way customers choose to bank has evolved over the years.
The modern technological conveniences allow for electronic means to transact business and
move money so that customers do not have much need to visit the bank. To accommodate the ever advancing platforms in money management, FCB offers online banking and bill pay, and mobile banking with mobile wallet payment options which include Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Within the Online Banking module, customers have the ease of transferring funds person2person. To closely monitor debit card activity and early fraud detection FCB offers Card Force, a tool where you can turn your debit card on or off plus receive alerts every time your debit card is used. Visit fcbbanks.com or stop by our location for more information. At FCB Banks - Florissant we’ve got you covered…a diverse team with diverse products.
Applications for St. Louis med schools soar, part of the ‘Fauci Effect’
COVID pandemic reshaped future plans for many college students
By Kendall Crawford St. Louis Public Radio
Audra Youmans was just six months into her freshman year at St. Louis University when the COVID-19 pandemic sent her back home to Fenton. But the transition didn’t stop her from learning. As she began volunteering with unhoused communities, she witnessed the impact of the virus, including packed hospitals and widening health disparities.
All of which gave her a clearer vision of what she wanted for her future: to be a doctor.
“I really got to see how that impacts people on a real world, real person level,” said Youmans, a pre-med student. “And that’s what drove me further into fully deciding that this is what I’m going to do.”
Youmans is just one of many whose ideas for their future were shaped by the pandemic. She’s part of a
national movement of young people inspired to pursue medicine — a phenomenon dubbed the “Fauci effect.” Nationwide, medical school applications jumped 18% for this fall, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The trend is mirrored locally with applications for this fall up by about 22% at Washington University and around 28% at St. Louis University from the previous year. Valerie Ratts, Washington University Medical School dean of admissions, said many students likely observed the need for more physicians last year. “Medicine was important, and it became obvious from all the things happening with COVID and what we were all visualizing — this thought that maybe this is a calling, maybe this is something that I want to do,” Ratts said. Zoe Floyd has wanted to
pursue medicine since she was 8 years old, but it was the COVID-19 pandemic that opened her eyes to how
invaluable the work is. “It reinforced the fact that health care will always be something that’s important. Doctors,
physicians and nurses will always be in demand, and there will always be someone who needs your help,” said Floyd, who plans to attend SLU as a pre-med student in the fall.
In addition to the example set by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, medical school admission officers say the surge may be attributed to students having fewer options. In other years, students might have taken a gap year to travel or seized other opportunities before applying to medical school. “None of those opportunities existed last year. With everything shut down, they decided to go ahead and move on and apply to med school,” Ratts said.
The result was a competitive season of applications. With only 100 spots at Washington University and around 175 at St. Louis University, medical school
The journey towards equity
admission officers had to make difficult decisions last year, Ratts said. Despite the long hours of reviewing applications, Hiral Choksi, St. Louis University Medical School dean of admissions, was elated to see more people interested in medicine. She believes it’s a sign of what’s to come. “Everyone has their own health to be looked after, and to have more people who are there to help serve the community is the best thing we could ask for,” Choksi said.
Youmans will begin her application for medical school next summer — which she hopes will lead to a career as a primary care doctor working with the unhoused. “The pandemic really showed the disparity that is in our community right here in St. Louis,” she said. “That’s really where I want to jump in.”
By Rodney White Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Nestlé Purina PetCare
At Purina, we recognize that the path to equity is continuous and respect that each accomplishment along the way will not eliminate the hurt and hurdles seen and unseen.
Through the lens of empathy, transparency and hope, we strive to be a company that cares for each of our associates and embraces their individua contributions because of our differences, not in spite of them. For the first time, this year, we celebrated Juneteenth as a company holiday and are
heartened to see it deemed as a national holiday into the future.
Equity became a central tenant of our diversity and inclusion work as we transitioned from Diversity & Inclusion to Diversity, Equity &
Rodney White
Inclusion. We are actively seeking and supporting more diverse partners – from community organizations and nonprofits to influencers, creatives and agencies. And we are more consciously working to showcase and empower better representation in the veterinary and pet welfare communities to ensure there is a place for everyone in pet care, from pet adoption to the vet clinic. Progress continues to be made, but there is still much work ahead. Our path from education to equity is continuous, and the journey is far from over, but I am proud to acknowledge that we are further along than we once were. And we will continue making progress one step at a time. Because for our associates, families and pets, the truth remains that “No one of us is as good as all of us.”
Sheila R. Grigsby, PhD, RN, MPH, APHN-BC
College of Nursing Fellow for Community Engagement
Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Missouri–St. Louis
Dr. Sheila Grigsby is a community engagement fellow at the University of Missouri–St. Louis who focuses her teaching and research on community health nursing and holistic care with the goal of reducing health disparities in the St. Louis region and preventing chronic disease in the African American community. Grigsby received the 2020 Pillar Award for Health and Wellness from her community partner, 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis, for her work leading nursing students through preventive health screenings in area barber shops.
Effecting positive change and transforming lives
Zoe Floyd, a recent graduate of Metro Academic and Classical High School, celebrates her admission into St. Louis University’s Doisy College of Health Sciences.
Diversity: A Business Imperative
New research finds widening educational inequality in year of COVID
By NNPA Newswire
NWEA — a not-for-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students released today new research that highlights a challenging year in education with most students making lowerthan-typical learning gains in math and reading. The research examined MAP Growth assessment scores from 5.5 million U.S. public school students in grades 3-8 between fall 2020 and spring 2021 and found:
• On average, students across most grades and subject areas made learning gains in 2020-21, but at a lower rate compared to pre-pandemic trends.
• 2020-21 outcomes were lower relative to historic trends. Gains across 202021 were at a lower rate and students ended the year with lower levels of achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points).
• Achievement was lower for all student groups in 202021; historically underserved students (e.g., American Indian and Alaskan Native, Black, and Latino and/or students in high poverty schools) were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades that NWEA studied.
“As our nation continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its impact on every facet of our lives, this new research from NWEA illuminates just how devastating the academic consequences have been for our nation’s children. While
all students have suffered from interrupted instruction, students of color and students from low-income families — who are more likely to receive virtual instruction but less likely to have access to sufficient broadband and devices necessary to access virtual learning — have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s academic burden. It is vital that policymakers, school leaders, and educators act on this crucial research to ensure that students who need the most support receive it,” said Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, in response to the new research.
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts. Attendance, school engagement, social-emotional well-being, family environment, community support, unemployment rates, evictions and other factors should all be looked at holistically to inform actionable plans that are specific to the needs of their own communities as we start the long road to recovery.
“It’s important to remember that academic achievement is only one dimension of students’ education and these data alone cannot paint a complete picture of how young people fared this past year. For instance, our results
cannot speak to the many ways students, families, and teachers have shown incredible resilience and adaptability in the face of immense challenges that completely upended normal life,” said Dr. Karyn Lewis, senior research scientist at NWEA and lead author of the study.
One thing is clear from the national data: students of color and/or those experiencing poverty were impacted at greater levels, exacerbating pre-existing inequities and calling for urgency in focusing resources.
“The data sets from the NWEA study confirm the profound impact COVID-19 had on families and students. They also highlight the stark inequities that existed before March 13, 2020 — the pandemic grossly exacerbated the disparities we see in the educa-
NWEA’s research highlights national trends from this past year, but local context matters. Thus, NWEA encourages communities to dive deeper into their own data and insights to understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their students. The experiences of individuals will differ from the national average, and communities must look beyond just academic indicators to understand the impacts.
ty-focused organizations and voices are speaking up even louder now to support our educational community in the long path ahead.
“These data show in very stark terms just how much the pandemic took a toll on learning for all students, especially for students of color and those living in poverty,” said Deborah Delisle, CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education. “Congress is making an historic investment in education with COVID relief funding. It’s time for states, districts, and schools to use that money to create systemic changes that impact students now — and for generations to come — and make our education system more just for every student who walks through our doors.”
tion sector,” said Dr. Michael Conner, Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools in Middletown, CT. “However, the data sets also call for the holistic redesign and transformation of an operating model that can finally ground the principles of innovation, creativity, and equity in every fabric of our schools. At this juncture, we have permission to be bold, creative, innovative, and experimentative for acceleration and recovery. There has not been a time in our industry where we can reimagine the traditional industrial model that historically marginalized students. This is the opportunity where systemic change in the context of policy, investments, and organizational practice can shift the trajectory of every student we encounter.”
While these inequities are
not new, the level of funding now available to help address the need is, providing a critical moment to support those communities most impacted. Along with the new research, NWEA released a series of policy recommendations to advocate for deploying the unprecedented federal funding to communities and student populations most impacted by the pandemic, including investing in school counselors and nurses to address mental health and social-emotional well-being of students, tutoring and extending instructional time, professional development geared at meeting the needs of diverse learners and redesigning state accountability systems to better align with recovery plans. NWEA is not alone in this advocacy. Like minded, equi-
“It comes as no surprise that the shift to distance learning proved challenging for many students, parents, and teachers, but the eye-opening numbers from the NWEA study show the true extent of the impact on student learning, particularly on underserved students,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS. “While many Latino households continue the struggle to recover from the effects of the pandemic, a particular focus must be on ensuring that students can succeed regardless of their racial/ethnic and economic background. As we prepare for the upcoming school year, it is critical that our leaders prioritize investments in our schools so that our students are equipped with the support and resources they need to succeed. Only then can we continue to make progress in bridging the achievement gap.”
Diversity: A Business Imperative
St. Louis needs Black-owned businesses to ‘win’
We are in this together
By Kathy Osborn President & CEO Regional Business Council
You always know who’s winning by looking at the scoreboard; the same holds true in business. A successful team puts points on the board, but a quick check of the score reveals that, comparatively speaking, Blackowned businesses in our region are still very much behind in terms of their ability to grow and thrive. And this isn’t just a problem for Black business owners, it’s a problem for all of us. We know that cultivating a diverse workforce adds a competitive advantage for a company, and that diverse companies create a competitive advantage for a region and an economy. For St. Louis to grow, we need to diversify our portfolio of successful businesses, and invest in the ability of Blackowned companies and their leaders to build capacity. There is a difference between participating and winning. Far too often, calls for economic and racial equity result in action that marginally improves the status quo. It is not enough for Black-owned businesses to simply exist. For
them to fully realize their economic potential and benefit to the region, they need to be able to scale up, generate wealth, and serve as economic catalysts in the areas they serve. For the sake of our economy, we don’t only need Black-owned businesses to participate, we need them to win.
Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part. This is why the
n Helping Black-owned businesses succeed isn’t hard, we just need to buy things from them, and invest in their ability to grow. And we can all do our part.
Regional Business Council (RBC), a consortium of 100 CEOs of large businesses in the St. Louis region, launched two initiatives aimed at building the capacity of Black-owned businesses. Coaching, mentoring and connections have made a profound impact on most successful businesses. In our experience, we find that something special happens when you put two business leaders together and create opportunities to share ideas. This year, the RBC launched the Black Executive Leadership Initiative, pairing twenty RBC CEOs
from successful companies with the CEOs of twenty local Black-owned businesses who will meet throughout the year to provide high-level business advice and perspective aimed at helping grow their business. This initiative was launched simultaneously with our Inclusive Procurement Initiative, which gives RBC members and their teams the tools needed to diversify their corporate spend and specifically do more business with Black-owned companies. At the end of the day, you can provide a business with all the coaching and information, but it won’t mean as much unless people actually buy their products. From bottled water to uniforms, people and companies make choices about where to spend their money every day, and we want to encourage our members and companies across the region to consider the power and potential impact their corporate spend can have for local Black-owned businesses.
Despite how it might look sometimes, we’re all in this together. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We share a community and an economy, and our collective fate is intertwined. And the fact is that if we want our region to grow, we need to focus on growing Black-owned businesses.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Donald M. SuggsPublisher & Executive Editor
Kevin Jones - Sr. Vice Pres. & COO
Editorial
Alvin A. Reid - News Editor
Danielle Brown - Community Reporter
Sylvester Brown - Deaconess COVID Fellow
Karen Robinson-Jacobs - St. Louis American / Type Investigations / Report for America Business Reporter
Sofie Hurwitz - Staff Reporter
JoAnn Weaver - Health Reporter Dana Rieck - Staff Reporter Wiley Price - Photojournalist
Production
Mike Terhaar - Art Director
Melvin Moore - Graphic Designer
Sales / Marketing
Janice Brown - Acct. Executive
Jessica Jones - Acct. Executive
Pam Simmons - Acct. Executive
Angelita F. Houston - Classified Ad Mgr
Digital
Dawn M. Suggs - Interim Digital Director
James LeBine - Web/IT/Promotions Coordinator
Jennifer Sarti - Dow Jones News Fund Digital Intern
Administration
Robin Britt - Controller
Cathy Sewell - NIE Manager
Kate Daniel - Manager, Publisher’s Office
Mary Easter - Receptionist
Felicia Pearson - Operations Support
Fax:
www.stlamerican.com
Kathy Osborn
Ready, set, launch
McCrary transitioned from radio to tech thanks to skills she gained through LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program
By Ymani Wince and Lauren Harms Milford STLMade
For Je’Nell McCrary, getting to her career in tech
wasn’t straightforward. For one, she had long held the dream of becoming a radio and media personality. She’d enrolled at Florissant Valley Community College, where she was involved with the campus radio station, and learned about media and broadcast journalism. In her free time, she enjoyed building websites and being creative with social media. Upon graduating college, she was offered a position with a St. Louis-based radio station. As years passed, and McCrary felt she’d gone as far as she wanted with radio, it was time to make a choice. She could either stay in her role in the media, or she could obtain new skills for a different role. “I started in radio right after college, where I stayed for five years,” she says. “In that last year and a half, I felt like I wasn’t being an artist anymore.”
Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.”
While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
That Googling session led McCrary to the world of technology, a universe filled with languages she’d never spoken, including Python and JavaScript. She learned about LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization that offers free train-
ing, mentorship and job placement for people looking to work in the technology sector.
LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program welcomes anyone who identifies as female and offers eight tracks for participants to choose from, including front-end web development, data analysis and the one that McCrary was drawn to, user experience.
McCrary entered the CoderGirl program with the hope that it would unite her with a purpose-filled position where she could use the skills
n Her journey to a new career path started with a very simple online search: “Jobs in tech.” While she’d built a successful radio career and online brand for herself, McCrary longed to reach her full career potential and find the purpose that she felt was destined for her life.
she already had, along with those she’d learn through the program. “I feel like when people think of tech, they think of coding and men who are nerds
that know everything,” she says. “It’s simply not true.”
With CoderGirl, she was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their
With CoderGirl, Je’Nell McCrary was surrounded by like-minded women of all technical skill levels, looking to change their career trajectories.
career trajectories. In fact, that’s the one thing she really wants people to know — that there are lots of job opportunities in the tech industry that don’t require highly technical skills, like the role of scrum master that she now holds at Centene Corporation. On her social media accounts and in life, she finds herself explaining what a scrum master is frequently these days — and how others can follow in her footsteps. “I would consider it most like a coach,” she says. “I’m a coach
and a mentor to software developers. The goal for the scrum master is to make sure the team is running smoothly and is agile.”
“You can be a scrum master if you work at McDonald’s,” McCrary says with a smile when talking about how soft skills transfer to roles like hers. Particularly in a field that may feel exclusive to those who are unfamiliar with it, she wants everyone to know that there’s a job in tech for them. “There are lots of roles in tech that don’t require hard technical skills,” she says.
While the decision to leave radio was difficult, and the months-long CoderGirl program tested her endurance, the desire to do meaningful work that mattered to her helped McCrary push through the moments of discomfort to finish the curriculum.
The benefits of completing the LaunchCode program far outweigh the feelings of despair and sadness she once had in her former career. For one, she was able to reach her goal of living the adult life she’d imagined for herself. Since starting a career in tech, she has moved into her own place, and has dreams of traveling once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The skills she learned through CoderGirl and in her role as scrum master have been useful to her in unexpected ways, too. “I use so much of what I learn from my position in my everyday life,” says McCrary. “I’m even helping a lot of my friends with how to communicate.”
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY,
Photo by Michael Thomas
Study reinforces a brighter outlook when America leads world in energy production
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NewsWire
According to a new study, America’s natural gas and oil industry will need to serve as a vital driver of the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
The industry counts as critical to every sector of the U.S. economy and supports millions of jobs across all 50 states, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that compiles the latest available government data.
The 134-page study, which explores the economic impact of the oil and natural gas industry, revealed that the business supported 11.3 million jobs and contributed nearly $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019.
The study authors reported that the impacts are the result of three channels:
• Direct impacts from the employment and production within the oil and natural gas industry.
• Indirect impacts through the industry’s purchases of intermediate and capital goods from a variety of other U.S. industries.
• Induced impacts from the personal purchases of employees and business owners both within the oil and natural gas industry and its supply chain, as well as from the personal spending by shareholders out of the dividends received from oil and natural gas companies.
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
“Every state in the nation has a stake in continued access to U.S. natural gas and oil reserves, which are critical for the nation’s economic recovery,” the study authors wrote.
In short, as the nation continues to recover from the pandemic and the economic downturn that resulted, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as an engine for longterm growth.
“The industry continues
n In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Researchers found through wages, taxes, capital investments, and support to other industries, the economic impact extends beyond traditional natural gas and oil-producing states.
to create good-paying jobs and deliver reliable American energy to enterprises, including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, education, and more, in communities across the
nation,” researchers concluded. According to the findings, in 2019, the natural gas and oil sector directly and indirectly:
• Supported more than 11.3 million total jobs or 5.6 percent
In addition to supporting well-paying jobs, the natural gas and oil industry, directly and indirectly, contributed an estimated $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, representing 7.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
of total U.S. employment.
• Generated an additional 3.5 jobs elsewhere in the U.S. economy for each direct job in the U.S. natural gas and oil industry.
• Produced $892.7 billion in labor income, or 6.8 percent of the U.S. national labor income.
• Supported nearly $1.7 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product, accounting for 7.9 percent of the national total.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
The U.S. Energy
Information Administration noted that global oil and liquid fuels consumption is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022, as economic activity and travel patterns normalize.
“This represents an opportunity for the U.S. to meet the world’s rising demand for affordable, reliable fuels with homegrown natural gas and oil,” American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers wrote in an email.
“That said, America’s economic outlook depends on federal and state policy proposals that incentivize resource development, modernize energy infrastructure and streamline burdensome regulations,” Sommers maintained.
“The nation’s hard-fought energy security and GDP growth are at stake, even as the natural gas and oil industry continues to drive the nation’s post-pandemic recovery.”
Sommers continued:
“As America’s economy comes back, the natural gas and oil industry will serve as the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.
“Every state across the country – both blue states and red states – rely on American energy to fuel each sector of the economy and support millions of U.S. jobs.
“This study reinforces that America’s economic outlook is brighter when we are leading the world in energy production, and it serves as a reminder of what’s at stake if policymakers restrict access to affordable, reliable energy and make us more dependent on foreign sources.”
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Fifteen years ago, St. Louis native Rosalind Reese noticed a troubling brain drain -- young, talented people of color were leaving St. Louis “in droves,” due to a lack of opportunity, perceived and actual.
Next month, Reese, director of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience leadership program, expects to welcome one of the largest cohorts in the 15-year existence of the program, a year-long focus on developing each participant’s leadership capacity.
Reese, who has been with the program since its inception, hopes to see the program expand and perhaps give aid to young people just launching their careers.
Whether expanding in number or expanding in mission, Reese said the Fellows Experience, which now has more than 870 alums, has more work to do.
“I think now that the focus [worldwide] is definitely on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is still needed,” said Reese, who grew up in North St. Louis. “Although we’ve made some tremendous strides, we still have a long way to go.
“When you look at the CEOs and the C-suite market, we’re still lagging behind as people with those titles,” she added. “So you’ve got some
Leadership program keeps local talent close to home
Business Diversity Initiative’s Fellows Experience program anticipates one of largest cohorts in its history
people who have made it, but we still have a very long way to go. And so we continue this work, still trying to get folks in those positions.”
So far the program, which operates under the Greater St. Louis Inc. umbrella, has helped prepare the fellows, most of them St. Louis residents of color, for C-suite posts, entrepreneurship or service on boards of directors. It focuses on “professional development, relationship building, and civic engagement,” according to its website.
Participants must be nominated by their employers, who agree to pay the $4,250 tuition, and they must be ethnically, racially, or gender diverse midto senior-level professionals, working for at least 7 years, be demonstrated leaders in the community and have a college degree or equivalent skill and abilities, the website said.
The largest previous cohort was 105 fellows in the 2018 to 2019 year.
For the upcoming year, which begins in September, Reese said about 100 future fellows are on board from 27 companies with 10 of those companies first-time participants. Not bad for a program Reese wasn’t sure would be welcomed in town.
“When we initially launched, we weren’t sure how receptive the business community would be to a program that was geared to people
of color,” she said. “It had never been done here. It was launched specifically to attract and retain people of color.
“At the time it was launched people of color were leaving St. Louis in droves because they felt that St. Louis was not open to or was not really focusing on people of color. They didn’t have the same opportunities as our white counterparts and so they decided to go elsewhere to look for opportunities.
The inaugural session, from 2006 to 2007, had 21 participants and 15 companies.
After participating in the program Reese said she’s seen “people grow to all levels.”
“They have been promoted to CEO, and, and other C-suite positions,” she added. “They have also taken the information back to their organizations and used it on their individual teams. Not only [has] the individual ... been impacted, but the companies as well,
“The return on investment for the [sponsoring companies] has been phenomenal.”
This year, health care giant Centene alone has about two dozen participants.
“We understand that our workplace diversity makes us a stronger company,” Centene said in a statement. “We value, embrace and leverage the vari-
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
ety of perspectives that our individual differences provide in strengthening the Centene culture.
“The St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellows Experience Program is one of the tools the organization has leveraged to support this commitment for over a decade.
We recognize that fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce supports the engagement, promotion, innovation and productivity of all employees, which allows us to transform the health of the community one person at a time.”
Reese said the program also focuses on “myth-busting,” --
countering advice handed down through generations among some families of color that may be harmful to a participant’s career, such as only speak when spoken to.
“When you don’t speak up, when you don’t show up, you miss opportunities,” she said.
Looking ahead, Reese said she would love to see an early-career version of the program designed to keep recent college graduates from making early career mistakes. That will take financial and human resources, but it’s on Reese’s wish list.
Reese said she is proud of what the program has accomplished to date and its role in keeping some of the region’s brightest minds closer to home.
“A lot of these people don’t realize how powerful they really are,” she said after rattling off the accomplishments of several program alums. “During the course of the year, they know that the power’s within them, but they have to learn how to activate it, and how to be intentional in activating that power that they have within themselves. Once they know that it’s okay to do it, you see, the brilliance just starts shining all over the place.”
“They just needed a push.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
Building bridges
Natissia Small reduces barriers for St. Louis youth to pursue higher education
By Nancy Stiles STL Made
It all started with a college tour.
As an undergraduate at Southeast Missouri State University, Natissia Small worked as a campus tour guide, giving her a firsthand look into the students (and their parents) considering higher education, and what resources they were missing.
Today, Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
“The Bridge Program focuses on those student experiential activities that are really critical for students to be able to have strengths in and to be able to help them to navigate all of those different arenas that surround the college transition process,” says Small. Bridge provides services to students whether they plan to attend UMSL or not, and Small estimates there isn’t an institution you can think of that hasn’t had one of the program’s graduates. Ultimately, Small and her team want to reduce or remove barriers to secondary education, especially for underserved communities.
“As we continue to look at what’s happening in this moment in society,” Small says, “we have to make sure that we’re doing this for every single student from a range of academic backgrounds, whether it’s public, private or homeschooled, from every racial and ethnic and socio-
economic group. Creating this type of opportunity for students and parents to partake in this program has been really key. That’s one of the things that motivates me the most in doing this work.”
The UMSL staff of five serves more than 5,000 St. Louis-area students and families each year, with the help of community school partners. Since 2003, 100% of Bridge’s students have gone on to attend college – a staggering success rate that speaks to the team’s dedication.
UMSL debuted this groundbreaking program in 1986, and Small began working as a counselor in the program in 2003. Its biggest component is the Express Scripts Saturday Academy: From March through October, high school students attend a 10-Saturday workshop series focused on math, science, written and oral communication as well as career development and college planning, including financial aid and admissions.
Bridge also offers a Summer Academy for high school students, recently launched a Middle School Academy, and even offers a four-part Parent Academy. It facilitates after-school math and science clubs at several high schools, most notably the NextJenn STEM TEAM at Jennings High School, whose members have participated in several competitions.
Though a little over half of Bridge’s graduating seniors attend the Saturday Academy, there are even more specialized programs that work to expose students to an array of post-grad options. Eyes on Diversity, for
Dr. Natissia Small is vice provost for Access, Academic Support and Workforce Integration at the University of Missouri–St Louis, and among other things, she oversees the Precollegiate Student Support Services, known as the Bridge Program.
example, provides hands-on activities around optometry.
The Advocacy Leadership Program demonstrates “the impact of adverse childhood events and how students can be future change agents” by exposing them to a number of related career paths, such as child welfare, education, and medical or legal advocacy.
The program is open to all students in the St. Louis region, and Small’s team works with partners at K-12
well in the Bridge program, and has seen many of her students reap the benefits of Bridge’s unique curriculum.
“One of the great things about the Bridge program is it’s not just about teaching curriculum or content, it’s teaching students how to think critically and how to advocate for themselves – how to see themselves in a different light,” says Taylor.
This kind of education is particularly helpful for students who may struggle with traditional classroom instruction or feel that they’re not “good” at school. “There’s brilliance in all types of students and that’s what the Bridge program helps kids to see, that there’s space for everyone and different avenues to take to achieve your goals,” says Taylor. “Sometimes the journey isn’t a straight one.”
Bridge went virtual due to the pandemic, and though the team is excited to be back in person, the pivot to virtual learning has allowed Small to reach students in rural areas in Missouri and beyond. For Small, this is an exciting look at what Bridge could become over the coming decades.
schools from Festus to Francis Howell. “There’s certainly a lot of word of mouth that has been taking place over a number of years,” says Small. “Our coordinators are actually going into the school buildings, presenting to students and parents. That’s an amazing partnership, and we’re very grateful that our schools trust us and provide that opportunity.”
Kelly Taylor teaches in the Hazelwood school district as
“I see Bridge continuing to grow leaps and bounds among the St. Louis community,” she says. “I would love to see our Bridge program reaching to our rural communities and provide the same access opportunities for them; I would love to see us maximize opportunities throughout the state. I think the opportunities are really endless.”
However, educational support is just one aspect of the program. The team strives to focus just as much on what Small calls “socio-emotional wellbeing.” “Oftentimes we
focus very much so on the academic needs of students, and we don’t really pay attention to the fact that there’s this other component that’s just as critical for us to address, and that is the whole student,” Small says. “Being able to provide families with access to counseling – whether it be through an avenue that we offer here on campus or in the community – is really important. You cannot focus on the whole student if you don’t include that other aspect.”
Ultimately, this holistic approach aims to set students up for lifelong success, not just in academia. Small stresses that Bridge is so much more than a tutoring service.
“It’s not only providing them with the critical academic skills that they’re going to need when they enter college, but it’s also reaffirming the work that they’re being taught in their high schools,” she says. “And for many it’s helping them to have a leg up in the coursework that they’re being taught while they’re in high school.” “That’s one of the other amazing things about the Bridge program: It is focusing on students to matriculate to a college that’s a great fit for them,” Small says, noting that about half of the graduating students do choose UMSL. “And other students are attending institutions that we maintain partnerships with to make sure that as students from the Bridge program matriculate there, that they’re going to be provided with the same resources that we would provide them if they were going to choose UMSL. We’re very proud of that.”
Photo by Michael Thomas
Diversity: A Business Imperative
For Diverse Business Accelerator, bigger is better
Greater St. Louis Inc. Program to grow this year thanks to more than $400,000 in grants
By Karen RobinsonJacobs
The St. Louis American
Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer of Greater St. Louis, Inc., takes a regional view when assessing the impact of Greater St. Louis Inc.’s four-year-old Diverse Business Accelerator.
Community business growth, she said, translates into a healthier economy for the region.
“We’re about growing, scaling [and] advancing diverse and women-owned businesses,” said Patton, who has been working on issues related to diversity for nearly two decades.
“That’s really what we want to see at the end of the day: the ability to grow revenue, and the ability to add employees.
“Then that creates a situation where everybody wins with the fact that we are growing the regional GDP.”
The accelerator, one of two signature DEI programs operated by Greater St. Louis Inc., is a 12-week program designed to help mid-tier businesses scale up. Of the nearly 30 businesses to complete the program thus far, most have been owned by people of color and women.
An offshoot of a former St. Louis Minority Business Council effort, the program is open to businesses headquartered in the 15-county, bi-state St. Louis MSA that have at
least 51% minority ownership with annual revenue of at least $500,000 and have a growth plan that demonstrates the business’ capacity to increase revenue by 10%, and add at least three employees within 18 months after graduating.
Thanks to grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, totaling $400,000, the program is able to waive the normal $1,000 tuition for each semi-annual cohort through 2024.
Through the program, participants are assigned a mentor and given coaching on everything from human resources and legal affairs to accounting and marketing.
“We’re going to look at all those pieces and the pieces that they need to improve,” Patton said. “It is really looking at the business, and [asking] how do we create the growth, how do we scale it, how will we advance it within the ecosystem?”
Separate funds from the World Wide Technology Foundation allow the program to offer a pitch competition with a large, non-equity cash prize. For each of the first two years of the competition, the prize was $10,000.
“This year we will have the opportunity to offer a $25,000 pitch prize,” Patton said of the competition, in which participants present their business growth and development ideas to a panel of regional potential investors.
In 2019, former U.S.
n “At the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
– Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and president of the Greater St. Louis Foundation
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross noted minorities owned an estimated 29% of classifiable businesses, which were growing at twice the rate of non-minority businesses. At that time, they employed more than 6.3 million Americans and generated more than $1 trillion in revenue.
Patton pointed to different stats, laid out in a 2019 opinion
piece on LendingTree.com, that showed St. Louis’ minority business development efforts lagging by several measures.
The piece ranked the 50 largest U.S. metros in their ability to nurture and grow minority-owned businesses. St. Louis ranked dead last.
It called the rate of longterm success for minority-owned businesses in the
Bryon Pierson, a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
Gateway city “dismal,” noting that just 27.3% survive past six years in business, nearly half the rate of the second-worst city, Kansas City, Missouri.
Only 18% of minority-owned companies in the region had annual revenue greater than $500,000, the report said.
“If we had less racial disparity in our community, we would have added thousands more businesses, which would have employed thousands of individuals,” Patton said.
The ‘hiring’ part of the equation is especially important in communities of color.
“What we know about small business, minority-owned business, is they tend to hire
in their communities, and they will tend to grow in their communities,” she said, “which will mean that the communities will thrive and flourish. So at the end of the day, how do we bring the communities back? It’s going to be through those business enterprises.”
Bryon Pierson is a 2019 DBA graduate and founder and chief executive of EDUrain, a website that helps college-bound students apply for financial aid, scholarships, grants and off-campus housing. Pierson, who once had more than $60,000 in student debt according to the company website, said the program provided access to bankers, attorneys and accountants, professionals whose services he otherwise would not have been able to afford.
The program also helped Pierson hone his pitch and get helpful feedback.
“Thanks to DBA, I was able to craft a pitch that led to me raising over $70,000” and adding nine full- and part-time employees, Pierson said in a statement.
Greater St. Louis, Inc. is accepting applications for the program through Aug. 27 at https://www.greaterstlinc. com/diverse-business-accelerator-application/
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.
By Art Holliday News Director, 5 On Your Side
How 5 On Your Side will handle police booking photos, or ‘mug shots’
For decades, it has been standard practice in many newsrooms when someone is arrested to use the booking photo released by law enforcement, commonly referred to as a mug shot. It is sometimes debatable what that photo really adds to the story.
KSDK 5 On Your Side is mindful of the effect mug shots have on anyone charged but not convicted, especially people of color. Booking photos can reinforce negative stereotypes and become a barrier to housing and employment, regardless of whether the person is convicted of a crime. In the digital age, a mug shot can last forever
online, even if someone is acquitted or the charges are dropped. If the only time our audience sees a Black face is in a mug shot, it can have a cumulative and negative effect.
KSDK has the duty to seek and report positive stories in our more diverse communities, and we believe making sure mug shots are used for specific reasons represents positive change. While this policy is primarily about booking photos, commonly referred to as mug shots, it could apply to any image or photo of someone suspected of a crime.
KSDK has adjusted its guidelines that determine whether we will use a mug shot. The biggest difference in our updated plan is the requirement that a news manager has to be involved in
the booking photo decision.
One individual will not make the decision. Instead of using mug shots simply because law enforcement makes them available, KSDK will be thoughtful about minimizing harm to people accused but not yet convicted of a crime, while protecting the public and giving viewers information to keep them safe.
We’re explaining our policy in the interest of being transparent with our news audience.
1. News manager input: Use of any mug shot requires talking to a news manager.
2. Be fair and minimize harm: When KSDK covers
initial criminal allegations, we will minimize harm and be thoughtful when using mug shots. Part of our decision to use a mug shot will hinge on whether KSDK intends to follow the story until its conclusion. If charges are dropped or a suspect is acquitted, would we run an update story? If not, we should not use the booking photo. We will still publish mug shots in cases of high news value; for example, if the person is a public figure, such as an elected official, or when a crime is especially high-profile.
3. Danger to the public: Mug shot use could be justified if there is danger to the
public. Police may believe the suspect of the crime is still on the loose and it is important that our audience know what the suspect looks like.
4. Additional victims: Mug shot use could be justified if police have arrested a suspect, but officials believe there could be additional victims and the public needs to know what this person looks like to determine if they too may have been harmed by the suspect.
5. Digital and social media: KSDK staff will not use mug shots as the main image on a story or social media unless it meets the “danger to the public” or “additional victims” criteria. Viewers will have to click on a story to see a mug shot that meets our other use criteria.
6. High profile case: Use
of a booking photo could be justified if a crime has become a national story or regional story. KSDK will give consideration to the age of the accused and the severity of the crime.
7. Follow-up coverage: Before we continue to use a mug shot, we will consider other photos or video available, so that use of a mug shot is not necessary.
8. Common names: If John Smith or Bill Johnson is suspected of committing a crime, using the booking photo might prevent confusion because the names are so common.
Art Holliday is the News Director of 5 On Your Side. He is reachable at aholliday@ ksdk.com.
Art Holliday
The St. Louis American Staff
In November 2020, Schnucks launched a supplier diversity program, designed “to promote supplier participation reflective of the diverse communities throughout the Midwest in which Schnucks operates.”
The program, which has now been running for almost one year, had the initial goal of identifying local suppliers “that are at least 51 percent owned, operated and managed by individuals that are: disabled, LGBT, military veterans, minorities and/or women.”
In July of that same year, during a national reckoning on issues of diversity, inclusion, and racial justice, Schnucks announced partnerships with several local Black-owned restaurants, including Cathy’s Kitchen, Royally Baked, Bold Spoon Creamery, and Ms. Piggies’ Smokehouse.
Specialty Deli Category Manager Andy DeCou and other members of the Schnucks team sought out local restaurant owners who were interested in partnering with Schnucks to reach more customers. “At Schnucks, we’re committed to supporting our neighboring restaurants at a time when many are struggling because of pandemic restrictions on space and occupancy,” DeCou said. “After reading ‘Black-Owned Restaurants
Schnucks works with diverse vendors, local Black owned restaurants
to Support in St. Louis Right Now’ in Feast Magazine, we called these restaurateurs and invited them to sell their unique offerings in our stores.”
Both the supplier diversity program and the Black owned restaurant partnerships are part of Schnucks’ overall diversity and inclusion plan, titled
“Unity is Power.” Schnucks’ website states that the mission of the Unity is Power program is as follows: “We are creating a workplace where our Black teammates, as well as teammates of Color and diverse backgrounds, feel they belong and can grow their careers because they feel
valued, and can see a path forward in our company through intentional inclusion in new management development programs.”
One of the Black vendors whose products are being sold in Schnucks stores is Joshua Danrich, also known as Mr. Fresh, who is just 12 years old.
By Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American
Danrich and his mother say their products have a social mission, according to their website: “Our mission is to use this platform to promote emotional, mental, physical, and financial maturity, as well as self-esteem and self-confidence in African American boys.”
The scents are $7, and are sold in several
tions. Schnucks employs nearly 15,000 people across 100 stores in Missouri, Illinois,
and
by
and have a
are
Like People? Like Driving?
Part-time driver positions start at $17.50 an hour. Health insurance offered following 90 days of employment.
Applicants must be positive, reliable individuals with solid work experience and a clean driving record. Applicants must also pass USDOT physical and drug test, and with ACT assistance, obtain IL CDL B license with air brakes and passenger endorsements. ACT is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.
Cathy Jenkins (center) is the owner of Cathy’s Kitchen in Ferguson. Shown here with her daughters and employees. Micah (left) and Cathy L. (right).
Schnucks loca-
Indiana, Iowa
Wisconsin. They
owned
the Schnuck family,
corporate headquarters based here in St. Louis.
BUILDING A MORE DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE
THAT'S OUR BUSINESS.
We’re the Regional Business Council. Our members include CEOs of over 100 of the area’s leading businesses, generating over $65 billion in revenue and employing over 120,000 professionals. RBC members are passionate about St. Louis and giving back. Our strength, resources, and expertise allow us to act quickly to significantly impact areas of need as they arise. Improving the St. Louis region is a big job, but that’s our Business.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are at the core of everything we do. Whether it's helping attract, develop and retain our region's talent, promoting the opportunities and benefits of skilled careers, supporting minority-owned businesses, or working with key partners, the RBC and its members are committed to advancing equity in our region.
