May 6th, 2021 edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

City, County unite to ‘Reopen STL’

Restaurants face less restrictions

By Sophie Hurwitz Of the St. Louis American

County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor

Tishaura Jones together served up some good news for area restaurateurs and citizens on Monday.

They announced a joint executive order on the continued reopening of businesses in the St. Louis region. The days of the city and County working independently on COVID19 response have ended.

“You may have heard me say these past few months [that] St. Louis deserves a more regional approach to our big issues,” Jones said.

“Well, today, I’m proud to take a big first step with the (County Executive) to introduce new reopen STL health orders that align the city and the county’s COVID-19

responses for the first time.” Page said “Thousands of people a day toggle between the city and the county to work, attend school, dine out, shop, and worship.”

“While the responses of the city and county have been similar, they have not always been in sync.”

Businesses will no longer be under capacity restrictions based on a percentage of fire code capacity of an indoor space. Maximum capacity will continue to be “limited by the requirement of social distancing.” Tables still must be six feet apart and other COVID safety protocols must be followed.

Bar and restaurant curfews are loosened, as establishments can again stay open until 3 a.m. instead of

n “You may have heard me say these past few months [that] St. Louis deserves a more regional approach to our big issues.”

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones

Medicaid expansion struggle continues

Senate votes 14-20 against funding it

By Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

A court battle is likely in the state’s future after the Missouri Senate last week voted against paying to expand the state’s Medicaid program, scheduled to roll out July 1 after a majority of the state’s voters approved the constitutional amendment in 2020.

At this stage, it is unclear what will happen this summer as those newly eligible for the program seek coverage.

“As elected officials, we have a responsibility and that is to uphold our oath to the Constitution, but also the will of the people,” State Sen. Brian Williams (D-St. Louis) said.

“So, it’s very frustrating and disappointing that we didn’t fully fund Medicaid expenditures.”

The Senate voted April 28 after hours of debate. The funding failed to pass, with a vote of 14-20 to reject — four Republicans broke ranks with the rest of their party and voted in favor of funding the expansion.

The Missouri House had previously separated the expansion funding and passed the budget bill without it.

Williams noted that the fate of the expansion is now in the hands of Gov. Mike Parson, as lawmakers are required to present a budget to the governor by Friday, May 7.

Williams said that even though the House and Senate voted to exclude expansion funding, Parson could decide to include funding in the budget. It will then go back to the General Assembly where lawmakers will work on a solution.

Parson has previously said he doesn’t support expanding Medicaid, but he supports

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

It has been an undeniably tough year for embattled St. Louis County Police Chief Mary Barton.

By Rebecca Rivas For The Missouri Independent and Reveal

Lavina McCoy, owner of Gourmet Soul restaurant, hands Demond Winston his curbside order on Tuesday, May 4, in downtown St. Louis. McCoy is happy that dining restrictions will be lifted starting next week.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

See REOPEN STL, A6

St. Louis County Police Chief Mary Barton said her highest priority is addressing the racial divide within the department.

Photo by David Kovaluk / St. Louis Publis Radio

Lauren London returns to big screen, finds healing while filming

After stepping away to grieve her fiancé Nipsey Hussle’s death in 2019, Lauren London has returned to acting. She currently stars in “Without Remorse,” alongside Michael B. Jordan

In the film, Jordan’s character seeks revenge against ex-military officers who killed London’s character, their unborn child and members of his Navy SEAL team.

She found filming in the same year as Hussle’s death to be freeing.

“(It was) one of many things that helped in my healing,” she said.

“I got to cry a lot. I was away from my children for 11 days, so I tried to hold on really strong in front of them, and so the 11 days away allowed me to really be alone and grieve.”

London and Hussle were

engaged, and had a son, before her fiancé was murdered in Los Angeles in March 2019.

“Without Remorse” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Ciara and Russell Wilson donate more than $35K to Seattle middle school

Ciara and Russell Wilson have donated more than $35,000 to Denny International Middle School. They also partnered with the NFL and Goalsetter to launch their “Why Not You” Foundation and the donation was designed to call attention to Financial Literacy Month.

“Ciara and I really wanted to talk to you all because we didn’t come from much and we had big visions, we had goals, big dreams.” Russell told students at Denny via Zoom.

Goalsetter, a New York-based financial technology company, will provide the students with up to five years of financial literacy tools through its app.

In the future, they will be provided with a debit card activated with financial literacy game-based quizzes from the Goalsetter app. Students’ funds will be frozen on Sundays, unless they complete their quiz for the week. Family and friends will always have access

to contribute funds to their account.

Almost 900 students will receive a savings account with $40.

Quality Control Music

Co-Founder Coach K finishes degree he started 20 years ago

On Saturday, May 1, Quality Control Music Co-Founder Coach K received a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and an honorary doctorate degree of humane letters from Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, N.C.

K was a student athlete at Saint Augustine’s in 2000 but left the school after suffering from a basketball injury.

Last year, he re-enrolled and graduated with a degree from Saint Augustine’s Gateway program for adult learners.

The pandemic halted him from walking the stage in 2020, this year the university renewed commencement activities with in-person ceremonies.

“After having success in this music business, I was still missing something.” Coach K recalled at his graduation.

New apparel line launches in honor of Gianna, Kobe Bryant

May 1 would have been Gianna Bryant’s 15th birthday. In January 2020, she and her father basketball legend Kobe Bryant died with seven others in a helicopter crash. Since

the tragedy, Vanessa Bryant has worked to preserve their legacies through her sports foundation, Mamba Mambacita, which aims to empower young girls who are athletes.

The new Mamba and Mambacita apparel line has been launched in honor of Gianna and Kobe. It features tie-dyed sweat suits with ‘Mambacita’ written across the front in bold red letters and a red heart with the number two inside on the left pant leg to symbolize Gianna’s basketball jersey number. Proceeds will be donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation.

Kelly Rowland reveals Beyoncé and Michelle saw her birth for Baby No. 2 on Zoom

Because of coronavirus restrictions limiting people in a delivery room during birth, Kelly Rowland invited close family and friends, including her former bandmates Beyoncé and Michelle, to watch on Zoom.

As a recent guest on Ellen, she explained why she had her birthing experience on that platform.

“When I had Titan, my family was in there, and this time they weren’t. Everybody was feeling a way about that because we like to be at each other’s births, so we got a Zoom, and everyone was there.”

Sources: APNews.com,

As St. Louis County libraries move to reopen, police have checked out

By Sophie Hurwitz

American

St. Louis

Of the

When the St. Louis County Library system opens to inperson patrons without appointments for the first time in more than a year on May 10, many things will have changed. Most will not be as visible as masked workers or social distancing signs. According to library workers organizing under the activist group Libraries for All STL, these newly reopened libraries will no longer have police officers on their payrolls. The off-duty officers, working under the contracting group Hudson Securities, had been present until July 2020 at six branches of the SLCL system: Indian Trails, Florissant Valley, Lewis and Clark, Natural Bridge, Rock Road, and Weber Road. All but one of those branches are in North County and serve a majority-Black population.

SLCL Director Kristen Sorth stated in an email that the police officers — who spent their time in the library in full uniform, despite not being on duty — are to be replaced with Public Safety Specialists, as the budgeted funds for Hudson Security were removed from the 2020 Library Budget this past September.

Per the September meeting minutes, all the branches that housed police officers in previous years — with the notable exception of Indian Trails — will now host public safety specialists.

The job postings for these new public safety professionals, however, indicated that they would not be entirely separate from the county police: they included unarmed security licenses issued by that same department as a requirement.

Some library workers wonder if these new jobs indicate that the library is in fact divesting from police, or just re-instituting policing under the badge of the library system rather than the badge of Hudson Securities.

“We really think that they changed the badge and kept the function the same,” said one librarian, who requested anonymity due to fears of retribution from her employer.

“The descriptions online say they’re going to receive training from St. Louis County Police Department.” Other employees wonder why any person must serve in this role in the first place, noting that in their branches police officers rarely did much of anything to serve the library or its patrons.

“Really, most officers spent their time on their phones

at my branch,” one librarian remembered. “There was some harassment of teenagers and the homeless.” Three different library workers stated, however, that the police officers in the library witnessed any form of altercation or other serious incident, they were not able to do anything about it — and the librarians generally found themselves either breaking up fights themselves or calling the local police department.

“Basically, intimidation was their unstated purpose in our library branches,” one worker said. Others agreed: “I think they’re just there to scare people straight. It’s an intimidation tactic. They don’t really do much because they’re off-duty. There’s only certain things that they can do…they have limited authority.”

Other changes the library

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is now instituting include the placement of social workers in the same five branches that will be receiving public safety officers “to address the barriers of accessing social services, providing trusted referrals to other community partners, and [equip] Library employees to handle crisis situations,” Sorth said in an email.

Library employees, however, say that more change is needed in order to move the libraries towards being the community spaces they were designed; supporting everyone from unhoused patrons needing access to the internet to elderly residents checking out audiobooks. Throughout the pandemic, librarians — whose workforce was cut drastically by 122 employees during the summer months — have been responsible for curbside ser-

vice, running food and diaper distribution events, and moving a great deal of the library’s programming such as author talks online.

Now, they are expected to do all that and make the libraries welcoming spaces in a fully open capacity, while working with a staff that is smaller than the staff they had at this time last year. As such, Libraries For All is now pushing for a more fully staffed library system in order to make that possible, and a participatory-budgeting system to allow patrons and workers to help determine where the money that would otherwise be spent on policing in the libraries might best go.

“There are library and information sciences professionals who have studied what the alternatives are to police in libraries. There are libraries that

are already doing this stuff. And the number one answer is fully staffed libraries,” including workers such as peer navigators, who would have personal experience with some of the struggles, such as homelessness, that many of the library’s patrons are facing.

“They’re trying to make us the radical enemy…they’re painting us as disgruntled employees. With that being said, at work, we’re the best employees,” one librarian, who recently won employee of the quarter, said. “So, we can’t be that disgruntled! Obviously, I’m providing stellar service to my community. And that is exactly the reason why we’re fighting this fight in our own free time, at the risk of our livelihood.”

STEPS

maryville.edu/Rung.

Photo courtesy of slcl.org

St. Louis County Library, Indian Trails Branch

Showman Trump—a threat to our democracy

Evidence that the Republican party is now firmly in the grasp of a shady, racist ex-president is seen at every level in a country that may be on a path to a real political civil war. The country’s second major political party has abandoned any pretense that it is not subject to any of the showboat whims of Donald J. Trump. He has shown that identity can precede policy by his willingness and ability to exploit an American white supremacy that has been with us since the country’s birth and remains powerful today.

In an essay called “The Bitter Heartland” by William Galston, a former member of the Clinton administration and now a senior member at Brookings, says, “Resentment is one of the most powerful forces in human life. Unleashing it is like splitting the atom. It creates enormous energy, which can lead to more honest discussions and long-delayed redress of grievances. It can also undermine personal relationships and political regimes, because its destructive potential is so great it must be faced.”

Galston continues saying that in recent decades, many of Trump’s most loyal supporters, “have witnessed the growth of a potent new locus of right-wing resentment at the intersection of race, culture, class and geography.”

Donald Trump—either uninformed or indifferent to the massive changes in this country and the world that have created daunting, unprecedented challenges for us—continues to pursue a course of self-aggrandizement that has put the nation in a precarious position.

In response to President Biden’s forthright speech that addressed the country’s deeplyentrenched systemic racism and racial discrimination, the Republicans sent the lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate to insist that the country is not racist. Tim Scott conceded it may have been racist, but lamely says it has evolved out of it. Notwithstanding Scott’s role as an apologist for his party’s complete acquiescence to the leadership of Trump, his shady conduct and disingenuous protests about the outcome of his bid for a second term, there is a simple truth.

New York Times columnist Charles Blow reminds us that, “Historically, however, there is no question that the country was founded by racists and white supremacists, and that much of the early wealth of this country was built on the backs of enslaved Africans … Eight of the first 10 presidents personally enslaved Africans. In 1856, the chief justice of the United States wrote in the infamous ruling on the Dred Scott case that Black people ‘had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.’”

When we say that the United States is a racist country, we don’t mean to suggest that all or even most Americans are themselves racist, but we can’t forget that almost half of the country

voted for a loudly-outspoken racist, Donald Trump.

Yet we do see manifestations of the danger posed by Trump and the complicity of most of his party’s leaders, along with a full onboarding of a wide majority of elected Republicans and ordinary party members—and in no place more than Missouri.

In Washington D.C., the number two leader in the Republican House leadership has moved to oust highly-conservative U.S. Representative from Wyoming Liz Cheny from her leadership post because she has not backed down from her criticism of Trump. She has committed an unacceptable sin in today’s Republican party--calling out Trump’s election lies.

In our region, we see teachers in the Rockwood School District asking for protection from personal attacks and outright threats of violence because of a backlash against the district’s diversity and equity programs. The Webster Board of Education found it necessary to affirm a formal new policy on anti-racism and anti-bias that was developed by teachers, staff and high school students and others earlier in the school year.

With Trump winning Missouri by 15 points in 2020, Attorney Eric Schmitt and disgraced former Governor Eric Greitens are openly vying for the former president’s political embrace. Greitens announcement that Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Trump campaign advisor and Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, will be his political campaign chair, appears to give him an edge despite Schmitt’s shameful and increasingly desperate attempts to earn Trump’s blessing.

It is in this political environment where you have a major political party maintaining that no election where it is defeated is legitimate and if we lose, we are free to just change the rules. That has led to massive efforts at the state level to promote voter suppression laws. Baltimore Law School professor Kimberly Wehle wrote that, “as of late March, state legislators have introduced 361 bills in 47 states this year that contain limitations around voting, a 43 precent increase from just a month earlier.

This attempted assault on access to the ballot--the foundation of democracy--can have disastrous consequences for the nation. We see what can happen when an unscrupulous leader is willing to exploit the darker aspects of a politically-fragmented society for his own selfish ends. Trump is showing that the United States is not immune to authoritarianism. There have been other recent attempts to circumvent democracy here but none so dangerous as the tyranny of a man who offers simple answers and rightly has been described as “almost a caricature textbook despot.” Let’s hope that there are enough attentive and informed Americans of a better nature who will resist this assault on the rule of law and the undermining of the country’s democratic system.

Commentary

Chauvin is guilty; Our work is cut out for us

By Ben Jealous

Two weeks have passed since Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the murder of George Floyd. But the images from that moment are seared in our memories forever: the murderer, led away in handcuffs; the Floyd family, Philonise Floyd, speaking through tears, at the microphones after the verdict; the crowds outside the courthouse erupting in cheers when the verdict was read. Our gratitude for this measure of accountability is soul deep. And now we ask ourselves, will things really be different this time? The answer is that they can be…if we seize this moment. Washington has sent encouraging signs that it is serious about addressing police violence and systemic racism. Congress should pass the imperfect, but important, George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The Justice Department is forging ahead with investigations of police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville. It is investigating the shooting of Anthony Brown in North Carolina. We have work to do in our own neighborhoods, too. Policing is a local function, controlled by city, county and state governments. These governments answer directly to us, the citizens. And there is a lot we can do to insist on change.

One of the most inspiring examples today is in Ithaca, NY., a college town led by a dynamic young Black mayor. There, Mayor Svante Myrick and the city council approved a plan to do away with their traditional police department and replace it with a new Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety. Some personnel would carry weapons, some would not.

Instead, unarmed social workers would respond to many calls in which an armed response is unnecessary and even dangerous. The new department will have a civilian supervisor. It will focus on de-escalating situations in which people are at risk, and restoring trust among the city’s communities of color, homeless residents, LGBTQ residents and residents with disabilities. The plan came together with input from residents as well as city and county officials. It is the kind of innovative thinking we want in communities across the nation, and the energy around the Chauvin trial helped get it over the finish line.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

The chess match of America

By Mike Jones

In his first address before Congress on April 28, President Joe Biden laid out a transformational agenda that would define American politics for the next 40 years. If he pulls it off history will put him in the presidential cohort of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. If he gets half of it done, he’ll rank with Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. I would add Ulysses S. Grant to this list because, if you’re Black, what he accomplished with Reconstruction was as monumental and transformative as anything any US president has ever done. The fact that the country wouldn’t sustain it and allowed Confederate traitors to rewrite American history is on the country, not Grant.

But this column is not about Biden’s speech, but Sen. Tim Scott’s Republican response and Biden’s and VP Kamala Harris’s response to Scott’s response.

Scott’s response consisted of the usual inane and absurd Republican talking points, but the one that got everybody’s attention was his assertion that systemic racism does not exist in America. When queried, Biden and Harris demurred on attacking the systemic racism comment, and said the American people are not racist, but the consequences of America’s “historical” racism hadn’t been addressed. All of this was followed by the usual outraged clutching of pearls.

What’s going on here, you might ask. I want you to keep in mind that Biden is trying to pass political paradigm changing legislation and Sen. Scott (we believe) is trying to do a real deal on national police reform with Sen. Corey Booker and Rep. Karen Bass, who had the best response to Scott, saying “he was talking to his caucus”.

And with that in mind, stay with me while I make a detour and historical stop.

The detour

Demonstrating their politi-

cal bona fetes, people will say that politics is chess and not checkers. Usually alluding to the fact that checkers is a game of tactics while chess is a game of strategy.

What really separates chess from checkers is the pieces. In checkers, all pieces are the same, and they all do the same thing. Chess pieces, on the other hand, are all different and do different things. To play chess you must know what the different pieces do, and what’s their relative value at any point in the game depending on your strategy.

But chess is also different for another reason. It can be played in multiple dimensions.

Three-dimensional chess (3-D) is any chess variant that uses multiple boards representing different levels, allowing the chess pieces to move in three physical dimensions. It’s played between two opponents who move pieces or attack boards alternately.

Threedimensional chess is used colloquially to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests. To describe an individual as playing three-dimensional chess implies a higher order understanding and mastery of the system beyond the comprehension of their peers or ordinary observers, who are inferred to be “playing” regular chess.

Politics, when played by professionals, especially national and international power politics, is three-dimensional chess, except observers can’t see the other two boards. Which means nobody but the political players ever really know what’s going on. Everybody who knows ain’t saying, and everybody that’s saying don’t know.

The historical stop In order to put all of this in

Letters to the editor

We all can harness that energy where we live. Our year of speaking out and taking to the streets will serve us well; we can organize, demonstrate and show up in the places where local lawmakers meet to do their work. We can contact our local representatives directly; they might live next door or down the street.

And while the task of changing thousands of police departments, one by one, seems huge, think of this: more than half of Black Americans live in 25 metropolitan areas. We can get serious about saving Black lives by starting in those metro areas. And we can build a movement that inspires others to act.

One of the most emotional moments after George Floyd’s murder last year came when his daughter Gianna, then 6 years old, said, “Daddy changed the world.” If we want her to be right in the long run, we can do our part to make her words come true. And each of us can start right here at home.

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation. Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive. In 2008, he was chosen as the youngestever president and CEO of the NAACP.

perspective, I reference what a 19th Century master of threedimensional politics, Frederick Douglass, had to say about another 19th Century three-dimensional master, Lincoln. The occasion was the dedication of the still controversial Emancipation Memorial in 1876 in Washington D.C. Douglas said, “Abraham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either our man or our model. In his interests, in his associations, in his habits of thought and in his prejudices, he was a white man. His great mission was to accomplish two things: first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin; and second, to free his country from the great crime of slavery. To do one or the other, or both, he must have the earnest sympathy and the powerful cooperation of his loyal fellow-countrymen.

Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound to as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.”

Douglass knew who Lincoln was and who he wasn’t. More importantly, he and Lincoln understood who and what white America was. What Douglass and Lincoln playing for, in their own ways, was everything. And when you’re playing for everything, you say what you have to say, you do what you have to do in order to carry the day. The only question you ever really must answer is: Do you wanna be right or do you wanna win? So back to this Sen. Scott thing. What’s going on in Washington DC is a winner take all 3-D political chess game. Biden is playing for the future against a zombie past that refuses to die. Sen. Scott is or isn’t (we won’t really know until we see a bill) in negotiations to pass a national police reform bill with Republican support. You will not know what anything meant until the game is over. Here’s another way politics is like chess. At the end of the game, you want to be the one that says, “check mate.”

Some recent comments on The American’s Facebook page:

Viewers respond to MO Senate rejecting Medicaid expansion

The government no longer represents the people.

The government functions for corporations and their bottom line. Katheryn Human

They are a bunch of heartless rich guys!!! Gerald Green No money for healthcare, but millions to fight and lose court battles! Smooth move MO! Mark Florida Game on! Gail Abbott

The ones who went against the voters should be recalled! Ellen Messerly Thomasson The people voted and the voters are

Viewers respond to Dr. Hooks-Anderson’s column ‘Are

Columnist Mike Jones

Columnist Ben Jealous

Jaxon Hayes, 4, learned the importance of brushing your teeth correctly to avoid future dental problems on May 1 through a collaborative program between A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health and Affinia Healthcare. SLPS families received free dental services during the event. “During the pandemic, many students have not been able to receive dental screenings or care through typical school-based programs,” said Patricia Inks, Dental Center director of dentistry in the community & integrated community service partnerships. “This is a first-time partnership with SLPS to ensure children and their school-aged siblings receive the care they need to prevent tooth decay, the most common childhood chronic disease.

U. City schools receive $95,000 grant to support student mental health, wellness

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful throughout America – especially on students.

The University City School District is one of three area districts to receive a $95,000 grant from the St. Louis Children’s Service Fund Board to support student mental health and wellness through the 2021-22 school year.

“We are so very grateful to the Children’s Service Fund for recognizing the double pandemic of COVID-19 and racism and its profound impact on so many of our students,” said Superintendent Sharonica Hardin-Bartley.

“We feel strong and confident in our ability to deliver vital mental health services and wellness programs to our students and their families so they can succeed in school and life despite the many profound obstacles put in their path this past year.”

She said the grant would be utilized through the district’s Learning Reimagined program, which has “created an established

framework to provide resources for student wellness and joy.”

The resources will go to “high-impact, equitable programming free of racial bias that directly supports the District’s students,” said Hardin-Bartley.

Partnering with the district are Alive and Well Communities, Khaos Inc., and The Collective STL.

This is the district’s first funding through the Children’s Service Fund, and it is one of 17 agencies/groups to receive the emergency funding from a pool of $1.4 million. Parkway and Valley Park are the other respective school districts to receive similar grants.

“We were thoroughly impressed with the innovative programming of these organizations and are proud to help fund their efforts to address the stress and trauma caused by the pandemic,” said Dr. Randall Sterkel, Children’s Service Fund board chairman.

Our youth need mentors to lead by lifting

By Michelle Tucker, President and CEO

of United Way of Greater St. Louis

In the St. Louis region, nearly one in five kids live in poverty, according to the United Way’s Community Needs Assessment released in 2020 – a staggering figure.

Children living in poverty face a web of interconnected challenges – food and housing insecurity, crime and violence, lack of access to education supports, and more. All of these can limit a young person’s future.

Young people need a foundation of positive adult relationships on which to build stable, productive futures, and the stable presence of caring adults – such as a mentor – is crucial in a child’s life. A mentor works alongside the child’s family, school and community to open up new perspectives and foster self-esteem. It’s not a matter of telling the young person what to do but helping them to identify their interests and leverage their strengths, walking with them through life’s journey.

In short, a mentor leads by lifting –lifting up the young person’s interests and championing for a brighter future.

Studies show that mentoring is linked to many positive outcomes. Students with mentors are less likely to engage in risky behaviors like skipping school and substance use. They exhibit higher self-esteem and increased academic performance. Students with mentors in their lives are more likely to participate and hold leadership roles in extracurricular activities and go on to pursue post-secondary education.

Mentors open up new life experiences, helping students to envision possibilities for their career and future that they may not otherwise be exposed to. They help young professionals seize opportunities to grow their careers.

Members of United Way of Greater St. Louis’ Charmaine Chapman Leadership Society recently gathered for a virtual event to hear from several nonprofits from across the St. Louis region that help local kids succeed through mentorship services. The nonprofits explained how they have pivoted to virtual mentorship programming and shared about their current volunteer openings.

The common theme? Mentors can be a game-changer, and there is an incredible need for them. Nationally, one in three kids don’t have a mentor growing up.

There are many ways to be a mentor – a one-on-one relationship with a young person, or working with specific needs like academic tutoring, serving as a financial coach and more. If you are interested in getting involved, visit STLVolunteer.org to search all local mentorship opportunities. It will take all of us coming together to help kids in our region succeed. By working to lift the next generation through mentoring, we’ll make a worthy investment into the future of our entire St. Louis region.

A brush with destiny

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Michelle Tucker

Michael Jones helps owner Lavina McCoy place call-in orders into bags for pickup on Tuesday, May 4. McCoy is grateful for her call-in orders but is excited to reopen the dining area starting next week.

Continued from A1 Gourmet Soul Operations Manager

Reopen STL

midnight for the first time in a year. Both Jones and Page warned that the region is not returning to pre-pandemic “normal.”

Individuals entering any business must still stay masked, even though fully-vaccinated people no longer must be masked while outdoors.

The order requires that gatherings of more than 500 people must be approved by respective Departments of Health.

“We have forms that need to be completed before approving large-scale events,” Jones explained.

“We’ve been doing this for many months with our Convention and Visitors Commission, and we should see (attendance) expansion, also, to our sports facilities.”

Both the Mayor and the County Executive said increased vaccination availability led to the modifications.

The region is far from past the COVID-19 crisis. The Pandemic Response Task Force noted last week that hospital admissions are not decreasing,

but rather plateauing. Newer variants of the virus continue to spread.

President Biden said Tuesday he foresees 70 percent of Americans having at least one vaccination shot by July 4 and that the U.S. “is ready to move” when vaccinations are approved for young teenages between 12 and 15.

Any individual over 16 can now get a vaccine in the St. Louis area. A FEMA mass vaccination site at America’s Dome downtown is open to anyone (not just city residents) from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Free parking is available, as are public transit vouchers.

Page said the “vast majority” of businesses complied with public health orders for the past year.

“It’s your overwhelming compliance to public health protocols and the wide access to the vaccine that has us ready to take these next steps, the important steps, that we’re going to take together.”

As always, we encourage those who have not been vaccinated to do so as soon as possible,” Jones said.

“This is the new normal, not a return to normal. Please stay vigilant, stay masked up, continue to wash your hands and stay socially distant.”

In addition, through the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging, any homebound individual can have a vaccine delivered and administered to them.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Walters said he believes the phrase does in fact have a clear, widely agreed upon definition.

Council she did not believe systemic racism existed within her department.

“I think to say that there’s systemic racism in the police department is overly broad and probably not accurate,” she said during that meeting.

On Friday, Barton said that her comments at the meeting were repeatedly misquoted and misinterpreted.

“I never said there was no systemic racism here. I followed up by saying there is racism here and sexism and other problems,” she said.

“And I think that that misquote, or that misinterpretation, has been repeated over and over and over again. Do I believe there is a racial divide in this police department? I absolutely believe that and there’s racism everywhere, okay?” Barton said she believes there are huge differences in the definitions people assign to systemic racism.

“And until you’re speaking with the same definition, I think it’s hard to put a label on it or to say it’s true or it’s not true,” the chief said.

“But I would say this, there is definitely a racial problem in this police department, and I have never denied that, or I’ve never said that wasn’t true.”

Ethical Society of Police (ESOP) President Sgt. Donnell

Medicaid

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 funding the expansion because it is the will of the voters.

Robin Rudowitz, Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and co-director for the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said the state of Maine experienced the longest lag between voters approving Medicaid expansion and its implementation. Former Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a $55 million Medicaid expansion bill in June 2018. It was not implemented until January 2019, when new Gov. Janet Mills took over.

“I think Missouri is unique —because the ballot measure was a constitutional amendment and not a state legislative change,” she said.

“There have been a number of states that have adopted the expansion through ballot measure, and it hasn’t always been a straightforward process in implementing.”

“’It’s too broad of a statement’ — I’ve never heard that before, except for when someone doesn’t want to take ownership of what is clearly there,” Walters said. In more recent events, Barton maintained that the transfer of Officer Shanette Hall was not in retaliation for an interview about police culture Hall gave to Vice for a video. It was published the day before she was unexpectedly transferred.

Hall, who is a Black woman and president of ESOP’s County chapter, was reassigned from her human resources role recruiting officers to a patrol position in a different precinct with a predominately white staff. ESOP claimed it was in retaliation to the interview.

But Barton said she has been transferred 12 times throughout the course of her career and that it’s a normal part of the job — that officers are transferred to meet the best needs of the police department. Walters said the transfer did not make sense, citing the department’s reasoning that they were taking recruiting efforts “in a different direction.”

“After they transferred Shanette Hall out of that position, then they posted the position for other officers to apply,” he said. “Which is kind of strange to me that, if you’re going into a different direction,

She noted that Oklahoma currently is in the middle of implementing Medicaid expansion as well, and is the only other state that did so through an amendment to the state’s constitution.

Because expansion was not implemented prior to the American Rescue Act, Missouri should receive about $2.8 billion in federal funding.

The expansion would cover working-age adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty guideline, or $17,774 a year for a single person.

That is equal to working about 33 hours a week at the state minimum wage of $10.30 per hour.

For a household of four, the limit is $36,570, the income of one person working full time at $17.58 an hour or two people working a combined 68 hours a week at minimum wage. Without expansion, Missouri has one of the most restrictive Medicaid eligibility levels for parents and childless adults in the nation, according to the Missouri Budget Project.

you would already have someone in place ready to go in that direction,” he said.

After Hall’s transfer, ESOP’s board voted and declared no confidence in Barton. Just a few days later, so did the St. Louis County Council.

Barton said she continues to maintain her professional relationship with the Council but noted she would have preferred they talk to her about issues rather than “publicly

As it stands, the program provides coverage for low-wage parents earning no more than $388 per month for a family of three, the lowest level allowed under federal law and the third-lowest eligibility level in the nation.

“I feel like my hands are tied and I cringe when I see patients incur negative and long-term consequences from

clearing the air.”

Their respective votes came several months after the chief’s brother-in-law, who was a St. Louis County police dispatcher, used a racial slur on the police radio. He was “immediately removed from the radio and relieved of duty.”

In addition, at least two police contract instructors for the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy have been fired for allegedly using racially disparaging

medical conditions that could have been prevented,” Dr. Heidi Miller said about her uninsured patients.

A day after her appearance on VICE cable network discussing police culture, Shantelle Hall was unexpectedly transferred from her St. Louis County Police Department human resources position to a patrol unit in a different precinct. Ethical Society of Police President Sgt. Donnell Walters says the transfer was retaliation against Hall, who is also president of ESOP’s County Chapter.

language since Barton took over.

“We’ve engaged in a new training program at the police academy to speak specifically about race and its effect on the officers and the professional staff here in the police department,” Barton said.

For Joe Patterson, executive director for the St. Louis County Police Association, it’s the lack of communication surrounding these instances that have shaken the union’s

confidence in Barton.

“We honestly didn’t know how she was dealing with [the incidents],” he said.

“As little communication involving these options, there were an email or two sent out, but we’ve always felt that Chief Barton is not very visible in the media and does not communicate well internally with the police department.” Walters echoed that criticism, noting that while putting an end to racism within the department is not solely her responsibility, the process does start with her.

“It is a collective effort, no it’s not solely her responsibility, but as a commander, you have to set precedent. As a commander, you have to - within the policies and procedures of the agency — you have to address it immediately,” he said.

Barton said her top priority in the next year is to address the racism within the department while rebuilding the department’s relationship with the community.

“It’s been a tough year for everybody and I’m hoping as we would forward into the next year that things improve,” she said.

“And I just want to say that the officers here, although the world kind of closed down for a year, still had to go out, go ahead and do their job and they did it with grace and professionalism — very much so. And I couldn’t be prouder of them or be prouder to be their chief.”

“… I know that we need to be stewards of our limited resources and so when I see our system is designed to pick up the tab for a very costly hospitalization, but not for the very affordable preventable steps, I feel really sad for our patients and this state.” Miller has practiced internal medicine as a primary care doctor since 2013 at Family Care Health Centers, one of the Federally Qualified Health Centers in St. Louis. She also serves as Regional Health Commission medical director. She said most of her patients are employed and fall in the coverage gap — meaning their income is too low to be eligible for premium tax credits, but too high to qualify for Medicaid coverage.

“Patients are hyper aware of their ability to access care or not, and if they don’t access care, they neglect their health and when you neglect your health you can have catastrophic outcomes,” she said.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

‘The fight has to change’: Why Ferguson activists ditched police reform

St. Louis didn’t see a single substantive victory for police reform

Police Reform

Continued from A1 tions and the often mind-boggling conclusions — such as the finding that the killing of 25-year-old Cary Ball Jr., shot 25 times at close range in 2013, was justified.

After Brown’s death on Aug. 9, 2014, the activists saw an opening.

They began drafting legislation to create a Civilian Oversight Board that would review the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s internal investigations into officers accused of excessive force, abuse of authority and discrimination. The group of seven city residents would also scrutinize the department’s investigations into officer-involved shootings and killings.

They’d gotten this bill passed in 2006, but the mayor had vetoed it.

This time, the reformers had some powerful new supporters — Ferguson protest leaders.

For months after Ferguson, people were marching to City Hall and shutting down busy intersections almost daily, demanding police reform Young, Black Ferguson frontliners chanting into bullhorns were soon joined by people who’d never protested before — teens marching alongside their teachers, mothers wheeling babies in strollers.

This time, the mayor not only refrained from opposing the bill, he added his name as a co-sponsor.

The Civilian Oversight Board bill passed April 20, 2015. Exactly six years later, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three counts in the murder of George Floyd; that same day, criminal justice reformer Tishaura Jones was inaugurated as St. Louis’ mayor, becoming the first African American woman to lead the city.

While the young Ferguson activists cheered at the bill’s final vote, many of the longtime Black activists — who had been advocating to pass this legislation for three decades — were more sedate.

“I was almost moved to tears, even though I know there is a hard road ahead of us,” said Jamala Rogers, co-chair of the Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression, who helped write the bill.

Since 2015, St. Louis police officers have shot 53 people, killing 27 of them, according to the Police Department. Yet the Civilian Oversight Board hasn’t reviewed a single one of those cases. And the Police Department has withheld nearly all of the complaints it receives against officers, leaving the board unable to fulfill its basic function.

“We don’t know what the nature of the complaint was,” said Kimberley Taylor-Riley, the oversight board’s commissioner. “We don’t know who it was against. We don’t know any of that information about any of those complaints.”

It’s been more than six years since Brown’s killing made St. Louis the epicenter of the most promising civil rights movement since the 1960s. Yet despite stacks of studies and seemingly unprecedented public support for change, St. Louis has not seen a single substantive victory for police reform, thanks in large part to an influential police union and a larger police apparatus that has stymied accountability.

Today, St. Louis continues to have the highest number of police shootings per capita in the nation and is home to a roiling public showdown over racism in policing. The trajectory of the Civilian Oversight Board shows just how difficult it is to reform police departments from the outside, in St. Louis and across the United States.

But the challenges for the board and the hurdles faced

by a long list of other police reforms have also provided a revolutionary lesson to the new generation of activists who came of age during Ferguson. They’re leading a new movement, one being watched around the nation, with a more ambitious agenda for confronting structural racism: Rather than trying to push reform from the outside, they’re audaciously taking control of the city’s institutions from the inside.

As a 24-year-old, Kayla Reed threw herself into activism after Brown’s killing, eventually becoming one of the reform movement’s leaders. In the beginning, she hunted down solutions to the problems she saw in each individual case of police brutality. And she quickly saw every reform she pushed for fail to fix anything.

“In Mike Brown’s case, there was no camera. And so people asked for body cameras. The officers were white. So people asked for more diversity,” she said. “There was no consequence for the officers. So people asked for a civilian oversight. But each of those solutions — more training, diversity, cameras, civilian oversight — only add more money to the police and can be derailed or controlled by the police union.”

Jones’ ascension to the may-

or’s office stands as the movement’s crowning victory and is already leading to significant changes. Jones’ first executive order tackled the problems at the civilian board head on: She demanded that all complaints against police officers over the last five years be turned over to her office.

‘I will never see your complaint’

When the architects drew up the Civilian Oversight Board, they had a principal mission: to ensure the department was properly investigating complaints about police misconduct and excessive use of force that citizens regularly file.

It’s mostly unable to do that because the Police Department has not followed protocols outlined in the ordinance.

If people feel mistreated by a St. Louis police officer, the ordinance stated that they could find a “joint civilian complaint form” at all police facilities, which would be used by the Police Department and the board.

The police had only been providing people with an Internal Affairs Division complaint form, which stays at the Police Department. By not using the proper form, the Police Department

has effectively thwarted the intent of the oversight law. “I will never see your complaint,” said Taylor-Riley, the board’s commissioner.

The department did not respond to requests to comment for this story. The department did tell The Missouri Independent and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting that it does not track the overall number of complaints.

However, there’s a way to get an idea of how many are actually filed. When a person fills out a joint civilian complaint form, a copy goes to both the Police Department and the Civilian Oversight Board, where each is stamped with case numbers from both entities. So, for example, the last complaint the board received in 2016 had the case numbers: COB 16-0017 and IAD 16-0407. That suggests it was the 17th case of the year for the board and the 407th case handled by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division.

Using that method, from 2016 through 2019, the board saw a total of 125 cases; the Police Department received more than 3,000 complaints in that time.

Put another way, the oversight board reviewed less than

5% of residents’ complaints against St. Louis police.

In that first executive order Jones not only demanded to get all the withheld complaints, but she also took steps to ensure that the Police Department followed the law. She ordered the Police Department to use the joint civilian complaint form that the bill had called for, effective immediately.

In a report obtained by The Missouri Independent and Reveal, the Civilian Oversight Board found that the vast majority of complaints it has received are made by Black men ages 25 to 49 against white officers. The board found that the Police Department has been interviewing fewer numbers of complainants and officers in recent years.

In 2019, the board received 25 complaints. Of those complaints, the police interviewed only one person. Board members are supposed to be invited to these interviews, but the board says members weren’t invited to that interview.

At a raucous public hearing on Jan. 28, 2015, dozens of officers stood in unison to oppose the civilian oversight measure, calling it “anti-police” legislation. At one point, a scuffle broke out after the union business manager allegedly pushed a Black woman, breaking her glasses. Activist Kayla Reed, at right of the man in the red shirt, was urging people to get back to their seats so the meeting wouldn’t be cut short.

In the past, when board members were able to sit in on the department’s interviews with the complainants, they were able to change the tone of the interviews, said John Chasnoff, co-chair of the Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression, who also helped write the bill that created the board.

“Early on, they were able to see that the police were treating complainants more like they were suspects and interrogating them to poke holes in their story, instead of being more receptive,” Chasnoff said.

Demands for police accountability

Many activists saw the board’s true potential as a check against police’s self-investigations into police shootings. The endeavor has been a total failure in that regard. From 2014 through 2020, there were 56 cases in which a city officer shot someone in the line of duty, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Police killed 30 of those people. Not a single one of those shootings has made it to the Civilian Oversight Board in the nearly five years it’s been up and running. When a shooting like this happens, the Police Department’s Force Investigation Unit opens an investigation. The civilian board was supposed to review the unit’s investigation once it’s completed. Did the police

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Photo by Rebecca Rivas / Missouri Independent

Ferguson protest leader Brittany Ferrell helped gather people together to chant, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom,” during a protest in South St. Louis on Nov. 23, 2014. The chant is based on a quote by Black Power activist Assata Shakur. Before leading the chant, Activist

Ashley Yates told the group, “We know Black lives matter, and we know that we must fight to prove that.”

Police Reform

talk to all the witnesses? Is all of the evidence there?

But right now, the investigations aren’t getting past Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, the city’s top prosecutor and one of the leading criminal justice reform prosecutors in the country.

She can rarely close investigations, she said, because some of the cases she receives from the Police Department are so incomplete.

She says the investigations first need to be moved out of the Police Department and into an investigative unit in her office. At that point, her office would prepare a report for the civilian board and the public.

“Where is it in our criminal justice system that a defendant commits a crime and all his friends, whether they’re well meaning or not, get to investigate whether they’re going to hold them accountable?” Gardner said.

In 2017, she told the Board of Aldermen that members of the Force Investigations Unit had instructed an officer not to speak with her prosecutors about a shooting case. Additionally, one of the unit’s members told prosecutors that he had a “duty” to protect his fellow officers, Gardner said.

Oftentimes when there’s a shooting, Gardner said in an interview, her office gets notified hours after the officer’s union attorney is called.

“The police union lawyer is already on the scene before the Circuit Attorney’s Office,” Gardner said. “That is not appropriate.”

That’s why Gardner has been pushing for legislation to establish an independent investigative unit within her office, to give prosecutors more authority at the crime scenes in these cases. The new unit would take officer-involved shooting investigations completely out of the Police Department.

“The police cannot investigate themselves,” she said.

Taking the reins of power

Gardner first pushed legislation to move investigations out of the Police Department back in 2018, and it’s been strongly supported by the activists who wrote the Civilian Oversight Board bill.

In a hearing, the police union’s attorney, Brian Millikan, warned that an independent investigative unit would have a hard time earning the trust of the police officers

or persuading them to give “voluntary statements,” which are crucial in criminal investigations. Officers always volunteered to give statements to the Police Department’s internal unit, he noted. “For these officers to continue to cooperate in the fashion that they do, they need to trust the system in which they are operating under,” Millikan said. “I understand the public needs to trust the system as well. But it’s not just the public.”

The measure never got past the first round of hearings. The same thing happened to another bill, proposed by Alderwoman Megan Green, aimed at curtailing the Police Department’s use of chemical munitions at protests and establishing protocols for how police should respond to protestors. The union then ran an

aggressive campaign against Green, labeling her a communist. In one Facebook post targeting her, the union declared: “BETTER DEAD THAN RED.” Another alderwoman took it as a death threat.

The union also fought the creation of the Civilian Oversight Board. At a raucous public hearing for the bill dozens of officers stood in unison to oppose the watchdog measure, calling it “anti-police” legislation.

Officers then refused to provide their voluntary statements to the board once it was created. The union sued to try to prevent the board from having access to the statements officers gave to Internal Affairs investigators, but ultimately lost the suit.

Jay Schroeder, president of the St. Louis Police Officers

Association, said the union is unfairly accused of being anti-reform and of protecting bad officers.

“The purpose of the police union is to advocate for all its members,” he said. “Our mission statement for years was to obtain a union contract, collective bargaining rights and due process rights. That’s always been kind of our focus.”

Meanwhile, he couldn’t recall a single instance when the union has publicly denounced a police officer for misconduct.

Terry Kennedy is the longtime aldermen who championed the civilian oversight bill and led the Black Aldermanic Caucus for many years. He grew up hearing stories about his enslaved great-grandparents — what they did in the struggle to “move the needle” for his

generation.

Kennedy has spent his life trying to do the same for this new generation of activists, like Kayla Reed. And he understands that they have to come up with new tactics to meet the moment.

“Racism and white supremacy is adaptable,” Kennedy said. “As opposed to being so overt, it became more institutionalized. So the fight has to change.”

As Reed watched reform after reform die, she began to see where power truly resided and decided she’d been doing it all wrong.

She drew up a whole new plan back in 2016. Reed would build a movement that would become as politically powerful as the police union. Any prosecutor, alderman or mayor who wanted to get elected would

need the movement’s endorsement. If they didn’t support reform legislation, they’d have to think about how it would impact her support. They would take control of the reins of power. They would change policing as we know it. So police stop killing Black people.

“We spend too much money on police,” Reed said, “and it’s not keeping us safe. What does it mean to spend that much money on people? That’s not radical. That’s not revolutionary. That is common sense to me.”

Reveal

contributed to this

reporter Trey Bundy

story. It was edited by Andrew Donohue, Jason Hancock and Nina Martin. Kenya Vaughn was a contributing editor. It was fact checked by Liz Boyd and copy edited by Nikki Frick.

About 150 marching protesters shut down more than five major intersections on Nov. 23, 2014 in South St. Louis City, demanding justice for Michael Brown, VonDerrit Myers Jr. and the many other African Americans killed by police. At each intersection, they stopped traffic for 4.5 minutes – representing the 4.5 hours that Michael Brown lay dead in the middle of the Canfield Green neighborhood on Aug. 9, 2014.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant / St. Louis American

Photo by Lawrence Bryant / St. Louis American

Kayla Reed, executive director and co-founder of Action St. Louis, rallies a team of volunteers before they begin knocking on doors on March 22. The group was asking voters to support criminal-justice reformer Tishaura Jones, who was elected mayor of St. Louis on April 6.

City’s proposed budget would cut police funding by $4 million

Amendment eliminates 98 vacant positions

By Dana Rieck

Of the St. Louis American

The Board of Estimate and Apportionment last week amended the city’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget to eliminate 98 vacant police positions and reallocate the $4 million previously budgeted for those positions.

The April 30 meeting was held to approve the proposed budget in order to submit it to the Board of Aldermen for their approval. Aldermen and alderwomen cannot make any additions to the budget, but they can propose amendments to the budget.

Once that board approves the budget, it goes back to the BEA for final passage.

Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, who is also a BEA member, voted against the amendment, while St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green voted in favor.

“I will not be able to vote in support of the reduction in uniformed officers today only because when I look at it, it is hard to tell how we’re going to make up for the purchasing of fewer work hours within the police department, for that reason I will be not be voting to support that amendment today,” he said. In an interview, retired Det. Sgt. Heather Taylor reiterated the point that this budget reduction only affects those unfilled positions — there will be no hiring freeze or firing of current officers. Taylor is serving as acting Public Safety Direction Dan Isom’s advisor.

Jones said her office worked with St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden to come to the specific number of positions to eliminate.

“At the end of the day I support the mayor’s notion that jobs, or positions not actually realized yet is really something that can be utilized elsewhere potentially,” Hayden said during the board’s meeting. “And I support her idea, her initiative,

that perhaps we could send the right, or different, professionals to the scene.”

When Reed asked Hayden how this decrease in funding would affect officers’ overtime, the chief said he was looking at the potential effects — and that overtime really comes down to unpredictable events (such as protests in response to national or local events).

Looking back to years past, Reed and Paul Payne, director of the city’s Budget Division, determined that the department would have been over budget because of overtime costs if it weren’t for the $4 million allocated for those vacant positions.

Typically, the police budget went over by about $3 million to $4 million — with the exception of 2017 in which the

n Aldermanic

President Lewis Reed, who is also a BEA member, voted against the amendment, while St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green voted in favor.

Stockley verdict protests put the budget over by around $10 million.

“So, you’re going to have to be more diligent on overtime only because if you don’t have that kind of slack in your personal services, you cannot have that kind of overspending going forward,” Payne said.

The $4 million would be reallocated to the following categories:

$1.5 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund

$1 million to the Victim Sup-

port Services

$1 million towards increasing the capacity of the Department of Health & Human services to support the unhoused.

$500,000 towards affirmative litigation, directing the city counselor’s office to provide legal support to the Civil Rights Enforcement Agency

“You cannot arrest your way out of violence — historically it doesn’t work,” Taylor said. “What does work is providing resources.”

She believes this plan, providing resources to those who need them in our city before they become violent crime offenders, seeks to fix the root cause of most crime: poverty. She concedes it will take time for the benefits of this kind of approach to be seen, but believes this is a sustainable approach to crime reduction.

“I think the community has a right to question and criticize what we are doing, but I think if people just soak it all in and realize that what we’ve been doing now – we’ve been arresting people constantly — and why don’t we have the results then? You can’t arrest yourself out of something that is a social, economic issue,” Taylor said.

The reallocations reflect sentiments articulated by several residents during a public comment hearing regarding the budget.

Activists asked the board to remove funding for the police department’s vacant positions, as well as overtime, SWAT team, the Real Time Crime Center and the ShotSpotter gunshot detection program.

They recommended those funds be put toward housing and human and health services for the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The initial proposed budget already included no funding for the Medium Security Institution — more commonly known as the Workhouse — allowing Jones to fulfill her promise of closing the jail within the first 100 days of her administration.

“Taking Care of You”

Congresswoman Cori Bush speaks with two inmates, one without a mask, during the April 24th tour of the Medium Security Institution. Inmates said they are given just two masks a week, there is an appalling disregard for

ty protocols and there are many other inhumane conditions.

By Dr. Jameca Woody Cooper For The St. Louis American

The pandemic has impacted the mental and psychological health of older adults by keeping them even more isolated than they were before COVID-19. Isolation from loved ones and peers can impact your mood in various ways. It has created moods of being helpless, and at times, hopeless – especially for older adults who live alone.

There is a link between isolation and depression. A recent study shows that nearly 25 percent of adults over the age of 65 are socially isolated. Social isolation is associated with a 50 percent increase in risk of dementia, and is also associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among older adults, There is a clear difference between older and younger generations regarding communication during the pandemic. The younger generation has more technology skills and use this knowledge to better communicate with others.

Combating COVID crisis is St. Louis jails Pandemic’s mental impact plagues youths to seniors

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

The St. Louis American

“Behind these walls we are denying the humanity and the decency and the rights of hundreds of individuals — the majority of them Black, the majority of them come from zip codes (that) have been long been divested and long ignored.”

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones made this gripping statement after a visit to the city’s Workhouse and Justice Center last month. Uprisings have erupted there in response to delayed trials and inhumane living conditions, according to many detainees and their families. Detainees are also concerned about inadequate coronavirus precautions

n “Mayor Jones is committed to enforcing higher standards to keep the detainees in our care safe.”

– Nick Dunne, public information officer for the Mayor’s office

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is committing to advancing two tobacco product standards to significantly reduce disease and death from using combusted tobacco products, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars; the authority to adopt product standards is one of the most powerful tobacco regulatory tools Congress gave the agency.

“Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products. With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and

safety protocols.”

Personal experiences are well documented.

For the past year, ArchCity Defenders (ACD), a St Louis legal advocacy organization, has gathered testimonials from detainees, family members and prison workers. The agency created a hotline that the public can access through YouTube and other social media outlets.

Many older adults are not familiar with technology and are not able to utilize more modern ways to interact with their peers and loved ones in the virtual world.

For instance, if we were to survey individuals ages 20 to 35, you would likely find that more than 80 percent of them use email, social media and video communications.

However, if we were to do that same survey with individuals over the age of 65, we would likely find that less than 40 percent of them used those same platforms.

Although older adults have been significantly impacted throughout the pandemic, children and adolescents have also been affected.

Erika Wurst, a lawyer with the St. Louis Public Defender’s office, told the Washington Post in February that inmates have been “left in de facto solitary confinement and minded by jail staffers who do not maintain proper

Lack of COVID-19 care is a consistent complaint among many incarcerated individuals who shared their stories. A case manager in both the city jail and the workhouse, who resigned in July 2020, said facility administrators and employees are not

See JAILS, A13

Last year our country transitioned to virtual learning. But that shift was made without addressing the racial and ethnic disparities in student homes and learning environments that

See COOPER, A13

FDA moves to ban menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars

n “Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products.”

– Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. and protections.

address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D.

See FDA, A13

The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars.

Dr. Jameca Woody Cooper

COVID-19 safe-

Photo by Bill Greenblatt / St. Louis American

“Taking Care of You”

Lisa Marie Bradley learns reality of stress, COVID and strokes

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

“It sounds like you had a stroke, but you don’t look old enough. What are you, about 30?”

Lisa Marie Bradley of Maryland Heights was confused by the EMT’s query:

“No, actually I’m 50,” Bradley answered. “There I was, in the back of an ambulance with this big ole cheesy grin on my face but the word ‘stroke’ never entered my mind.” If not for her 13-year-old son, Bradley probably would not have called an ambulance. She did know something was not right in her head. The afternoon of March 1, while preparing to pick up another son who is 15, a strange feeling came over her.

“It’s hard to describe. It was like a dizziness and blurriness at the same time, almost like vertigo,” Bradley recalled.

She had bouts with dizziness before, but the episodes passed quickly. This time, although the wooziness subsided, she said she knew “something wasn’t right.”

Still, Bradley got dressed and told her son to meet her outside by the car. The boy noticed that his mom’s speech was slurring. Bradley said she had that feeling one might get after visiting an optometrist.

Her eyes were dilated, and sunlight was unbearable. Her son begged her to go back inside and call 911. She did… reluctantly.

“I didn’t want to make a big scene or fuss over me. It couldn’t be a stroke, I thought, because in my mind, a stroke would be much more painful.”

After an ambulance arrived and transported her to DePaul

Jails

Continued from A12

taking appropriate actions to deal with the pandemic:

“They put me at risk when I was teaching a class. They have taken no steps,” the case manager said.

“I have never in my life seen such inhumane treatment.”

According to ACD, inmates fear having COVID-19 patients mixed in with the general population and a serious lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). A detainee who was in the city jail and the minimumsecurity workhouse, called conditions where inmates are housed “poor and unfair.”

“They just throw people (with COVID-19) in the pod with us, and those who haven’t even been tested. I’ve never had symptoms and asked them to get me away from that pod,”

Continued from A12

In the U.S., it is estimated that there are nearly 18.6 million current smokers of men-

Hospital, Bradley said she had another “big episode,” this time more intense. She told the doctors she could not see.

“My vision was blurry; the room was spinning. This was different from anything I had ever experienced before,” she said.

The next day, after doctors ordered an MRI, Bradley was shown the results.

“There was a spot on the top, left side of my brain where

the detainee said. “They threaten us just for giving our opinion and it does nothing but frustrate the inmates.”

Marc Taylor, the father of Marc Taylor II, a City Justice Center detainee until he was relocated to the workhouse in January, told St. Louis American reporter Sophie Hurwitz his son is a father of three and a disabled veteran who is serving time for his first offense.

Taylor and his wife, Neva, said they are worried about their son’s physical and mental well-being because he had not received his needed medication, nor been able to speak with a mental health counselor since being moved to the workhouse.

“The jail and city officials, city administrators have completely failed in their duty to protect people’s health, and keep them safe,” ADC

thol cigarettes. But use of menthol cigarettes among smokers is not uniform: out of all Black smokers, nearly 85% smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to 30% of White smokers who smoke menthols. In addition, among youth, from 2011 to

education, could make it challenging to learn advanced concepts and focus on schoolwork.

could make virtual learning more difficult.

Not all students can grasp concepts in a virtual learning format. For students in marginalized communities, living in crowded conditions around adults who might not have more than a high school

In addition, all students have access to a computer and/or internet service. This makes virtual learning quite challenging. Students from marginalized communities with disabilities find it even more difficult to learn in a virtual environment because they will likely need more

I had the stroke.”

Bradley took account of the things in her life that may have contributed to her condition. She had been on diabetes and high blood pressure medicine since her 30s, but she was relatively active. She enjoyed jogging and even participated in a few marathons.

She was dealing with a lot of stress though. Bradley and her husband of 16 years were divorcing.

Executive Director Blake Strode told Al Jazeera, in March.

At the time, documents uncovered by Al Jazeera showed that a COVID-positive detainee in St. Louis was held for two weeks before appropriate measures were taken to isolate him from the general population.

Mayor Jones, along with Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO.), Action St. Louis Executive Director Kayla Reed and other community leaders visited the workhouse and the city’s downtown jail, the City Justice Center, late last month to inspect conditions at the facilities.

“We wanted access to see what’s actually happening so that we could actually make change for real people,” Rep. Bush said during a press event in front of the workhouse.

The officials were told of

2018, declines in menthol cigarette use were observed among non-Hispanic White youth but not among non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic youth.

Flavored mass-produced cigars and cigarillos are com-

support than is available.

There has been an increase in depression and anxiety during the pandemic. Many individuals had some pre-existing symptoms of anxiety and depression in their lives, so that factor could increase the level of impairment they are experiencing.

Many times, depression and anxiety during the pandemic is associated with the lack of social interaction, being over-

Shifting from marriage to single life was no picnic. She was also having a hard time adjusting to a new residence and not having her boys with her 24/7.

The month of May is “Stroke Awareness Month.”

Health organizations are providing information designed to alert individuals about the causes of stroke. Research has shown that chronic, long-term stress can indeed increase the chances of having a stroke.

deplorable conditions that included below-acceptable bathroom accommodations, an “absolutely disgusting” infirmary, inadequate medical treatment protocols, trash stacked up in hallways, bugs, rats and meals that included what detainees describe as “mystery meat.”

A week after the visit, Mayor Jones signed an executive order aimed at closing informational loopholes that kept operations at the facilities from the public eye.

Among other mandates, the order compels the Department of Corrections to submit all COVID-19 tests and cases in the jails.

“As you can imagine, the substandard care around COVID protocols was shocking and disappointing to the Mayor,” said Nick Dunne, Mayor Jones’ public information officer. “The

busted tobacco products that can closely resemble cigarettes, pose many of the same public health problems, and are disproportionately popular among youth and other populations. In 2020, non-Hispanic Black high school students reported past

whelmed by virtual work and uncertainty during this pandemic. Nevertheless, if you are suffering from depression, anxiety, or some other type of stress, there are ways to minimize the load.

One suggestion is to engage in weekly physical activity.

Engaging in high-intensity exercise releases your body’s “feel-good” chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins have

Stress can cause the heart to work harder, increase blood pressure, and increase sugar and fat levels in the blood. These things can increase the risk of clots forming and travelling to the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke.

Dr. Jin-Moo Lee, a Washington University neurologist at Barnes/Jewish Hospital, corroborated the links between strokes and stress – also information about COVID’s impact on strokes.

“For example,” Lee said, “we know the virus enters the Ace-2 entry receptor cells, which are expressed on the surface of Endothelial Progenitor Cells, the inner lining of blood vessels.”

“The virus causes these vessels to become very inflammatory and triggers a coagulation cascade, which enhances the formation of blood clots that block arteries.”

It is unclear, Lee stressed, if strokes are a presenting symptom of COVID-19 or if strokes are a later complication from the virus. Some severely infected patients, he said, develop blood clots in their bodies, including the brain, but it is unknown if COVID is the major culprit.

During Stroke Awareness Month, Lee and other medical experts are emphasizing early action; meaning the earlier an individual gets medical attention the better the odds of preventing long-term damage.

“Strokes can present so many different symptoms that it’s hard to recognize sometimes. The most common indicators are weakness on one side of the body, numbness or changes in speech or understanding speech,” he said.

“A good way to remember all this is an acronym we call

detainees are only getting two masks per week, COVID testing is inconsistent, and detainees who tested negative were exposed to others who tested positive.”

Mayor Jones, Dunne said, is committed to enforcing “higher standards to keep the detainees in our care safe.”

The information required by the executive order must be submitted by May 10 and will be reviewed by Jones’ public safety director, Dan Isom, the Civilian Oversight Board and the city counselor’s office.

On her first day in office, the mayor directed staff to cut all funding in the next city budget for the Medium Security Institution and reiterated her plan to remove all detainees from the jail within her first 100 days in office.

Describing the city’s penal institutions as built “for abuse, not accountability,” Jones said

30-day cigar smoking at levels twice as high as their white counterparts. Nearly 74% of youth aged 12-17 who use cigars say they smoke cigars because they come in flavors they enjoy. Among youth who have ever

an impact on your mood and can work to decrease depression. Next, plan opportunities to interact with friends and loved ones. Virtual gatherings are an option, but now that the weather is improving, there should be additional opportunities for gathering outside - while remaining socially distanced.

Lastly, if you feel that you are suffering from clinical levels of depression and need

“FAST” (Face. Arms. Speech. Time), the last word reiterates the importance of calling 911 quickly.”

Bradley was fortunate she listened to her son and called 911. If a person suspects they may be having a stroke, calls 911 and can only say the word “stroke,” it sets off a chain of proactive measures that may save their lives, Lee said.

“There are certain clot-busting medicines and procedures we can use …these treatments can reverse the neurological deficits caused by a stroke but the earlier you are treated the more likely you can have greater improvement.”

Bradley was in the hospital four days and was treated without surgery. There is no paralysis. She had what she described as a “droopy eye” for a while but that has been corrected.

Bradley is now wellarmed with information about COVID’s impact on strokes, health disparities in African Americans that make them more prone to strokes and immediate steps she should take in case of another stroke related episode.

Mostly though, Bradley is trying to manage her stress. She is meditating, eating better and trying to avoid the negatives that could increase her stress levels.

“They say when you have a stroke, chances of having another one increase. So, I am more watchful of what I put in my mind and body,” Bradley said, adding: “Having a stroke was a motivation of sorts. “My head wasn’t right, and now I’m trying to get things back in order.”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.

she’s committed to rebuilding trust between communities, the police department and criminal justice institutions. City officials need to “lead with prevention and not with arrest and incarceration,” she added. Jones, who made a campaign promise to close the workhouse, is following through on that pledge. The visit to the jails and her executive order mandating COVID care information is, as Mayor Jones phrased it; “the first step” in addressing healthcare conditions at the penal facilities and the detainee’s concerns. Additional information for this story was provided by St. Louis American reporters, Sophie Hurwitz and Dana Rieck.

Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.

tried a cigar, 68% of cigarillo users and 56% of filtered cigar users report that their first cigar was a flavored product. Moreover, in 2020, more young people tried a cigar every day than tried a cigarette.

assistance, seek out a counselor or therapist to help you sort through various aspects that might be related to your mood.

Dr. Jameca Woody Cooper is a licensed psychologist, on the board of Missouri Psychological Association. Learn more about Dr. Cooper’s work at www.drjameca.com.

Lisa Marie Bradley poses at Vago Park in Maryland Heights on Monday, May 3, 2021. She suffered a mild stroke in March of this year.

Photo by Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

PRESENT:

PRESENT:

PRESENT:

Nutrition Challenge:

Nutrition Challenge:

Dining Out.

When we’re lucky enough to have a chance to go out for dinner, there are a few ways to stay healthy with our food

When you graze, it means that you eat small snacks all day long without eating a regular meal.

GRAINS Keep ‘em Whole!

What Is ASize?Serving

“So, what’s wrong with that?”

The Smart Way!

MAYNational Fitness Month!

Do This. Not That!

Warm Up & Cool Down

First Day of Spring!

Exercise Game

Calculate BMI

Ice can be dangerous for several different reasons.

Tech-Neck

See if the restaurant will let you “share” a meal. Many meals are two, three or more times an actual serving size.

eat more throughout the day.

We each need at least 3 servings per day of whole grains. But what does that mean? How can we know what foods contain whole grains?

In our “Super-Size” world, we can easily lose track of what an actual serving size means. When reading labels on a food or drink product, you can determine the nutrients, sodium, fiber, sugar and calories of a serving size. But be careful; just because it looks like one small bottle

Look at the ingredients list of a package of food you are about to eat. If the word “whole” is used, then there is most likely a whole grain ingredient. A few items that don’t use the word whole

As soon as you’ve divided your plate into the right size servings, ask your server for a to-go box. Go ahead and box up what you don’t need to eat right away. You can enjoy

Five Areas of Fitness

Let’s make a game out of exercise!

As spring approaches, warmer weather allows us all to get more outdoor exercise. Here are some ways to become a more active person.

those leftovers for lunch the next day!

Cardiovascular Endurance — Aerobic activities (increasing your heart rate and breathing for at least 20 minutes) help improve your heart health and endurance.

are popcorn, wheatberries, brown rice and wild rice.

Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Cocoa Puffers Cereal

INGREDIENTS:

> Ask the server how the different menu items are prepared. Fried, sautéed, and

lifestyle. You can do this by forming new habits. For example, if you decide to eliminate sugary drinks completely, it only takes a few weeks until this becomes what you’re used to.

Here are the steps to making a healthy permanent change. We‘ll use the sugary drink change as an example.

> Decide you’re going to switch from soda to water.

Getting plenty of whole grains in your diet can improve your health and reduce your chance for some chronic illnesses such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Visit wholegrainscouncil.com for more information.

> Start by substituting one drink per day to water.

> Avoid gravies, cheese sauces and other kinds of toppings that often just add fat and calories.

Instead, sit down; eat a nice, solid, balanced, nutritional meal. Your body will tell you when it’s full, and the benefits are that you won’t be hungry for a while, you’ll eat less, and you won’t be tempted by lessnutritious snacks.

Newspaper in Education Program

Melissa Douglass, MSW

Weekly Newspaper in Education Program

Latoya Woods, DNP, APRN, FNP-C

Dr. Robyn Drake, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

> After 3-4 weeks, this change will become a habit.

Learning Standards:

of soda — it may not be considered one serving size. For example, a 20-oz bottle contains 2.5 servings. So if the bottle states “110 calories per serving,” that means the entire bottle contains a total of 275 calories! Remember to watch those serving sizes and you’ll have better control over what you’re eating and drinking.

> Stick with water to drink. Not only will you save money, but you won’t be adding in extra calories from a sugarfilled drink.

> Every few days increase the amount of water and decrease your soda intake.

Learning Standards:

> What are other ways to stay healthy while dining out?

When you automatically reach for water instead of soda, it has now become a lifestyle change!

HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 3, NH 5

even simmered can all mean, “cooked in oil.” Instead, choose baked or grilled options.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

of time (such as running, cycling, sit-ups, etc.) builds your muscle endurance.

Where do you work? I am a family nurse practitioner for BJC Medical Group.

Where do you work? I am the founder and distance counselor for Goal Driven Counseling, LLC.

Where do you work? I am a school nurse with St. Louis Public Schools.

Where do you work? I am a family nurse practitioner at SSM Medical Group –Retail Health.

Where do you work? I am a school nurse at Monroe Elementary School.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

Flexibility — Stretching and bending helps to increase your body’s flexibility.

Secondly, when you are finished with any kind of strenuous (very active) exercise, take some time to cool down. You can slowly stretch your arms and

Instead of watching TV — ride your bike with friends.

legs again, and continue with reduced speed movements until your heart rate begins to slow down.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from McCluer North High School. I earned an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing from Meramec College in Kirkwood and completing my bachelor’s degree at Webster University in Webster Groves.

March 20, 2021, is the first day of spring. With spring comes warmer weather and longer days (later sunset). Make it a habit to spend as much time playing outside as the weather allows.

Muscle Strength — We improve our muscle strength by making them work harder. This is accomplished by slowly increasing the amount of weight/ resistance you lift or press.

It’s important that before you embark on any kind of exercise to remember two things: warm up and cool down. Start with some slow stretches and movement (like walking) to increase your heart rate a little. Warm up for a good five minutes before increasing your heart rate.

Instead of playing video games — play baseball, football, badminton, or some other active game.

First, locate either a deck of cards or two dice. Next you’ll need to make a list of different types of exercise: jumping jacks, sit-ups, lunges, etc.

and breathing. You want to have fun, but it’s also a great way to help keep your heart, lungs and body healthy.

Body Composition — The ratio of fat and muscle in your body makes up your body composition. Remembering to focus on the other four areas of physical fitness will improve your composition, and overall health!

This warm-up and recovery period is important for your heart health. It also helps to reduce the amount of muscle pulls and strains.

Can you think of other ways to be more active? Going outside and staying active not only increases your heart rate and burns calories, but it also helps you build friendships!

Where did you go to school? I graduated from McCluer High School. I then earned a Bachelor of Nursing and a Master of Nursing Practice from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. And finally, I earned a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Maryville University.

queen or jack) should all count as the number 10. Aces are “wild” and you can do as many as you want! To really challenge yourself, have one person roll the dice and the second can select the exercise. See who can complete the exercise challenge first!

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Sumner High School. I then earned Associate Degree in Nursing from Forest Park College and a BS in Business Administration from Columbia College.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago, IL: same as former first lady Mrs. Michelle Obama. I then earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, and a Master of Social Work from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. I also completed two more years of supervision and exams to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Missouri.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from McCluer North High School. I then earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Science in Nursing – Nurse Practitioner and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

What does a school nurse do? I love giving students medications, so they’re able to focus on learning. I clean and bandage wounds. I use medical equipment like a stethoscope, for example, to evaluate whether or not my asthmatics are breathing well. Moreover, I teach and promote healthy habits to my students.

Instead of surfing the ‘Net — go for a brisk walk around the neighborhood.

Muscle Endurance — Your ability to continue a physical activity for longer periods

Some fun outdoor games to play include tag, kickball, basketball, Frisbee, and bicycling. Choose activities that increase your heart rate

> NEVER walk on a “frozen” pond, lake, river or any other body of water. Just because it looks frozen does not mean it is safe.

Write each exercise item on a small piece of paper or index

Break into small groups and define what it means to be a bully. Share your ideas with the class. Did you have the same things listed (as the other groups) that you would consider as bullying behavior?

card and fold into a small square. Put these squares into a bowl. Take turns rolling the dice (or drawing a card) and selecting an exercise from the bowl. The total number on the dice or card tells you how many of the exercise you must do. Face cards (king,

Make a list of your favorite 10 activities to do outdoors. Compare your list with your classmates and create a chart to see what are the most popular.

Learning Standards: HPE1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 4, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1

What does a Licensed Clinical Social Worker do? I use technology to help teens and young adults explore their emotions, better understand their feelings, work through relationships, and address common challenges completely online through a computer, tablet, or smart phone. Similar to a Facetime call, I support and guide my clients from the comfort of their home or private location where they are comfortable

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1

> What to do if you see someone else bullied.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 4, HPE 5, NH 1

What does a family nurse practitioner do? Each day I have office visits with patients to help treat new health conditions and/or manage established health conditions. I perform physical examinations on patients, order labs, read x-rays results, and more.

What does a family nurse practitioner do? I provide care that your doctor would provide, but inside a Walgreens store. I give shots, check blood pressure and do check-ups (physicals) for sports. Most of all, if there is a problem I cannot fix, I must send the patient to the emergency room.

As a class, discuss what you think are important areas of mental health. Today we’ll focus on stress management. This means that we’ll consider ways to relieve the stress in our lives. Individually, make a list of four things that cause you stress. Again as a class, talk about different methods

Now back in your groups, create a newspaper ad that includes at least two of the following:

A BMI (Body Mass Index) is a generic way to calculate where your weight falls into categories (thin, average, overweight, obese). However, it’s a good idea to remember that a BMI may not take into consideration many things such as athleticism (how athletic you are), your bone density and other factors. Discuss your BMI with your

How much time do you spend each day looking down at a phone, laptop or video game?

> If you are with someone that falls through the ice, first run (or call) for help. Do not try to go out onto the ice to help your friend. You can fall through the ice too.

for stress relief: Time management, coping, speaking with trusted adults, exercising, journaling, etc. Now looking at your stressors list, what of these relievers might help?

Chiropractors around the country see young patients every day suffering from back, neck and head-aches resulting from the extra strain you put on your body when you look down for long periods of time.

> How bullying hurts others.

> What to do if you are bullied.

> What to do if YOU are the bully.

doctor if you have any questions. The formula to calculate your BMI is 703 X weight (lbs) ÷ height (in inches/squared) or search “BMI Calculator” to find an easy fill-in chart online. If your number is high, what are some ways to lower your BMI?

1. Most importantly — take breaks! Have a goal of a 3 minute break every 15-20 minutes. Move around, stretch your neck and relax, without looking down!

> Also — remember to look up! Icicles injure numerous people every year. If you see large icicles forming over your front steps, ask your parents to use a broom handle to knock them off to the side before they break loose from your gutters.

Cashew Butter

Cracker-wiches

Ingredients: 8 Saltine

Easy Hummus Dip

Coconut Bon Bons

Why did you choose this career? I chose this career to help improve the health of my community.

What does a school nurse do? I assess the concerns of students who are ill, injured or experiencing alterations in their normal health. Nurses screen daily staff, students and visitors for safety. Monroe School is a pilot school for Covid-19 test sites in partnership with the city. Why did you choose this career? I love nursing because there are many opportunities in hospitals, schools, clinics and offices, insurance, legal and research. My passion is working in the schools with students, parents, staff and community partners.

Why did you choose this career? I am a St. Louis native, and was an asthmatic child who experienced frequent hospitalizations. Besides having the influence of nurses in my family, the local nurses who helped take care of me were my “angels” and always managed to nurse me back to health, thus sparking my interest.

Why did you choose this career? I chose this career because I enjoy being a support to teens and young adults in a very challenging phase of life that can be overwhelming. I enjoy teaching them how to best take care of themselves so they can live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Ingredients:

Frozen Yogurt Blueberry Bites

1 15-Oz Can Garbanzo beans

Learning Standards: HPE 2, NH 1

A couple of quick tips that will reduce that strain on your neck are:

> When walking on icecovered roadways or sidewalks, take baby steps. Walk carefully and slowly.

Look through the newspaper for examples of ad layouts and design. Discuss the words “compassion,” “empathy” and “sympathy.” How do they each play into your response to bullying at your school?

2. Set your tech device in a holder to keep it at eye level, reducing the need to look down.

> What other ice hazards are there?

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, NH 5

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

Ingredients: 1 cp Crisp Rice Cereal, ½ cp Cashew Butter

1

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 4

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, HPE 7, NH 5, NH 7

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, NH 1, NH 5

Ingredients: 1/2 Cp Vanilla Greek yogurt, 3 Tbsp Natural peanut butter, 1 Ripe banana (sliced and frozen), Splash of vanilla (optional) 6 Ice cubes

1 Garlic clove, crushed

Ingredients: 1 cup blueberries 1 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt

2 tbs Maple Syrup, ¼ tsp Fine Sea Salt or Table Salt, ¼ cp Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

(optional)

2 Tsp Cumin, 1 Tsp Olive oil, ½ Tsp Salt Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Enjoy with baked tortilla chips or raw vegetables.

Directions: Blend all ingredients until Smooth. Makes 2 yummy smoothies!

Directions: Mix together the cereal, cashew butter, maple syrup, and salt in a medium bowl. Form the mixture into 12 1½-inch balls. Roll the balls in the coconut. Refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Directions: Drop each blueberry into the yogurt. Using a spoon, swirl around to coat and place each blueberry on a cookie sheet topped with parchment paper. Freeze for at least an hour.

Directions: Spread peanut butter on four of the crackers and top with sliced strawberries. Drizzle with honey and top with the other crackers to make four cracker-wiches.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? Many chronic health conditions (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure) are preventable, and early detection is key. Thus my favorite part of the job is partnering with patients to establish and manage a plan to help them each live a long and healthy life.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I enjoy when a child tells you, “I want to be a nurse.” And best of all, I love the smiles, hugs and “thank-yous”.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I love that my job makes talking about mental health not as scary and even makes it kind of cool. I love that I get to build valuable relationships with so many people that trust me to be there for them. I love that no matter where my clients are, we can simply connect with a video call and I can not only support them through hard times, but lots of good times as well.

What is your favorite part of the job you have?

My childhood health challenges have given me sensitivity to children suffering with illness. After being given a new lease on life, I consider it an honor to be in a position to promote health to the children of my community, in whatever capacity I serve – in turn, being their “angel.”

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

Why did you choose this career? I always wanted to help people. In college, I had a teacher that encouraged me to be a nurse because of my ability to help. Once I became a registered nurse, I wanted to do more for my patients, so I kept going to school until I got where I am today. What is your favorite part of the job you have? I really enjoy talking to my patients under the age of 18. I want to know their plans for the future and what they want to be when they grow up. This gives me a chance to encourage them to be what they want to be and prepare them to be a future leader.

Learning Standards: HPE 6, NH 3

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

Yonniece Rose, Registered Nurse

PRESENT: Banana PB Smoothie

Deborah Edwards, School Nurse

Science students adapt to online classes by using The St. Louis American’s STEM page as part of their virtual science lessons. E-learning provides many opportunities for self directed research and reflection.

What do all great scientists have in common? They are skilled critical thinkers and problem solvers. Just like you can train your body and your muscles to work more effectively, you can also train your mind to think more critically.

Give your brain a work out with mazes, brain teaser riddles, Sudoku puzzles, math equations, etc. Read mystery books and learn to look for clues and make predictions. Look for patterns. Patterns are everywhere—colors, numbers, letters, etc. When you identify patterns, your brain can make connections quickly and easily. Think of different uses for

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Background Information:

common everyday items, such as a paperclip. How many different uses can you discover?

Ask yourself questions, such as how many different ways can you stack a set of blocks? Which way would give you the tallest structure? Which way would give you the strongest structure? Keep an open mind and be flexible as you consider your options. Practice this process often. Brainstorm a list. Set a timer and see how many ideas you can generate. Then, select your best three choices and develop a hypothesis that you can test.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details. I can make text-to-self connections.

Build Ballooncolumns!

In this experiment, you will see if you can walk on air. What is your hypothesis? Do you think it is possible to walk on air? Support your answer with specific reasons and details.

Materials Needed:

• Garbage Bag Filled with Air • Balloons Filled with Air • Balloons Filled with Water • Tape • 4 24” by 24”

Cardboard Squares

Procedure:

q Make two strong platforms by gluing two pieces of cardboard together so that the grooves (lines) in the cardboard are going in the opposite directions.

w Try standing on one of your platforms supported by a garbage bag filled with air. (Take caution and make sure to have a partner help you balance or stand near a wall.) Does it hold your weight?

e Now try balloons filled with air. Predict which will hold your weight better.

r Start out standing on one of your platforms supported by a

Equation Challenges!

Did you know the first person to use a stapler was King Louis XV of France?

bunch of balloons. The balloons stay in place best if you sandwich them between two platforms. Try taping the balloons to the bottom platform and then putting the second platform on top.

t Have a friend pop one balloon at a time. What happens when the balloons pop? How few balloons still support your weight?

Extension: Try the same thing with balloons filled with water. Be sure you do this testing somewhere that can get really wet. Analyze: Which holds your weight better, balloons filled with water or balloons filled with air? Which substance can hold your weight with the fewest balloons? Why do you think one works better than the other?

Learning Standards: I can follow sequential directions to complete an experiment. I can create a hypothesis and analyze results. I can draw conclusions.

Give your problem solving ability a challenge with these equations.

b – 7.2 = 1.8

v Write the sentence as an equation. b decreased by 150 is 221

b Write the sentence as an equation. z multiplied by 280 is 179

n Write the sentence as an equation. 72 is equal to z divided by 369

Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem.

A ballpoint pen can write approximately 45,000 words.

Richard Drew originally made scotch tape to seal cellophane wrappers in a butcher’s shop to keep food safe from spoiling. Paper clip designs have their own names. The very first one was called “The Philadelphia.” Other designs were named “The Clipper,” “The Daisy,” “The Niagara,” “The Eureka,” “Banjo Paper Clip,” and “Octo Clip.”

African-American Mechanical Engineer & Inventor

Ruth J. Miro

Ruth J. Miro was born on February 4, 1960, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. She attended New York’s Monroe Business College to study business and e-commerce. Miro received patent #6,113,298 on September 5, 2000, for her improved paper ring design. A press release to promote her new product stated, “These new and improved paper rings are ideal for business professionals, especially authors, students, and schools. There is an increased excitement over the range of functions it serves. They can be used for sorting, filing [loose leaf] papers, index cards, recipe cards, photo pages, memos and much more… RJ Miro paper rings come in an array of colors such as Red, Black, Green, White, Blue and Gold.” She also received patent #6,764,100 for a stationery organizer and is the founder of RJMiro, which designs and sells supplies for the school, office, and home.

Miro is a member of the International Association of Black Millionaires and the National Association for Female Executives. She has received recognition and many awards, including Empire Who’s Who, Manchester Who’s Who, and Cambridge Who’s Who. The Wall of Tolerance gave her an award for her public stance against hate and intolerance. (The Wall of Tolerance is located in the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama.)

In addition to her business accomplishments, Miro supports literacy by donating money to various educational charities and authors. She features authors on her business website to promote their work. She states, “I would like to see more African-American stores buying and selling African-American products.”

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I can make textto-world connections.

MAP CORNER

Enjoy these activities that help you get to know your St. Louis American newspaper.

Activity One —

Creative Predictions for Jobs: Review the Help Wanted section in the Classified ads. What characteristics do the employers seek—experience, dependability, etc.? Which characteristics seem to be the most important to employers? What job do you think you are best suited for? Why? Write a paragraph explaining what skills and characteristics you have that will make you a good employee.

Activity Two —

Who Am I? Riddles: Fold a piece of paper in half. On the outside flap, write a riddle about a character of a newspaper story. Paste the newspaper article on the inside, highlighting the character’s name and characteristics used to create the riddle. Share the riddle with your classmates.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can draw conclusions. I can use character traits and think critically.

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 8,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school year, at no charge.

Mike Jones, William Humphrey added to Normandy state-appointed board

By Ryan Delaney St. Louis Public Radio

The state of Missouri has stepped in and added two members to the Normandy School District’s appointed governing board as community members continue voicing concerns over its leadership.

The Missouri State Board of Education approved adding Mike Jones and William Humphrey to the Joint-Executive Governing Board, expanding its members from five to seven.

Jones is a former state board member and Humphrey served on Normandy’s school board as an elected member before the state takeover.

While Jones said it would be “presumptuous for me to make any really definitive judgments” on embattled Superintendent Marcus Robinson, he said Normandy students already are challenged, and don’t need ongoing controversy.

“If you’re Black in America, you will always be playing with two strikes against you,” Jones said about the predominantly Black and low-income district’s long struggles. “And you can’t use that as an excuse. You just got to learn how to be a great two-strike hitter.”

Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, a state board member who graduated from Normandy and served on Normandy’s board previously, said the decision “is a bright spot in Normandy’s longer road to recovery.”

Normandy’s teachers union and elected officials have grown increasingly upset this spring

Northwoods welcomes first woman mayor in history

Photo by Ryan Delaney

with the district’s leadership. The recently hired superintendent lacks some of the credentials for the job and also has previously worked for a charter school network. That put 24:1, an organization made up of municipal leaders within the school district, on edge. The group had strongly

opposed the planned opening of a charter school in the district’s boundaries. It also lobbied against two bond measures — and defeated one — for Normandy schools on the April ballot.

Beverly Hills Mayor Brian Jackson, who is part of 24:1, accused the board and superintendent of operating in a “clandestine way.” The teachers union said Superintendent Marcus Robinson’s lack of credentials is “unacceptable.”

Robinson declined to comment through a district spokesperson.

Normandy has struggled to meet state standards since the mid-1990s and lost accreditation in 2012. The state took over governance in 2014 by dissolving the elected board and replacing it with five appointed members.

Normandy regained provisional accreditation in 2017, but its academics have slipped since

then. Only 16% of third graders were reading on grade level in 2019, and the attendance rate last school year was 69 percent. The state school board held the special meeting following a lengthy discussion at its regular meeting earlier in the month.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis

Spotlight on St. Louis’ growing Geospatial sector

As construction continues on the new National Geospatial Intelligence Agency headquarters on the city’s near northside, the St. Louis region is being hailed as a leader in geospatial technology and it will host the GEOINT Symposium in October, the largest annual gathering of geospatial intelligence professionals in the U.S. (Artist rendering)

City predicted to become a leader in the field

Special to The American in partnership with One America Works

Cities all over the Midwest and the country are going through changes, finding their unique identities amid an ever-changing, tech-focused economy. St. Louis is no exception to this trend and has created an environment ripe for innovation. The economy in this growing Missouri city is booming for businesses, entrepreneurs, tech workers, millennials, and more.

One sector that is seeing unprecedented growth and significant investment from the public and private sectors is geospatial technology. St. Louis is predicted to become a leader in geospatial technology, but this rise did not happen overnight. A few years ago, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency announced a new headquarters in St. Louis. Now, there’s construction underway on an expansive 97-acre Next NGA West campus in the northern part of the city. Already, the rapidly growing sector is responsible for roughly 27,000 skilled jobs and nearly $5 billion of economic growth in the region.

Public officials, civic leaders, and business moguls have all bought into this notion and continued to attract investments and companies that have created a geospatial hub in Silicon Prairie.

A part of the community

While its new facility is under construction, NGA recently partnered with the firm Maxar Technologies to facilitate a “GeoHornet Mapathon” hosted by Harris-Stowe State University that helped create a more detailed map of north St. Louis.

Twelve HSSU students were part of a team of 30 that added nearly 600 buildings to OpenStreetMap (OSM), a free, online map of the world available to be viewed and edited by anyone.

Maxar, an innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure which recently opened a new downtown office, offered high-resolution satellite imagery to serve as the foundational mapping layer for OSM. It ensures that the mapping information platform users create maintains the same accuracy as Maxar imagery. The company’s effort is also part of its commitment to the St. Louis area with an emphasis on workforce diversity.

“By filling data gaps in OpenStreetMap, the GeoHornet Mapathon is introducing geospatial technology to students and growing geospatial skill-

Updated STL 2030 Jobs Plan released following much feedback

Special to The American

Clarifies goals and need for inclusive growth

organizations.

PeoPle on the Move

St. Louis ArtWorks hires Dace as Exec. Director

K. Dace

Jacqueline K. Dace, a national strategic visionary, has been selected to be Executive Director of St. Louis ArtWorks, a nonprofit arts organization that empowers teens through art apprenticeships from the St. Louis metropolitan area. Prior to this position, Dace served as the deputy director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH. She was also formerly the deputy director and later interim executive director of the National Blues Museum in St. Louis. She is the producer of two award winning documentaries: Through the Eyes of a Child and Mandela: Prepared to Die.

Pitts named to Alzheimer’s board

The Alzheimer’s Association recently named local business and inclusion and diversity leader, Emily Pitts, to its national steering committee and also to the board of directors of its Greater Missouri chapter. In 2004, she became the first AfricanAmerican woman named as general partner at Edward Jones. In 2007 she assumed responsibility for the implementation of the firm’s inclusion and diversity strategy. In 2013, Diversity Woman’s Magazine named Pitts one of 50 Diversity Champions. In 2014, Savoy Magazine named her one of the Top Influential Women in Corporate America.

Evan Booker joins KU’s Williams Fund

Evan Booker, a Maryville University and Kirkwood High School graduate, has joined the University of Kansas Athletic Department Williams Educational Fund as an annual fund officer. Booker started with KU as a new business and development consultant in the athletic department in 2018 before taking on his new role. He is a former member of the Maryville basketball team and studied in its Rawling’s sport business management program.

Smith named assistant city manager in U. City

n ”Stewarding inclusive growth must be a top priority for our region.”

– Valerie Patton

Led by internationally recognized economic development expert Bruce Katz, New Localism Associates just released an updated version of the STL 2030 Jobs Plan. The STL 2030 Jobs Plan, the first metrowide jobs plan in over a decade, provides a 10-year road map for boosting economic growth, increasing the number of quality, living-wage jobs, and reducing racial disparities in employment and wealth-generation to boost opportunities for all. The STL 2030 Jobs Plan recommends five actionable strategies to drive growth: (1) Steward an Inclusive Economy; (2) Restore the Core of St. Louis as the Jobs and Cultural Center of the Metropolis; (3) Build a World-Class Ecosystem for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs; (4) Become a Talent Engine and Magnet; and (5) Make St. Louis a Hub for Next-Generation Industries and Technologies.

“Without a doubt, the extensive public dialogue and feedback from across the metro made this jobs plan stronger,” Katz said. “St. Louisans told us which ideas resonated most strongly, where the draft plan had gaps, and which recommendations needed additional thought and explanation. Perhaps most importantly, we learned which topics were of greatest concern to St. Louis residents.”

In December 2020, Katz released a draft for public review and feedback. Over the course of nearly five months, residents from across the region shared their views, ideas and suggestions. Thousands participated in public meetings, one sponsored by The St. Louis American and 5 On Your Side, and dozens of feedback sessions with individual groups and

Based on public feedback, Katz and his team made substantial revisions to the initial draft. One of the most significant changes included enhancing clarity and context around the definition and goals of inclusive growth. The revised draft recommends five top-line goals, which require further discussion and feedback. They are: (1) grow the number of quality jobs in the metro; (2) strengthen employer commitment to buy, hire and invest locally; (3) boost employment density and rejuvenation of the urban core; (4) increase the number of Black workers with quality jobs; and (5) expand entrepreneurship opportunities for Black and Brown residents. Katz and his team also reinforced the focus on the entire metro area and its assets, clarified the geography of the urban core, and highlighted the importance of arts and culture, among other revisions. In addition to the revised plan by Katz, Greater St. Louis, Inc. prepared a foreword to share additional context on the feedback process and respond to questions, comments and suggestions raised, specifically involving the plan’s implementation. The foreword was authored by several senior executives of Greater St. Louis, Inc., including Valerie Patton, Chief Diversity,

Brooke Smith, Esq.

Brooke Smith, Esq. has been appointment to the position of assistant city manager for the City of University City. She will assist the City manager on a range of housing, infrastructure and development projects. Smith, an attorney, most recently served as city manager for the City of East St. Louis, IL after serving as community development director for two years. She is a member of the Missouri Bar Association, International City/ County Management Association, National Forum for Black Public Administrators and the Illinois City/ County Management Association. Promotion, board appointment, new hire, award…please submit your People on the Move item (including photo) to kjones@stlamerican.com

Valerie Patton

Jacqueline

Emily Pitts

Evan Booker

Robinson-Jacobs joins St. Louis American as business reporter

By St. Louis American staff

Award-winning journalist Karen Robinson-Jacobs will officially join The St. Louis American staff as a full-time Report for America (RFA) Business reporter in June. Report for America, a non-profit organization which places emerging journalists in highly vetted newsrooms throughout the country, is pairing a few seasoned journalists with host newsrooms this year. The St. Louis American and partner newsroom Type Investigations are honored beneficiaries of this new effort. Robinson-Jacobs will cover local business news in St. Louis on a weekly basis, while

Jobs Plan

Continued from B1 Equity & Inclusion Officer, and President, Greater St. Louis Foundation. “Stewarding inclusive growth must be a top priority for our region,” Patton said. “As we move forward, we must stay focused on increasing the number of quality jobs in our metro, while also closing the racial and spatial disparities that have held St. Louis back for far too long. With clarity, focus and intention, I am confident our metro can make great strides by 2030, but we know the work to achieve social and racial justice and economic opportunity must be ongoing.”

With the revised STL 2030 Jobs Plan now released, the focus turns to implementation. For some strategies – such as Supply STL, which calls for

Geospatial

Continued from B1

sets,” said Freddie Wills, assistant vice president for STEM initiatives at HSSU.

“It also is driving application of geospatial data across multiple academic disciplines to benefit students, teachers, the St. Louis geospatial economy and local residents.”

What is Geospatial?

Geospatial technology is the “science of location” and is a rapidly growing field of technology.

St. Louis is becoming a national leader and a recent NASDAQ release said the region “is growing rapidly thanks to investments by government, civic, economic development, academic and community organizations.”

In October the city will host the GEOINT Symposium, the largest annual gathering of geospatial intelligence professionals in the nation.

Geospatial operates everything from map data and guidance systems on mobile devices to weather radar for local forecasters. Apps like Uber, DoorDash, Yelp, Amazon, and even Starbucks rely heavily on the ability to create a user experience that works.

Using technology like Geographic Information System (GIS), Internet Mapping Technologies,

taking a deeper investigative dive into specific business stories throughout the year.

Karen RobinsonJacobs

“We’re incredibly excited to work with RobinsonJacobs as a Report for America corps member to expand local watchdog reporting,” said Cassi Feldman, executive director at Type Investigations. “This is a fantastic opportunity that reflects our newsroom’s commitment to reporting on undercovered issues by and for the

metro-area anchors to use their purchasing power to drive growth and job creation in local small businesses, with particular focus on Black, Brown and/or women-owned firms – Greater St. Louis, Inc. will convene and lead.

The next decade presents a transformative opportunity for St. Louis to become the global center of excellence in the geospatial industry, with cutting-edge advances in fields from precision agriculture to climate science to public health.

“The STL 2030 Jobs Plan reinforces key findings from the GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap, which centered inclusive growth as a core principle from the outset and is already delivering promising new initiatives by organizations like Harris-Stowe State University and Maxar Technologies to create oppor-

Remote Sensing (RS), and Global Positioning System (GPS), geospatial technology allows for data to be collected and used for location analysis, map modeling, intelligence, and more. Retail, defense, environmental, logistics, and even healthcare industries benefit from geospatial technology. It makes so many parts of daily life possible and easy with its ability to understand spatial dimensions.

The NGA investment wave

When the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency decided to put roots down in St. Louis, it put the city in the unique position of being a global geospatial leader. The field is still emerging with public and private interests, so St. Louis recognized an opportunity for sizable economic growth and embraced the technological moment when competing for the new headquarters.

The investments did not stop with the federal government. Once some of the NGA offices were established, the start of a geospatial tech hub began to surface. Innovative companies like ESRI that are leading the industry were attracted to the area; even with a headquarters in California, its presence in St. Louis and the greater state of Missouri is growing. Additionally, Boundless, an open-source geospatial software firm, also moved to the Heartland from New York City in 2016.

communities impacted.”

Publisher Donald M. Suggs said,“Karen is a savvy, entrepreneurial journalist with broad experience as a reporter and editor. We’re pleased to be partnering with Type Investigations through the RFA program to bring her to our newsroom. This undertaking reflects a deepening of The American’s commitment to reporting on the St. Louis business community--for the benefit of our audience and the progress of our community and region.”

Robinson-Jacobs was the first African-American woman to serve as an editor at the Milwaukee Journal newspaper. She worked for the Dallas Morning News for 15 years.

tunities for Black residents in this growing industry,” said Andy Dearing, Project Lead of GeoFutures, an initiative of Greater St. Louis, Inc.

“The STL 2030 Jobs Plan calls for industry-led workforce collaboratives as a key priority, and we are organizing to do just that,” said Nicole Adewale, Principal and Co-Founder of ABNA Engineering. “Leaders created Access Point by reverse-engineering the traditional workforce pipeline starting with the identification of available entry level IT jobs and then aligning those needs with High School and Higher Education curriculum. This will accelerate inclusive growth and shorten the path to technology jobs. The pilot of 25 students underway right now will expand to hundreds next year and help transform how we grow the diverse workforce of the future.”

GeoFutures is a regional initiative with a group consisting of 29 business, civic, and academic leaders. Together, they are developing a cooperative plan to brand St. Louis as the go-to destination for geospatial technology companies and startups. With a shared vision and agreed-upon agenda, they can start to brainstorm solutions to the challenges ahead – like strengthening a skilled talent pool. There’s an energy in St. Louis that is hard to quantify: One that exudes entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, and partnership. Attracting highgrowth companies to the midwest poses a unique challenge and St. Louis is no exception. Many believe its recent success in the geospatial arena is due to partnership and a “shared understanding that businesses are stronger if they work together”.

One example of the power in collaboration is in higher education where St. Louis University and Washington University have joined together for COLLAB. Here, the universities will offer joint and separate programs for training in cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, information technology, and engineering management among other things. Filling the need for geospatial talent will be a central focus for COLLAB.

The advantage for St. Louis St. Louis provides benefits like a high-quality, affordable housing stock. Residents can live in an urban apartment in the city or in a farmhouse on multiple acres of land and still have a reasonable commute. It also boasts a stock of resources for startups and growing companies. Being a mid-size city, it is big enough to make national and even international impacts in technology, but small enough to build partnerships and be a part of the community. In the geospatial space, St. Louis has started to build out a strong network and community with industry leaders. This will only expand further in the next few years as the federal government continues its large investment and private companies follow suit.

One America Works is a nonprofit with an emerging voice in the space of remote jobs. Their work has been featured in Forbes and Axios.

Sports

InSIdE SportS

With Earl Austin Jr.

St. Louisans Beal, Tatum on a roll

In a year that has seen multiple triple-doubles, record comebacks and tight playoff races, only a trio of players have scored 60 or more points in a game.

Star guard Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors scored 62 points against the Portland Trailblazers on January 3. The other players to reach the 60-point plateau are our own Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.

Beal scored 60 points against the Philadelphia 76ers on January 6. Tatum reached the magical 60-point mark last Friday night in a dramatic overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

The Celtics trailed by as many as 32 points, but Tatum rallied the Celtics by scoring 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods. Tatum’s 60 tied Celtics legend Larry Bird’s single-game scoring record.

As for Beal, he is locked in a tight battle for the NBA scoring title Curry.

At the beginning of the week, Curry led with 31.3 points a game, while Beal was close behind at 31 points a game. The scoring leader has changed hands with every game over the past few weeks.

The high-scoring exploits of Beal, along with the triple-double excellence of Russell

of New England coach Bill Belichick as an All-Big XII defensive

Perkins in the third round of last week’s NFL Draft in Cleveland,

Westbrook, have catapulted the Wizards into the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Wizards had won 10 of 12 games as of Tuesday to put themselves in 10th place in the East - which is good enough to qualify for the new play-in rounds of the postseason.

In addition to averaging 31 points, Beal has added 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game. He is shooting a solid 48 percent from the field.

Patriots pick Perkins

Former Lutheran North standout Ronnie Perkins was the New England Patriots’ third-round selection (99th overall) in last weekend’s National Football League Draft. A 6’3” 247-pound defensive end, Perkins played at Oklahoma, where he was one of the top pass rushers in the Big XII Conference.

Williams shared his special moment with family, friends,

former teammates and coaches at a gathering in St. Louis on his draft night.

In six games with the Sooners last season, Perkins had 5.5 sacks and 10 tackles for a loss. As a sophomore, he had six sacks and 13 tackles for loss for the Sooners’ Big XII championship team. Perkins had 16.5 sacks in his three seasons with the Sooners.

A 2018 graduate of Lutheran North, Perkins was named the St. Louis American

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Defensive Player of the Year after registering 15 sacks and leading the Crusaders to the semifinals of the Class 2 state playoffs.

Area players also sign deals

Former Kirkwood High standout Antonio Phillips signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. A 6’0” 191-pound defensive back, Phillips started

29 games during his fouryear career at Ball State University. In his career, Phillips had eight interceptions and 26 passes defended along with 131 total tackles.

Former McCluer SouthBerkeley standout Lawrence Woods also landed a freeagent deal after signing with the New Orleans Saints. Woods starred at Division II Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. As a sophomore in 2018, he was named a NCAA Division II All-American and the Great Lakes Valley Special Teams Player of the Year after returning three kickoffs for touchdowns.

As a junior in 2019, he had two interceptions while returning another kickoff for a touchdown.

Williams rides the Tide

Former Cardinal Ritter College Prep football standout Jameson Williams has found a new college home with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Williams entered the transfer portal after two seasons at Ohio State, where the 6’2’’ 188-pound wide receiver had nine receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He helped the Buckeyes advance to the national championship game against Alabama. In the Buckeyes’ 49-28 national semifinal victory over Clemson, Williams caught three passes for 62 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown.

NFL Draft big-time TV winner as league’s popularity continues year-round

The immediate past POTUS declared the NFL dead in fall of 2017. Like so many other of his acts and prognostications, he was wrong.

NFL interest is not waning, it is surging. Last Thursday’s NFL Draft opening round broadcast averaged 12.52 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and NFL Network. It was the second-highest TV rating in draft history, only topped by last year’s 15.26 million average viewers. The 2020 NFL Draft was broadcast when there were no live sports events going on and most Americans were heeding shelter-in-place COVID-19 protocols. Thus, the 18 percent decrease in viewership compared to last year’s all-virtual selections. According to SportsMedia, this year’s draft rating blew out the Academy Awards (10.4 million viewers) and topped every 2020 NBA Finals game.

Wilson – are white and play quarterback. Twenty-nine of the remaining 30 selections were Black or interracial, beginning with the third quarterback picked at the top of the draft, Trey Lance.

• Several NFL pundits, led by NBC’s Chris Simms, foretold of a dramatic fall in the draft for former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Simms had Fields being the final player drafted in the first round.

The Chicago Bears moved up in the draft to select Fields with the 11th selection of the first round. There were several “work ethic” comments from anonymous sources. It seems to happen to every Black quarterback that is about to launch an NFL career. It is troublesome, but it remains a real thing.

The only television programs (not just sports) to top the NFL Draft numbers were Game 6 of the 2020 World Series (12.70 million), the Gonzaga vs. UCLA Final Four matchup (14.94 million) and the Gonzaga-Baylor championship game (16.92).

Other NFL Draft notes

• The first two players selected in the NFL Draft –Trevor Lawrence and Zach

When asked about questions about his commitment, Fields told ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, “I honestly take that personally.”

“That’s kind of a bigger insult to me than saying that I don’t have a strong arm or saying I’m not accurate.”

• Beginning with the selection of first-round pick receiver Jaylon Waddle, the African American duo of Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and GM Chris Grier pieced together an

outstanding draft.

“I’m not sure there was a tougher team to pick a favorite for than the Dolphins,” said ESPN’s Todd McShay. “It was a masterful Thursday and Friday [first three rounds] for Chris Grier.”

Fellow ESPN pundit Mel Kiper Jr., gave just two ‘A’ grades. One went to the Dolphins and the other to the Los Angeles Chargers.

“Excitement. Anticipation. The expectation of winning,” wrote Miami Herald sports columnist Greg Cote.

“Those are some things Miami Dolphins fans have not felt around here in a long time.”

Lewis leads F1 early

After three races of the 2021 Formula 1 racing season four-time defending champion Lewis Hamilton has won two and finished second in a third. Last week’s win in Portugal was a testament to Hamilton’s skill and swagger and his Mercedes team. After qualifying second to teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton slipped to third place behind Max Verstappen early in the race. Verstappen, who will battle Hamilton for the driver’s title all season, errored in a tight corner and Hamilton zipped past him to claim second place back.

Ernie and Ron Isley were part of the highly-viewed NFL Draft in Cleveland last week and had the honor of introducing the Miami Dolphins second-round pick, safety Jevon Holland from Oregon. The Isley Brothers were inducted into the Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

A few laps later, he passed his pole-sitting teammate and then held off a desperate Verstappen, who had climbed to second place.

“It’s always great when you have a race like today where you’re able to follow and overtake and capitalize on the small margins and gaps,” Hamilton said following the race.

“Max had been pulling absolutely everything out of the Red Bull and given us a great run for our money so I think it’s going to be like this for the rest of the season, which I think can be incredibly exciting.” It was Hamilton’s 97th win, and he is chasing his

record eighth driver’s title. He leads the standings with 69 points and is followed by Verstappen (61) and McLaren driver Lando Norris (37).

The Reid Roundup

There were no players from HBCU football programs selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. Most HBCU schools did not field teams in 2020-21, and those that did played a spring schedule… Grambling guard David Moore and North Carolina Central University defensive back Bryan Mills were the highest prospects on the NFL’s official Prospect Tracker compilation. Moore signed a free-agent deal with the Carolina Panthers, and Mills did the same with the Seattle Seahawks… Trevor Lawrence, selected first by the Jacksonville Jaguars, chose MGC Sports as his representative. Jay Courie, who is white, is his lead agent, and Black agent Sean Howard, who previously represented a pair of white first-rounders, is on the four-man representation team…Cheers to Washington University for landing NBA Hall of Famer, author and statesman Kareem AbdulJabbar as 2021 commencement speaker…According to LGBTQNation, FOX News has aired 126 segments since 2019 on transgender athletes – but has only found nine nationwide.

Alvin A. Reid

Earl Austin Jr.

Photo courtesy of NFL Network

Former Lutheran North star and 2018 St. Louis American Defensive Player of the Year Ronnie Perkins caught the eye

lineman at Oklahoma. The Patriots picked

making him the 99th overall player selected.

Photo courtesy of profootballline.com

Pandemic recession hit women, less educated workers hard, study finds

Researchers say women could face financial troubles for years to come

By Andrea Y. Henderson St. Louis Public Radio

Black and Hispanic women and less educated workers suffered the most economically during the coronavirus pandemic.

Researchers involved in a new study from Washington University say women could be in trouble financially for years to come because of significant job losses during the crisis.

“We have to be somewhat concerned that the larger inequality effects of the current crisis could have these persistent impacts on wages and on career progress in all the groups that are disproportionately affected,” said Steven Fazzari, a professor of economics and sociology at Wash U who co-authored the study.

The study was based on unemployment data from the U.S. Department of Labor since February 2020. Researchers examined how unemployment increased for certain groups and how long the job losses lasted. Researchers also looked at how unemployment affected gender, race, age and ethnicity during the current crisis compared to the Great Recession in the mid-2000s.

The study found that women were hurt more during the COVID-19 economic downturn than they were during the Great Recession. Men were more affected during the Great Recession because construction, durable goods and manufacturing industries — sectors usually dominated by men — collapsed in the mid2000s. During the pandemic, the restaurant, travel and health

care industries lost many workers. Those sectors tend to employ more women than men. Though Hispanic and Black women lost a substantial number of jobs during the COVID-19 recession, they were not the people hit hardest during the Great Recession.

During the Great Recession, Black women experienced 6% more job loss, given their share in the workforce. But during the pandemic, they experienced 45% more job loss. In the Great Recession, Hispanic women had 9% more job loss, compared to 63% during the

n “We have to be somewhat concerned that the larger inequality effects of the current crisis could have these persistent impacts on wages and on career progress in all the groups that are disproportionately affected.”

– Steven Fazzari, professor of economics and sociology at Wash U

COVID-19 crisis.

“We wanted to look at this more rigorously, recognizing that different demographic

groups have very different shares in the workforce, that different demographic groups have different trends over

Researchers involved in a new study from Washington University say women could be in trouble financially for years to come because of significant job losses during the crisis.

college degree. Researchers also used data to look at the effects of the recession on the youngest working age group, those 16 to 24, which includes people who have a high school education or less.

Service industry jobs tend to employ more people with lower education attainment. As the service economy closed, so too did the jobs.

Needler is worried that women’s lack of participation in the paid labor force for a prolonged period of time could set them back financially for years.

“The crisis has been an unusual one, and it may be that the bounce back is faster. But one has to be concerned that, with the substantially greater effect of this recession on female labor force participation and female jobs, that the effect on wages and promotions and career progress could be more compromised for women because of this recession than in other recessions,” Fazzari said.

time,” said Ella Needler, a senior studying economics and finance at Washington University and co-author of the study.

Both Fazzari and Needler were not surprised that minority women were hit the hardest this time around.

Needler said the difference in educational attainment influenced whether or not someone was likely to have lost their job.

People without a high school diploma were twice as likely to lose their jobs compared to those who had a

Fazzari said it is difficult to determine how long the effects of the crisis will hurt Black and Hispanic women and less educated workers, but it is expected to last longer than the setback from the Great Recession.

“We might see these employment losses declining, hopefully that will be the case. But there have traditionally been longer-term effects,” Fazzari said. “How long? One year, two years, five years, 10 years. It’s hard to pin that down specifically, but it usually goes beyond just the incidence of unemployment.”

Access granted

Luminary Gallery awards $60K in grants to St. Louis artists working for social change

By Jeremy D. Goodwin St. Louis Public Radio

A YouTube program featuring Black artists in conversation, a magazine highlighting work by artists of color and public art installations on vacant lots in north St. Louis are among the projects that will be supported by the Luminary’s Futures Fund.

The Cherokee Street art gallery announced 10 recipients of grants up to about $8,000 each. The total amount disbursed is $60,000. The grant program is funded by the New York-based Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts.

“The funding is to prioritize work that addresses pressing issues of our time, and to fund under-resourced ideas and communities that might not meet the larger institutional radars,” said Kalaija Mallery, operations and programs manager for the Luminary. Occupy Vacancy, a project led by André Fuqua and Brianna McIntyre, received the maximum grant amount. Fuqua and McIntyre will install sculptures on four city-owned vacant lots in the Vandeventer neighborhood. The sculptures will resemble freestanding doors, with mirrors on one side.

n “We know that St. Louis has a grand past. We celebrate that, and we recognize that.But we have to press forward together with a really strong focus and determination to love the city.”

- Brianna McIntyre

The pair hopes to draw attention to disinvestment in the north St. Louis neighborhood and invite visitors to think about the homes that may have once stood on those lots.

“If you look at the history of just Enright Avenue and who used to be on these streets and the contributions that those individuals have made to the St. Louis area, it’s pretty grand,” Fuqua said.

Former residents of the neighborhood include Lloyd Lionel Gaines, a Black man who successfully challenged the University of Missouri School of Law when the thensegregated institution refused to admit him. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor in 1938. Legal scholars consider the decision a milestone on the court’s path to overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine that allowed for segregated institutions.

Nyara Williams, Datiana Guerrero and Collin W. Elliott

the recipients of the Luminary’s 2021 Futures Fund grants.

Other grant recipients include the Fannie Lou Hamer House, described as an “urban oasis” for single Black mothers under the stewardship of Treasure Redmond and collaborator Dail Chambers. Eugenia Alexander’s Indigo Garden Project in East St. Louis, an artist-run effort to create urban green space where arts education programs can take place, will also receive funds. Wyndi DeSouza will use grant funds to create an interactive website to connect St. Louis residents who have experienced trauma. Brian Lathan and Amanda Attarian will produce a series of print works by local artists to raise money for organizations providing

mutual and charitable aid.

“We know that St. Louis has a grand past. We celebrate that, and we recognize that,” McIntyre said. “But we have to press forward together with a really strong focus and determination to love the city.”

This is the third year the Luminary has distributed money through the Futures Fund. Last year it shifted from project-based grants to emergency support for artists who are struggling financially because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rapper debunks myth men can’t express themselves

Thomas “Tommo”

Thomas “Tommo” Anderson details his complicated love affair on newly released

“Rain” single

By Danielle Brown Of The St. Louis American

We’re all human right? With that, one would think it would be acceptable for everyone to express feelings even if doing it triggers an emotional response. That might seem like a given, but it’s not always that simple for men. Men — especially in hip-hop — have always been perceived as

Black Men Build unites in community organizing, brotherhood

Local organization promotes social justice and political reconstructure beyond St. Louis

By Danielle Brown

Louis American

Of The St.

From a constant news cycle revealing more and more Black people killed by police officers, to the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 and the first months of this year have been tough for minority communities.

Last year set an unprecedented tone; it especially plagued daily problems in Black America and Black men were faced with an even heavier burden.

Kareem Jackson, known for his Rap career as Tef Poe and his social justice work, has founded “Black Men Build,” a group for Black men interested in community organizing and positive social change for the next generation.

“I created the organization to show how Black men can be effective in something bigger than our own personal platforms,” Poe said.

“We’re in an era where it’s time to set a

historical precedent for the next generation, where they can look back and say what they did, [and] what they tried to do.”

BMB may still be in its infancy, but it’s already making a local impact.

It began with a quarterly publication called ‘Wartime’, which is distributed nationally. The first issue was a COVID-19 survival guide that discussed coronavirus, debunked myths concerning COVID-19 and African Americans

and how to prevent its spread. The May issue will be available soon.

“COVID-19 was an opportunity for us to find a creative way to talk to Black people about a very serious health crisis,” Poe said. “We used the first issue to do that, and then it spawned three other issues.”

In addition to the magazine, the collective has also performed philanthropic services, including an initiative for protecting Black voters at the

Members of Black Men Build’s St. Louis division joined former Bruce Franks Jr. (center) former Missouri state rep for a photo at their Dr. Martin Luther King and Goodfellow street sweep on May 1, 2021.

polls during the November 2020 election. Poe’s group also partnered with fashion designer Brandin Vaughn to donate 200 coats, free diapers and 200 meals to families in need. BMB members have also cleaned blocks of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Kingshighway. “The reason stuff like that has been so impactful is because people wanna see Black men on the move and they wanna see us organizing,” Poe said.

“It makes Black folks feel good to see brothers doing that —- even being invited into spaces where we typically don’t always feel welcomed.” Along with St. Louis, BMB is active in Miami, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Poe says it is imperative for the organization to be active and have organizers outside St. Louis, because issues he and other Black men face aren’t localized.

See Tommo, C6

Photo by Rab Fentress

Anderson recently released his “Rain” single, where he was refreshingly transparent about a relationship that turned sour. The single will be featured on his upcoming “In the Meantime” EP.

Photo courtesy of St. Louis Public Radio

of Preserve are among

Black clergy members and state senators meet in state capitol

Special to The American

The first Missouri Black Leadership Summit took place on Thursday, April 22 in Jefferson City, Missouri. Attendees arrived from Kansas City, St. Louis, Jefferson City, Columbia, Fulton, Sikeston, other areas of the state to discuss disparities in education, access to health care and criminal justice reform. The purpose of the summit was to bring together Missouri’s Black leadership representing clergy, business, health care and criminal justice, with the goal of reaching a collective consensus on the aforementioned topics. The consensus would then be presented to Black legislators as a guidepost to desirable legislative action and political policy. The summit was facilitated with the help of Missouri Sen. Steve Roberts Jr. and hosted by the Ecumenical Leadership Council of

Missouri.

The Missouri Black Leadership Summit was created to develop a consensus on issues of critical importance to the state’s Black population, which according to the most recently released census is estimated at 11.8%. In St. Louis and Kansas City, 21% of Blacks live below the federal guidelines for poverty. High school graduation rates in St. Louis and Kansas City have fallen dangerously below the state average of almost 90%. Last year, the St. Louis homicide rate reached a 50 year high of 262. According to Bishop Lawrence Wooten, president of the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri—St. Louis Chapter, those statistics can only be described as an undeclared pandemic in the Black community. He further stated, “Black leaders in Missouri need to organize and have regular

contact with Black legislators, Black media and the Black church. We need to know each other and learn how to work together to improve the general condition of Missouri’s Black communities, whether they live in the “bootheel,” Kansas City, St. Louis, Jefferson City or any place in the state of Missouri.”

The Black Leadership Summit addressed education through a presentation from Michael “Mike” Jones; the disparity in health care, presented by Dr. Kanika TurnerCunningham; and criminal justice reform, presented by St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell.

Chester Deanes, Sen. Karla May, Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten, Mavis Thompson, Sen. Brian Williams

The summit ended with the agreement that a regular agenda between Missouri’s influential Black leaders and Black legislators be established. One of the more immediate concerns was Medicaid expansion. The legislators explained that if the Ecumenical Leadership Council and other Black organizations,

brought a few busloads of people up to the capitol when Medicaid is being debated, it could positively affect the outcome of the vote to expand Medicaid.

Those attending the summit included all five of Missouri’s Black state senators which includes Barbara Washington (KC); Brian Williams (St. Louis); Angela Mosley (St. Louis); Karla May (St. Louis) and Steve Roberts Jr. (St. Louis). In addition, Rep. Ashely Bland Manlove, Chairperson of the Legislative Black Caucus; Rep. Mike Person; Rep. Jay Mosley and Joe Palm, Chief of Minority Health were in attendance. Plans are currently being discussed for the Second Missouri Black Leadership Summit. Those interested in more information are invited to send an email to Clarence@ Blackchurchstl.org.

By James A. Washington Jr.

If I haven’t before, let me ask you now. Can somebody explain a “faith walk” to me? I frequently refer to my own spiritual transformation that way and I’ve had others describe this “thing” that I’m on …’as you go down this road’….’as you complete this walk.’ I’ve even used the faith walk phrase when trying to explain a new and different view of the world as now

seen by someone who believes being saved is more than just some trite saying. This, whatever it is, is serious and I have to admit, very tangible. I really can feel it. I was just curious about the walk reference. I suppose when you think about it, many in the Bible had truth revealed to them on a walk, on a journey, while going from one place to another at God’s direction and even during the subconscious

traveling in a dream. It’s a simple analogy and if you think about it, what is more meaningful than a walk with someone you respect, admire, love and can learn from?

One of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had was to walk with my children when they were toddlers. There was something about them exploring and discovering the world around them without fear, because they knew Daddy was right there. Have you ever witnessed this? Have you ever been a part of the experience of walking and talking with someone you were totally in sync with? That must be one of the reasons people refer to discovering God as faith walking.

The effort to get closer to God requires movement. I believe the walk reference is probably an attempt (an excellent one), to describe the experience of following, or trying to follow, the path laid down by Jesus Christ. The best example we have is Enoch.

“Enoch walked with God: then he was no more, because God took him away.” Genesis 5:24. The Bible talks about walking humbly, walking in the light, walking with the wise, walking together and yes, walking on water. The point seems to be that life is a journey and if the truth be told, the journey is infinitely better if God goes along for the ride.

We want and at times need to talk to God along the way. Maybe, if we’re truly blessed, He’ll talk back. Searching for Him here on earth is fundamentally a spiritual experience. To walk with the Lord can only be described as “stepping out on faith.” Once taken, life changes. You change. You have to. I know I did.

So, I guess I’ve kind of cleared up my own dilemma. This faith walk is merely an acknowledgement that you are letting God order your steps, lead you through, guide you in this world. When you do this, God will direct you straight to Him.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness; but will have the light of life.” John 8:12. So this walk thing suggests by doing so, you can directly connect with God. You can do what Enoch did. You can hope and pray like Enoch that God will take you to Him also. That’s the point isn’t it? So, when you get up tomorrow, think about this and let God order your steps consciously for one day. Make a concerted effort to listen and hopefully hear what He is telling you on that day. I guarantee, if you go deliberately looking for God just one day, you won’t be alone for long. You see, He has this marvelous way of showing up right on time when He knows somebody is indeed seeking Him out. Remember, however, the first step is up to you.

I Hear Music

In The Air!!!

Amani Dugger is super excited to be receiving a Baldwin upright piano from Pianos for People, their 300th donation.

She has been a part of Community Women Against Hardship’s (CWAH) Modern American Music program since 2017. Music instructor Michael Carosello is her teacher. Her dedication and commitment to the craft captivated Carosellos’ interest so much that in an effort, to inspire her continued enthusiasm, he made the appeal to make this donation possible. Gloria Taylor, Founder/CEO of CWAH has worked tirelessly to keep the arts in the community, since so many music programs have been removed from inner city schools. Currently drum and piano lessons are available to student’s 5th through 12th grade.

If you know someone interested, please call 314-289-7523 today, limited spots are available.

Columnist James Washington

St. LouiS american Career Center St. LouiS

If you love the idea of working in a fun environment and have a passion for learning something new all the time, then we have some opportunities for you! The Saint Louis Science Center has openings for 5 Gallery Facilitators in the following areas/galleries: Earth Sciences GROW Early Childhood Planetarium MakerSpace

You’ll have the opportunity to float between the galleries and have new experiences on a rotating basis – you’ll never be bored. Submit cover letter and resume and apply at www.slsc.org

SKILLED & SERVICE FOCUSED AUDITOR

St.

is

candidate must possess either CIA, CLGFO or CPA credentials. Interested candidates should send a resume and cover letter to the Chair of the Charter Position Search Committee at CharterPositionSearchComments@ stlouisco.com

NOW HIRING

PROFESSIONAL

CLEANER POSITIONS

The Clean-Tech Company continues to have a Weekly Job Event every Thursday, 1PM-4PM, at the Clean-Tech Office- located at #211 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63013!

FT & PT AWAKE

NIGHT STAFF

FT & PT awake night staff, 11p – 7a in South City working with children at risk. Excellent benefits for FT staff. Apply at www.crisisnurserykids.org click on Career tab for instructions – or email resume to employment@ crisisnurserykids.org EOE DIRECTOR OF

This

housing tax credit projects. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree in Planning, Economics, Finance, Public Administration, or related field. At least seven years progressively responsible experience managing a program working with community development organizations in private and/or public sector housing development. At least five years of direct experience implementing affordable housing development projects. DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Master’s Degree in Business, Public Administration, Urban Planning or related graduated degree. Familiarity with stages of HUD-funded development. Demonstrated experience with mixed use development and the conversion of public housing units through the Rental

MARYGROVE DIRECT CARE-RESIDENTIAL

TECHNICIANS NEEDED FULL-TIME

Job Description:

Implements the day to day operation of the residential service program within the particular department including supervision, transportation, medication administration, skill building, group outings, etc.

Minimum Skills / Qualifications:

· 21 years of age or older

· High School Diploma or Equivalent

· Psychology or related field or equivalent in experience

· Valid Driver’s License

· Experience with S.E.D. children preferred

EOE/M/F/H/V Apply online at marygrovechildren.org or fax resume to 314-584-6105.

COMMUNICATION MANAGER/ FRONT DESK RECEPTIONIST/ FACILITIES SPECIALIST

St. Patrick Center is accepting resumes for a Communication Manager/Front Desk Receptionist/ Facilities Specialist. To apply go to: https://stpatrickcenter.org/about/ careers/ and follow the application directions. If your experience and skills are found to match the desired qualifications listed in the job description, a representative from St. Patrick Center will contact you directly

WANTED- CUSTODIAN

FULL TIME & PART TIME

We are looking for an individual who takes pride in their work and works with excellence. Must be reliable, flexible (hours rotate) work nights and weekends, travel between two campuses and lift 50lbs. You must pass a background check and drug screening. Salary commensurate with experience. Apply at 4675 Page Blvd. between 9am - 5pm Monday-Thursday.

FULL/PART TIME CLASS E DRIVER

Hiring full/part time class E driver. South St. Louis City. Call Dan 314.352.0141

KNOWN & GROWN STL OUTREACH COORDINATOR

Known & Grown STL Outreach Coordinator-Build a resilient, equitable food community by promoting farmers within 100 miles of STL. 32 hours/week; $29,600-$32,800; paid health insurance. Email resume & 3 references to jobs@moenviron.org by 5/17/21. See moenvironment.org/careers for full listing.

PART-TIME CHILD CARE ASSISTANT

In-Home Child Care located in Ferguson is looking for a Part-time Child Care Assistant for more information call 314-736-0105

CLIENT ANALYST

HS Diploma. Responsible for processing assigned caseload for the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). Conducts interviews, orientation sessions for applicants seeking assistance through Section 8. Process changes in client status to vacate, evictions, inspection action notifications, voucher issuance, program terminations, contracts, lease agreements, inspection requests, income changes, interim reviews, housing assistance payment adjustments and/or withholdings. Good communication skills and ability to deal with the public. Must type 30 wpm. Starting Salary $36,868 Annually. Apply or send resume to: St. Louis Housing Authority, HR Division, 3520 Page Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63106 or via our website www.slha.org or email athomas@slha.org. Position will be open until filled. A Drug Free Work Place/EOE.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES MANAGER

Youth In Need is hiring a Development Services Manager; Full Time; Full Benefits: $24.88/ hr” and then direct them to our website. Here’s the link to the opening if you want more info: https://youthinneed.hrmdirect. com/employment/job-opening. php?req=1542008&&&nohd#job

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

Sealed BIDS for Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe will be received by the City of St. Peters, Purchasing Department, City Hall, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, Missouri 63376 until 2:30 PM local time, Tuesday, May 18, 2021 and then opened and read aloud.

Contract Documents will be available on Thursday, May 6, 2021 and may be obtained from the City of St. Peters, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, St. Peters, MO 63376 or requested in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe”.

All questions regarding this project shall be submitted to the City of St. Peters Purchasing Department in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe” or by mail to City of St. Peters Purchasing Department, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, MO 63376 before noon local time, Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

The Total Project Cost for this project exceeds Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) therefore Prevailing Wage Rates are required for this bid even if this award is under Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00).

The City reserves the right to waive any informality in bidding, and to accept the bid most advantageous to the City.

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for CONTRACT NO. F 21 403, Asphalt Paving Repair at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Campus, until 2:00 p.m. local time Thursday, May 13, 2021. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park, St. Louis, MO 63110-1314. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770. An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

PUBLIC NOTICE NAME CHANGE

I, Muhammad Nawabzada Zohaib , resident of Valley Park has changed my name and shall hereafter be known as Zohaib Muhammad Nawabzada.

PUBLIC NOTICE

K&S Associates, Inc. is soliciting MBE/WBE for the following projects for June, St. Louis County Police Precinct #1 and St. Louis County Police Precinct #3 -Plans and Specs can be viewed at www.ksgcstl.com-submit bids to estimating@ksgcstl.com or Fax 314-647-5302

LETTING #8728

INVITATION TO BID

Sealed bids will be received by the Webster Groves School District at the District Service Center Building, 3232 South Brentwood Blvd., Webster Groves, MO 63119, until TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021 BY 10:00 A.M. CDT for the Design Package No. 2B District Safety, Security and Accessibility Improvements to Multiple Schools. Bids will be opened publicly at that time.

Drawings and specifications for this project are on file at the office of the Architect, Hoener Associates, Inc., 6707 Plainview Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63109, (314) 781-9855, FAX (314) 781-0163.

Information as to bidding instructions and requirements for procuring bidding documents may be obtained from the Architect.

Not less than the prevailing hourly wage rates, as determined by the State of Missouri, Division of Labor Standards, shall be paid all workers employed on this project.

The Board of Education reserves the right to waive technicalities, to select any contractor filing a proposal, and to reject any or all bids.

A PRE-BID SUMMARY PRESENTATION MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021 FROM 8:00 A.M. UNTIL 9:00 A.M. AND WILL BE HELD AT THE DISTRICT SERVICE CENTER LOCATED AT 3232 SOUTH BRENTWOOD BLVD. WEBSTER GROVES MO. 63119.

PROJECT SITE VISITS FOR CONTRACTORS WILL FOLLOW ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021 FROM 9:00 A.M. UNTIL 2:00 P.M. AND ON THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021 FROM 8:00 A.M. UNTIL 2:00 P.M. FOR ALL EIGHT SCHOOLS. LOCATIONS AND ADDRESS WILL BE SUPPLIED AT THE PRESENTATION MEETING. CONTRACTORS WILL BE REQUIRED TO SIGN IN AT EACH SCHOOL BEFORE COMPLETING THEIR SITE VISIT.

ATTENDANCE AT THE PRE-BID SUMMARY PRESENTATION MEETING ON MAY 19, 2021 IS MANDATORY

By: Mr. Rob Steuber Construction Project Manager

LETTING NO. 8729

SIDEWALK CONTRACT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 301 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on JUNE 1, 2021, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org/ planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

RECONSTRUCTION OF RUNWAY 12R-30L FROM TAXIWAY R TO TAXIWAY G; REDUCE RUNWAY WIDTH; AND MODIFY CONNECTING TAXIWAYS – PROJECT 1

AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service, Room 301, City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63103 until 1:45 PM, CT, on May 18, 2021, then publicly opened and read in Room 325 City Hall. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City and State laws (including DBE policies). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 10:00 A.M. via Zoom Meeting:

Password: 656321

Phone one-tap: US: +13017158592,,99643195986#, or +13126266799,,99643195986#

Meeting URL: https://cmtengr.zoom.us/j/99643195986?pwd= c3ZEbUt4Y2o2b3FmeXhjZTc2Z1lHUT09

Join by Telephone

For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location.

Dial: US: +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1

Meeting ID: 996 4319 5986 Find local AT&T Numbers: https://cmtengr.zoom.us/u/adlOxrJIcp

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Virtual Plan Room).

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: 1717 Olive Street, St. Louis.

The project consists of renovating the Historic recognized Butler Building located on 1717 Olive Street. St Louis, MO into 384 units including amenity spaces such as a pool, walking track, fitness room and community areas. The project also includes an enclosed parking garage and retail spaces. We are currently soliciting design build bids only for the Fire Sprinkler System, Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical and Elevators. Bids will be due on June 08, 2021 at 2:00pm. A walk thru will be scheduled for May 20, 2021 at 9:00am. The remaining packages will be bid in early fall (September).

A VIRTUAL Meet and Greet for the project will be held on May 11, 2021 at 1:30pm. Please join the session by clicking the link below.

For any specific questions or if would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Ruben Guzman at 636-561-9563 or RMGuzman@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (636-561-9501).

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

next five years. SLHA has posted the “Draft” FY 2021 Agency Plan for public review on its website at www.slha.org

Additionally, the Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP), a component of the Agency Plan, and a revised Utility Allowance Schedule and the Flat Rent Schedule are simultaneously being made available for public review and comment. The link to the webpage is: http://www.slha.org/ for-residents/public-housing/policies-procedures/ Also, the Capital Fund Program Five-Year Action Plan (FY2021FY2025) is simultaneously being made available for public review and comment.

SLHA will hold a Virtual Public Hearing on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. to accept comments on its Agency Plan, ACOP, Utility Allowance, Flat Rent Schedules and Capital Fund Program. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s public hearing will not be held in person. Instructions to join the virtual public hearing are posted on the website. Comments and suggestions received will become part of the public record. Additionally, written comments may be submitted on the plan. All written comments must be received by June 23, 2021. Please address comments to Fran Bruce at fbruce@slha.org.

For additional information or questions, contact Fran Bruce, Planning and Procurement Manager, by email at fbruce@slha.org or by telephone at (314) 286-4365 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS

CITY OF ST. LOUIS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

The City of St. Louis Department of Human Services is soliciting proposals for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Planning Projects, funded with FY2019 CoC Planning Grant funds.

5 Projects will be funded: 1) CoC Administration, 2) Housing Program Excellence, 3) Data, Needs & Gaps Analysis, 4) Coordinated Entry Change Implementation, and 5) CoC Application Support. Approximately $301,800 available.

Beginning April 30, 2021, RFP packets will be available via pick-up at the: Department of Human Services Homeless Services Division 1520 Market, Room 4065 St. Louis, MO 63103

Or at the following website: https://www.stlouis-mo. gov/government/procurement/

To participate in the Zoom Webinar email Amy Bickford at bickforda@stlouis-mo.gov to receive the Webinar link.

Questions may be referred by email only and must be submitted on or before May 25, 2021, to Amy Bickford, Chief Program Manager, Homeless Services Division, at BickfordA@stlouis-mo.gov

The RFPs closing date is 4:00 p.m., June 1, 2021.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

TO PROVIDE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES AT VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS

SOLICITATION NO. HM 21-10

The St. Louis Housing Authority (SLHA) will receive proposals for Property Management Services for five (5) clusters of developments totaling 1,748 public housing units. Proposals can be for one or more clusters. A separate proposal shall be submitted for each cluster of properties for which the Respondent is proposing to offer services.

Proposals will be received until Monday, June 7, 2021, by 3:00 p.m. (local time/CST)

Proposal documents will be available Monday, May 10, 2021, at https://www.slha.org/for-partners/vendors/ or at www.questcdn. com under Login using QuestCDN #7795261. Contact QuestCDN. com at 952-233-1632 or info@questcdn.com for assistance in membership registration, downloading this digital project information and online submittal of your proposal.

A Pre-Proposal Conference will be held Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. via GoToMeeting. Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone: https://global.gotomeeting. com/join/442087453

You can also dial in using your phone: United States: +1 (571) 317-3122 - One-touch: tel:+15713173122,,442087453#

For additional information or questions, contact Fran Bruce, Planning and Procurement Manager, by email at fbruce@slha.org or by telephone at (314) 286-4365 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Access Code: 442-087-453

Krista S. Peyton Contracting Officer AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

GATEWAY STORAGE PUBLIC AUCTION

The following people are in debt to Gateway Storage Mall. The contents of their storage unit(s) will be sold at auction to compensate all or part of that debt. Auction at the Dupo location will be held online with www.storageauctions.com on May 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM. A cash deposit will be REQUIRED for all winning bids. 202 – Jim White, 414 – Kim Anderson, 48 – Branden Whelchel, 105 – Gregory Brumit, 123 – Calvin Humphries Auction at the Royal Heights location will be held online with www.storageauctions.com on May 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM. A cash deposit will be REQUIRED for all winning bids. Bel. B03 – David Harris, Bel E06 – Kayla Dale For all rules, regulations and bidding process, please contact www.storageauctions.com . All other questions, please call 618-233-8995 or mail 17 Royal Heights Center, Belleville, IL 62220.

CAMERA UPGRADE/ REPLACEMENT

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to submit proposals for cameras on North & South parking lots. Bid documents are available as of 5/5/2021 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

Millstone Weber, LLC is soliciting proposals for the removal and replacement of airfield concrete pavement, including demo, excavation, pavement markings, underdrains, electrical, and miscellaneous other work as indicated on the plans and specifications for the STL Lambert Reconstruction of Rnwy 12R-30L from Txwy R to Txwy G project. Please phone 636-688-8794, fax 636-949-3129 or email bob.stubbs@millstoneweber.com or ryan.taylor@millstoneweber.com, quotes to Bids@millstoneweber.com by 12:00 PM CDT on 05/17/2020. For Access to Plans and Specifications, please email bids@millstoneweber.com

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for the Musick Avenue Pedestrian Signal, St. Louis County Project No. CR-1760, will be received electronically thru the County’s Vendor Self Service portal at https://stlouisco. munisselfservice.com/Vendors/ default.aspx, until 11:00 a.m. on June 2, 2021.

Plans and specifications will be available on May 3, 2021 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouiscountymo.gov) or by contacting Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, 2731 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63118 (314) 678-0087.

BID NOTICE

Notice to MBE/WBE/DBE, Veteran Owned Businesses and SDVE Businesses

S Shafer Excavating Inc is seeking bids from the above qualified contractors for the University of Rolla SEC-Bom 1, 2, & 3 Demolition Package. Please submit bids by 5/10/2021 8:00 a.m. and enclose certification.

E-mail to shaferexcinc@att.net

E-mail us for project documents or call 618-931-6237 for more information

BID NOTICE

Reinhardt Construction LLC is soliciting bids MBE/WBE/DBE/ Veteran/SDVE for the following:

University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri Clark Hall- 3rd & 4th Floor Renovations

Bid Date: 5/11/21 @ 1:30pm

Contact: Susan Hart, susan@ reinhardtconstructionllc.com Phone: 573 819 3058

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

22nd Circuit Court currently soliciting proposals for pretrial services case management and reporting software.

RFP available on Court website at: http://www.stlcitycircuitcourt. com/index2.html?XMLFile=xml/ RFP.xml

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Clark Hall – 3rd & 4th Floor Renovations at the University of Missouri - Columbia.

This project includes approximately 21,800 sf of renovation work on the 3rd and 4th floors of Clark Hall.

The project includes but is not limited to the following scopes of work: asbestos abatement, selective demolition, masonry, carpentry, casework, doorsframes-hardware, aluminum storefront, drywall, tile, acoustical ceilings, painting, toilet accessories, plumbing, mechanical and electrical.

The owner has established Diversity Participation goals of 10% MBE, 10% Combined WBE, DBE, Veteran Owned and 3% SDVE.

Bids for this project are due on May 11, 2021, at 12:00 pm. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Evan Chiles at 816-878-6003 or emchiles@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (816-878-6249).

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting qualifications for the design services required for laboratory renovations in the Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Administration Building. Proposals/Qualifications must be emailed no later than 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 to morrowb@hssu.edu. Responses to the Request for Qualifications will be opened and the names read at a virtual bid opening on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 10:15 a.m. The link to the virtual bid opening will be emailed out to all interested vendors at a later date.

A copy of the request can be obtained by contacting Barbara A. Morrow at email address: morrowb@hssu.edu or by calling (314) 340-5763.

This Request for Qualifications does not commit the University to award a contract or to procure or contract for the services. The University reserves the right to accept or reject any, all or any part of proposals received, or to cancel in part or in its entirety this request if it is in the best interest of the University to do so.

If your child needs help with Virtual Learning now and through the Summer contact

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.”

or email

to place your ads today!

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

The St. Louis County Port Authority requests proposals for the purchase of property located in Clayton, MO at 111 & 121 S. Meramec. A copy of the RFP for the property is available at https://stlpartnership.com/rfp-rfq/ rfp-purchase-of-111-121-s-meramec/. Proposals are due July 23, 2021.

SEALED BIDS

Bids for High Voltage Electrical S e r v i c e s –Missouri State F a i r g r o u n d s / S t a t e w i d e , P r o j e c t N o . IDIQMCA-1005, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/13/2021 via MissouriBUYS. Bidders must be registered to bid. For specific project information, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (the “Partnership”) has issued multiple open Request for Qualifications (“RFQ”) from a wide variety of professional services/consulting firms for various projects initiated in 2021, including a separate RFQ for MWBE firms. These are “Open” RFQs to which the Partnership may refer as projects become available. The RFQs shall not obligate the Partnership to issue a contract. The Partnership will accept submissions throughout 2021. The RFQs may be obtained at https://stlpartnership.com/rfp-rfq/, and submissions and questions should be emailed to Dana Cook at dcook@stlpartnership.com

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

SEALED BIDS

Bids for Improve 4 - P l e x A r e a Access Bennett S p r i n g S t a t e Park, Lebanon, MO, Project No. X2007-01 will be r e c e i v e d b y FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, May 6, 2021 For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

SEALED BIDS

Submissions for C o n

, Division of State Parks Capital Improvement Program, Project No. XCMSRVS, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1 : 3 0 P M , 5/20/2021. For specific project information, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

STINGRAY LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS BUILDING RFP 2021

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to submit proposals for Stingray Life Support Systems Building. Bid documents are available as of 4/28/2021 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor.

Public Notice

The Assessment Books or Records, containing the assessments of taxable property in the City of St. Louis for the year 2021, are open for inspection in the Assessor’s Office, Real Estate Records Section, Room 114, City Hall. The 2021 values can also be viewed at https://www.stlouis-mo. gov/data/address-search/

The Board of Equalization will meet beginning on July 6, 2021, during regular business hours, and will remain in session pursuant to State Law. Any person may appeal the assessment of their property by emailing appeal@stlouis-mo.gov or writing to the Board of Equalization, 1200 Market St., Room 120, St. Louis, MO 63103.

Any appeal to the Board of Equalization is required to be filed in the Office of the Assessor on or before July 12, 2021.

Michael R. Dauphin City of St. Louis Assessor https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/assessor/index.cfm

BID NOTICE

PJ Hoerr, Inc. Is Soliciting Bids MBE/WBE/DBE/ Veteran/SDVE for the following; University of Missouri, Columbia University Critical Care Addition Renovate C3016

Bid Date: 5/06/21 @ 1:30pm Contact: Mike Murray, mikem@pjhoerr.com Phone: 573-999-1329

SEALED BIDS

Bids for Missouri N a t i o n a l G u a r d f a c i l i t y improvements in Nevada, Chillicothe, a n d T r e n t o n , P r o j e c t N o s . T2036-01, T204601, and T2048-01 respectively, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/20/2021 via MissouriBUYS. Bidders must be registered to bid. For specific project information, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

TO ADVERTISE

EMAIL YOUR AD TO ANGELITA HOUSTON AT ahouston@stlamerican.com

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

Sealed BIDS for Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe will be received by the City of St. Peters, Purchasing Department, City Hall, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, Missouri 63376 until 2:30 PM local time, Tuesday, May 18, 2021 and then opened and read aloud.

Contract Documents will be available on Thursday, May 6, 2021 and may be obtained from the City of St. Peters, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, St. Peters, MO 63376 or requested in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe”.

All questions regarding this project shall be submitted to the City of St. Peters Purchasing Department in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid 21-135 – Lakeside Parking Lot Seal & Stripe” or by mail to City of St. Peters Purchasing Department, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, MO 63376 before noon local time, Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

The Total Project Cost for this project exceeds Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) therefore Prevailing Wage Rates are required for this bid even if this award is under Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00).

The City reserves the right to waive any informality in bidding, and to accept the bid most advantageous to the City.

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for CONTRACT NO. F 21 403, Asphalt Paving Repair at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Campus, until 2:00 p.m. local time Thursday, May 13, 2021. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park, St. Louis, MO 63110-1314. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770. An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

PUBLIC NOTICE NAME CHANGE

I, Muhammad Nawabzada Zohaib , resident of Valley Park has changed my name and shall hereafter be known as Zohaib Muhammad Nawabzada.

PUBLIC NOTICE

K&S Associates, Inc. is soliciting MBE/WBE for the following projects for June, St. Louis County Police Precinct #1 and St. Louis County Police Precinct #3 -Plans and Specs can be viewed at www.ksgcstl.com-submit bids to estimating@ksgcstl.com or Fax 314-647-5302

LETTING #8728

INVITATION TO BID

Sealed bids will be received by the Webster Groves School District at the District Service Center Building, 3232 South Brentwood Blvd., Webster Groves, MO 63119, until TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021 BY 10:00 A.M. CDT for the Design Package No. 2B District Safety, Security and Accessibility Improvements to Multiple Schools. Bids will be opened publicly at that time.

Drawings and specifications for this project are on file at the office of the Architect, Hoener Associates, Inc., 6707 Plainview Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63109, (314) 781-9855, FAX (314) 781-0163.

Information as to bidding instructions and requirements for procuring bidding documents may be obtained from the Architect.

Not less than the prevailing hourly wage rates, as determined by the State of Missouri, Division of Labor Standards, shall be paid all workers employed on this project.

The Board of Education reserves the right to waive technicalities, to select any contractor filing a proposal, and to reject any or all bids.

A PRE-BID SUMMARY PRESENTATION MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021 FROM 8:00 A.M. UNTIL 9:00 A.M. AND WILL BE HELD AT THE DISTRICT SERVICE CENTER LOCATED AT 3232 SOUTH BRENTWOOD BLVD. WEBSTER GROVES MO. 63119.

PROJECT SITE VISITS FOR CONTRACTORS WILL FOLLOW ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021 FROM 9:00 A.M. UNTIL 2:00 P.M. AND ON THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021 FROM 8:00 A.M. UNTIL 2:00 P.M. FOR ALL EIGHT SCHOOLS. LOCATIONS AND ADDRESS WILL BE SUPPLIED AT THE PRESENTATION MEETING. CONTRACTORS WILL BE REQUIRED TO SIGN IN AT EACH SCHOOL BEFORE COMPLETING THEIR SITE VISIT.

ATTENDANCE AT THE PRE-BID SUMMARY PRESENTATION MEETING ON MAY 19, 2021 IS MANDATORY

By: Mr. Rob Steuber Construction Project Manager

LETTING NO. 8729

SIDEWALK CONTRACT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 301 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on JUNE 1, 2021, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org/ planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

RECONSTRUCTION OF RUNWAY 12R-30L FROM TAXIWAY R TO TAXIWAY G; REDUCE RUNWAY WIDTH; AND MODIFY CONNECTING TAXIWAYS – PROJECT 1

AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service, Room 301, City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63103 until 1:45 PM, CT, on May 18, 2021, then publicly opened and read in Room 325 City Hall. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City and State laws (including DBE policies). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 10:00 A.M. via Zoom Meeting:

Password: 656321

Phone one-tap: US: +13017158592,,99643195986#, or +13126266799,,99643195986#

Meeting URL: https://cmtengr.zoom.us/j/99643195986?pwd= c3ZEbUt4Y2o2b3FmeXhjZTc2Z1lHUT09

Join by Telephone

For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location.

Dial: US: +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1

Meeting ID: 996 4319 5986 Find local AT&T Numbers: https://cmtengr.zoom.us/u/adlOxrJIcp

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Virtual Plan Room).

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: 1717 Olive Street, St. Louis.

The project consists of renovating the Historic recognized Butler Building located on 1717 Olive Street. St Louis, MO into 384 units including amenity spaces such as a pool, walking track, fitness room and community areas. The project also includes an enclosed parking garage and retail spaces. We are currently soliciting design build bids only for the Fire Sprinkler System, Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical and Elevators. Bids will be due on June 08, 2021 at 2:00pm. A walk thru will be scheduled for May 20, 2021 at 9:00am. The remaining packages will be bid in early fall (September).

A VIRTUAL Meet and Greet for the project will be held on May 11, 2021 at 1:30pm. Please join the session by clicking the link below.

For any specific questions or if would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Ruben Guzman at 636-561-9563 or RMGuzman@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (636-561-9501).

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

next five years. SLHA has posted the “Draft” FY 2021 Agency Plan for public review on its website at www.slha.org

Additionally, the Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP), a component of the Agency Plan, and a revised Utility Allowance Schedule and the Flat Rent Schedule are simultaneously being made available for public review and comment. The link to the webpage is: http://www.slha.org/ for-residents/public-housing/policies-procedures/ Also, the Capital Fund Program Five-Year Action Plan (FY2021FY2025) is simultaneously being made available for public review and comment.

SLHA will hold a Virtual Public Hearing on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. to accept comments on its Agency Plan, ACOP, Utility Allowance, Flat Rent Schedules and Capital Fund Program. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s public hearing will not be held in person. Instructions to join the virtual public hearing are posted on the website. Comments and suggestions received will become part of the public record. Additionally, written comments may be submitted on the plan. All written comments must be received by June 23, 2021. Please address comments to Fran Bruce at fbruce@slha.org.

For additional information or questions, contact Fran Bruce, Planning and Procurement Manager, by email at fbruce@slha.org or by telephone at (314) 286-4365 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS

CITY OF ST. LOUIS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

The City of St. Louis Department of Human Services is soliciting proposals for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Planning Projects, funded with FY2019 CoC Planning Grant funds.

5 Projects will be funded: 1) CoC Administration, 2) Housing Program Excellence, 3) Data, Needs & Gaps Analysis, 4) Coordinated Entry Change Implementation, and 5) CoC Application Support. Approximately $301,800 available.

Beginning April 30, 2021, RFP packets will be available via pick-up at the: Department of Human Services Homeless Services Division 1520 Market, Room 4065 St. Louis, MO 63103 Or at the following website: https://www.stlouis-mo. gov/government/procurement/

To participate in the Zoom Webinar email Amy Bickford at bickforda@stlouis-mo.gov to receive the Webinar link.

Questions may be referred by email only and must be submitted on or before May 25, 2021, to Amy Bickford, Chief Program Manager, Homeless Services Division, at BickfordA@stlouis-mo.gov

The RFPs closing date is 4:00 p.m., June 1, 2021.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

TO PROVIDE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES AT VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS SOLICITATION NO. HM 21-10

The St. Louis Housing Authority (SLHA) will receive proposals for Property Management Services for five (5) clusters of developments totaling 1,748 public housing units. Proposals can be for one or more clusters. A separate proposal shall be submitted for each cluster of properties for which the Respondent is proposing to offer services.

Proposals will be received until Monday, June 7, 2021, by 3:00 p.m. (local time/CST)

Proposal documents will be available Monday, May 10, 2021, at https://www.slha.org/for-partners/vendors/ or at www.questcdn. com under Login using QuestCDN #7795261. Contact QuestCDN. com at 952-233-1632 or info@questcdn.com for assistance in membership registration, downloading this digital project information and online submittal of your proposal.

A Pre-Proposal Conference will be held Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. via GoToMeeting. Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone: https://global.gotomeeting. com/join/442087453

You can also dial in using your phone: United States: +1 (571) 317-3122 - One-touch: tel:+15713173122,,442087453#

For additional information or questions, contact Fran Bruce, Planning and Procurement Manager, by email at fbruce@slha.org or by telephone at (314) 286-4365 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Access Code: 442-087-453

Krista S. Peyton Contracting Officer AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

GATEWAY STORAGE PUBLIC AUCTION

The following people are in debt to Gateway Storage Mall. The contents of their storage unit(s) will be sold at auction to compensate all or part of that debt. Auction at the Dupo location will be held online with www.storageauctions.com on May 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM. A cash deposit will be REQUIRED for all winning bids. 202 – Jim White, 414 – Kim Anderson, 48 – Branden Whelchel, 105 – Gregory Brumit, 123 – Calvin Humphries Auction at the Royal Heights location will be held online with www.storageauctions.com on May 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM. A cash deposit will be REQUIRED for all winning bids. Bel. B03 – David Harris, Bel E06 – Kayla Dale For all rules, regulations and bidding process, please contact www.storageauctions.com . All other questions, please call 618-233-8995 or mail 17 Royal Heights Center, Belleville, IL 62220.

CAMERA UPGRADE/ REPLACEMENT RFP 2021

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to submit proposals for cameras on North & South parking lots. Bid documents are available as of 5/5/2021 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

REQUEST FOR

Millstone Weber, LLC is soliciting proposals for the removal and replacement of airfield concrete pavement, including demo, excavation, pavement markings, underdrains, electrical, and miscellaneous other work as indicated on the plans and specifications for the STL Lambert Reconstruction of Rnwy 12R-30L from Txwy R to Txwy G project. Please phone 636-688-8794, fax 636-949-3129 or email bob.stubbs@millstoneweber.com or ryan.taylor@millstoneweber.com, quotes to Bids@millstoneweber.com by 12:00 PM CDT on 05/17/2020. For Access to Plans and Specifications, please email bids@millstoneweber.com

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for the Musick Avenue Pedestrian Signal, St. Louis County Project No. CR-1760, will be received electronically thru the County’s Vendor Self Service portal at https://stlouisco. munisselfservice.com/Vendors/ default.aspx, until 11:00 a.m. on June 2, 2021.

Plans and specifications will be available on May 3, 2021 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouiscountymo.gov) or by contacting Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, 2731 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63118 (314) 678-0087.

BID NOTICE

Notice to MBE/WBE/DBE, Veteran Owned Businesses and SDVE Businesses

S Shafer Excavating Inc is seeking bids from the above qualified contractors for the University of Rolla SEC-Bom 1, 2, & 3 Demolition Package. Please submit bids by 5/10/2021 8:00 a.m. and enclose certification.

E-mail to shaferexcinc@att.net

E-mail us for project documents or call 618-931-6237 for more information

BID NOTICE

Reinhardt Construction LLC is soliciting bids MBE/WBE/DBE/ Veteran/SDVE for the following:

University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri Clark Hall- 3rd & 4th Floor Renovations

Bid Date: 5/11/21 @ 1:30pm

Contact: Susan Hart, susan@ reinhardtconstructionllc.com Phone: 573 819 3058

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

22nd Circuit Court currently soliciting proposals for pretrial services case management and reporting software.

RFP available on Court website at: http://www.stlcitycircuitcourt. com/index2.html?XMLFile=xml/ RFP.xml

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Clark Hall – 3rd & 4th Floor Renovations at the University of Missouri - Columbia.

This project includes approximately 21,800 sf of renovation work on the 3rd and 4th floors of Clark Hall.

The project includes but is not limited to the following scopes of work: asbestos abatement, selective demolition, masonry, carpentry, casework, doorsframes-hardware, aluminum storefront, drywall, tile, acoustical ceilings, painting, toilet accessories, plumbing, mechanical and electrical.

The owner has established Diversity Participation goals of 10% MBE, 10% Combined WBE, DBE, Veteran Owned and 3% SDVE.

Bids for this project are due on May 11, 2021, at 12:00 pm. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Evan Chiles at 816-878-6003 or emchiles@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (816-878-6249).

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting qualifications for the design services required for laboratory renovations in the Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Administration Building. Proposals/Qualifications must be emailed no later than 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 to morrowb@hssu.edu. Responses to the Request for Qualifications will be opened and the names read at a virtual bid opening on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 10:15 a.m. The link to the virtual bid opening will be emailed out to all interested vendors at a later date.

A copy of the request can be obtained by contacting Barbara A. Morrow at email address: morrowb@hssu.edu or by calling (314) 340-5763.

This Request for Qualifications does not commit the University to award a contract or to procure or contract for the services. The University reserves the right to accept or reject any, all or any part of proposals received, or to cancel in part or in its entirety this request if it is in the best interest of the University to do so.

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.” Call Angelita Houston at 314-289-5430 or email ahouston@stlamerican.com to place your ads today!

having a tough guy persona and uncomfortable with getting in tune with their sensitive side.

Thomas “Tommo” Anderson, 24, decided to counter that misconception with his latest single, “Rain,” released to all streaming platforms on April 30.

“I feel like a lot of rappers feel like they need to be big, bold and bad,” Anderson said.

“I don’t feel that. I feel that’s not human. There are parts of me that are sensitive, and I’m like, ‘dang that hurt.’ It’s important to say that out loud.”

Barbara “B. Love” Gardner, who provides backup vocals on “Rain,” agreed that it’s not common for men to articulate their feelings about heartbreak. She appreciated his honesty and that made her even more interested in collaborating.

“It made me respect his artistry and the way he wrote

certain metaphors placed in the song,” Gardner said. “Him pulling those emotions from a real situation made me really respect the song and want to be a part of it.”

Through his music, Anderson said people will be able to recognize how much he cared for the rap’s subject, despite her giving him headaches.

“I just really enjoyed the connection and vibe that we had,” Anderson said.

“But it always felt like we were standing (under) an umbrella with rain around us. It was always something going on, it couldn’t ever just be sunshine.”

Anderson and Gardner took a road trip to Chicago to record the single with Don Hulio of Classick Studios. Gardner was ecstatic with the energy that overflowed in the studio where they created “Rain.”

“Rain” follows the release of 2019’s “Victoria,” a tribute dedicated to his friend Victoria Ridley, who died in 2019. Like ‘Rain’, the single

for his

a place where people trust me to do the job and it has given me the tools I need to do well at executing every other role and task I’m involved with,” Black said.

conversation and learn more about the organization and they have drawn up to 700 people on the line. Actor Jesse Williams has joined the call too.

“It doesn’t matter where I go on planet Earth, I’m still a Black man and I’m still a descendant of somebody who was in chains at some point,” Poe said.

“It was really important for us to expand because all too often St. Louis has been excluded from the national conversation.”

Corey Wright, whose artist’s name is “Corey Black,” is an acclaimed spoken word artist and serves as BMB’s lead field organizer.

“This is my first time having a position like this; it put me in

Black said he knew as early as 18 that he’d work to improve the state of the community. He’s thrilled his role in BMB allows him the room to grow and help other Black men elevate.

“A lot of organizations lack the ability to connect with the streets,” Black said. “I’m able to reach Black men in various walks of life because of my background; I grew up in church, was raised on the west side and went to school in Maryland Heights because of the deseg program.”

BMB hosts monthly mass calls inviting people to join the

Poe said while BMB’s mission is for Black men, anyone can join especially Black women.

“Our organization encompasses spirituality, entrepreneurship, knowing your rights, mental health programming and arts programming,”Poe said.

“It is a space for Black men who wanna be in the community,” he adds “We don’t exclude anyone or turn down anyone, we welcome women in these doors every day.”

Learn more about Black Men Build, here: www.blackmen. build.

Thomas “Tommo” Anderson recently released his “Rain” single, where he was refreshingly transparent about a relationship that turned sour. The single features Barbara “B. Love” Gardner, which will be featured on his upcoming “In the Meantime” EP.

Photo by Rab Fentress

EP, featuring “Victoria,” “Rain,” and four other songs. He credits the upcoming project with taking everything he’s learned since he started doing music in 2017 and putting it together to create a melodic, meaningful cohesive piece.”

He released his first project “10:18,” in 2017 and a second one “Negative Zone,” not long after.

‘“In the Meantime,” is me taking everything I’ve learned since I’ve started rapping and creating a project with even more melodies, better songwriting, and more feeling,” Anderson said.

“When I first started it was really all about the bars, but I realized in song there’s more to it than that. Sometimes, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

“I want you to be able to roll around in your car and rap my songs at the top of your lungs,” Anderson said. “I want you to be able to say, I’ve been through that; that was me.” On May 21, he will join NandoSTL, Retro Champ, GQu3, and Concert Blake for a sold-out show at the City Foundry, located at 3730 Foundry Way. Anderson’s music is available on all digital streaming platforms.

displayed an unapologetic Anderson expressing his inner thoughts, this time

friend, who left us too soon. This summer, Anderson will release his “In the Meantime,”