A Minute With

By Burk Krohe

STEVEN LOUIS

BRAWLEY preserves and celebrates St. Louis’ LGBTQIA+ history

Steven Louis Brawley was always wary of where he parked his car when frequenting gay bars during the ’80s. At the time, you kept a low profile. “You would never hold hands in public,” Brawley recalls. “People still would go to Pride, yet they would be afraid to be photographed.” The AIDS crisis was ongoing, and Brawley had recently come out. He remembers the protests, the outrage and the lost friends. Looking back, it seems like such a consequential period in LGBTQIA+ history, but in the moment, it felt like everyday life. Even so, as a University of Missouri–St. Louis student and young professional during the ’80s and ’90s, Brawley would seek out stories about the history of St. Louis’ LGBTQIA+ scene at gay bars and clubs. However, he never recorded those conversations. “I regretted never recording them,” he says. “It really bothered me. It’s a shame that their amazing life stories are now lost because I never thought to pick up a tape recorder or video camera.” It was the impetus for founding the St. Louis LGBT History Project in 2007. For more than a decade, Brawley has dedicated his free time to documenting St. Louis’ LGBTQIA+ history. He’s authored the book “Gay and Lesbian St. Louis” and has served as a trustee for the State Historical Society of Missouri since 2020. Most recently, he launched, “In Our Voices,” a documentary video series detailing the stories of queer landmarks in the city – such as the Zebra Lounge – through informal discussions.

Brawley had an interest in history dating back to childhood but thought he would become a lawyer. He started to waffle after serving as editor of the student newspaper at Hazelwood West High School and matriculating to UMSL. He majored in communications and joined The Current, becoming editor-in-chief in 1987. He found a mentor, and fellow lover of history, in Blanche M. Touhill, who was vice chancellor at the time.

Brawley secured internships at American Cable, Barnes Hospital and Maritz. He credits those opportunities, following his graduation in 1987, for his three-decade career, including stretches as communications director of BJC HealthCare, head of his own consulting firm and executive vice president of Area Resources for Community and Human Services. Yet, the stories from elders in the community remained with him, and the St. Louis LGBT History Project was born with a blog post. It resulted in a flood of support and subsequent partnerships with the Missouri History Museum, the State Historical Society of Missouri and Washington University in St. Louis. The project has grown to include an artifact archive and oral history recordings and has allowed Brawley to champion St. Louis’ dynamic LGBTQIA+ history via museum exhibits, speaking engagements and projects such as “In Our Voices.” “I often have exhibits at Pride festivals, and I have had great conversations with younger folks who are interested in the history and are appreciative,” he says. “Then I have elders who are in tears going, ‘You know, back in the day, we were all hidden and now look at us. We're all walking around and out and proud.’”

ANDREA JACKSONJENNINGS

embraces lifelong learning as regional social services leader

By David Morrison

University of Missouri–St. Louis alumna Andrea Jackson-Jennings is uniquely attuned to the needs of some of the region’s most vulnerable populations. For the past 10 years, she served as the director of the St. Louis County Department of Human Services. This September, she took on a new role as the managing director of the COVID-19 Regional Response Team, a group of local organizations that is creating and maintaining a centralized response network to help meet the social needs of residents who have been most affected by the pandemic in the St. Louis region. In both her previous and current posts, Jackson-Jennings has played a leading role in coordinating support and community-based resources for residents who need them.

“We have been leading the humanitarian effort as it relates to the food insecurity needs, the digital divide and ensuring that seniors and homebound individuals get the medical assistance and meals that they need,” Jackson-Jennings said. “We want to make sure that residents receive the appropriate services that they need.” Jackson-Jennings was appointed to lead the county’s Department of Human Services by then-County Executive Charlie Dooley in 2011. Prior to that, she worked at UMSL, starting in the cashier’s office and advancing to associate director of financial aid while earning her BGS in 2004 and an MEd in 2007 from the university. She is continuing in the College of Education as a doctoral student in educational practice with an anticipated graduation date of December 2022. Throughout her course of study, Jackson-Jennings has been inspired by educators such as Professor E. Paulette Isaac-Savage and Theresa Coble, the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Experiential and Family Education. “I’m a lifelong learner,” said Jackson-Jennings, who earned her master’s degree in higher education with an emphasis in adult education. “The university has provided me the analytical skills necessary to be successful beyond my chosen discipline. With UMSL being a pillar in the community, the university has been instrumental to the success of the region. That has helped me tremendously in my career.” Jackson-Jennings said she plans to use the knowledge gained in the pursuit of her doctorate to help deepen her understanding of the community she serves, as well as strengthen relationships with key partners. She said she recently received a call from a former superintendent in the region seeking housing help for a family in his district. Jackson-Jennings and her Human Services team connected the family with resources for short-term housing, as well as starting on a strategy for a long-term solution. “I truly believe in UMSL’s mission, that they transform lives,” Jackson-Jennings said. “That has been my mission in any and everything that I do: to make this place a better place than it was when I found it. I want to be in a position to influence policy through social justice and have a voice at the table for those who are voiceless.”

By Timothy Wombles

RONALD JONES

works to nurture St. Louis into a city of gardens

Ronald Jones’ backyard bursts with life. Cherry, fig, mulberry and plum trees stand among the grapevines. There are blackberries and raspberries, peaches and paw paws. Flowers bloom, attracting tiny visitors that, in turn, pollinate the fruit trees. “I work hand in hand with the bumblebees and the hummingbirds,” Jones says. Jones’ backyard and business, called Blackberry Landscaping LLC, is part pollinator garden, fruit orchard and educational center. Located in the heart of Jeff-Vander-Lou in North St. Louis, it’s always open to the residents of the neighborhood. He traces its roots back to childhood summers in Walnut Park spent in “Fruit Alley,” which he and friends named for the tantalizing array of fruit dropping from overhanging trees planted in the backyards of neighborhood elders. Jones started gardening in his free time in 2008. The hobby became a passion that’s grown into a dedication to help rebuild St. Louis neighborhoods, to nurture its people and plants and create a city of gardens. Jones’ knack for cultivation led him through one of his hardest challenges, becoming a certified Master Gardener through the Missouri Botanical Garden. He used skills acquired at the University of Missouri–St. Louis to learn the Latin names of hundreds of plants. “UMSL taught me how to really study,” he says. “I’ve applied that to everything since.” Jones also credits many people at UMSL, especially College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Director of Academic Advising and Student Services Sylvia Harris, for helping him acclimate to the classroom in his 30s after a while away. He earned his BS in media studies in 2020. Jones also picked up UMSL Chancellor’s Certificates in Fundamentals of Economic Development, Planning and Zoning, and Community Partnership and Coalition Leadership. That education speaks to how much Jones cares about rebuilding the St. Louis community. Growing up in Walnut Park and Hyde Park, he saw firsthand the city’s housing issues. Since 2019, he’s joined AmeriCorps VISTA, the STL Vacancy Collaborative and the Community Builders Netw ork of Metro St. Louis, serving as a Community Engagement Specialist. Through Creating Whole Communities – a collaborative among UMSL, the University of Missouri Extension and St. Louis neighborhoods focused on strengthening communities – Jones became a Neighborhood Leadership Fellow, meeting policymakers and civic leaders. “We have a lot of great people doing some great things on the ground right now,” Jones says, rattling off names of those working hard in neighborhoods and organizations across the city. “I want to change the narrative by being an advocate of change about St. Louis.” In September, Jones joined the 2021 cohort of the Coro Fellows, an emerging leadership program housed in the UMSL Community Innovation and Action Center. He also started his master’s in urban planning and development at Saint Louis University, but not before stopping by the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia to pick up the 2020-2021 Urban Garden of the Year Award for the City of St. Louis. Jones thinks every neighborhood should have a community garden, a place for kids to pick fresh fruits and vegetables. “I tell everyone looking to start a community garden to reach out to me, and I’ll teach them how for free,” Jones says. “Blackberry Landscaping will continue to do common things in gardening in an uncommon way.”

EMILY BLACKBURN

implements advanced tools to help St. Louis police better understand crime and protect communities

By Steve Walentik

Emily Blackburn remembers what it was like when she first joined the crime analysis unit at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department back in its infancy. That was about 14 years ago, and before she could make heads or tails of any data on crimes committed, evidence or potential suspects, she’d have to go through an involved process to extract it from various sources, geocode it and put it on a map to begin to look for patterns. “That process might take half an hour or so,” says Blackburn, who earned a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 2001. “It doesn’t seem like a huge amount of time, but right now, we can do 1-2-3-4 in a row and look at different iterations almost instantaneously. That really helps our assessments.” Blackburn, a civilian official who’s been the crime analysis unit manager since 2012, is always looking for tools that can help commanders and detectives better recognize and understand patterns in crime or connect information that will help solve their cases. Last year, she led a team – comprised of an intelligence analyst, a systems development specialist, a programmer and an information security administrator – to build an intranet site using geospatial information system mapping software called ArcGIS Enterprise Portal, which was developed by Esri, a leading global firm in GIS, location intelligence and mapping technology. The software allowed them to create administrative, tactical, investigative and intelligence focused dashboards to help users access and easily visualize pertinent information quickly. “We’re all used to Esri dashboards because almost all of the COVID dashboards that came out last year were Esri dashboards,” Blackburn says. “Instead of COVID case numbers by state, it’s crime by police district or city ward or that sort of thing. It’s the same principle and underlying software.” The dashboards have helped guide decision-making in day-to-day operations. Commanders share that intelligence with officers at the start of their patrols, so they’re prepared to recognize and solve the problems they encounter. “We’re about at maximum capacity for doing more with less, but at least then we can focus our initiatives in the right place, in the right time,” Blackburn says. “This makes it a lot quicker. We can do multiple projects at the same time.”

Building and implementing the dashboards was a big enough undertaking that Blackburn and her team won a Special Achievement in GIS Award from Esri. St. Louis was one of three police departments recognized among 109 total awardees nationwide.

Blackburn never expected the recognition. Had she been seeking it out, she likely never would have gotten into a career that has had her working behind the scenes to support law enforcement. “I’m happy to do this nerdy data stuff on one end,” Blackburn says, “to help advance us in other ends and meet the changing needs of the citizens and what they want out of the police department.”