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St. Louis, April 28, 2015- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro visited St. Louis today to announce the area has won the prestigious U.S. Promise Zone designation. The announcement was made at the MET (Metropolitan Training and Education) Center in Wellston, St. Louis County's main job training facility.
"My vision for St. Louis County is a welcoming, prosperous and safe community with opportunity for everyone. This distinction brings us one step closer to that vision," said St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger.
The St. Louis Promise Zone encompasses a large portion of North St. Louis City and County that includes 199,792 residents in 28 municipalities, 11 St. Louis city wards, and four St. Louis County Council districts. The Promise Zone designation gives St. Louis preferred access to federal agencies and programs, including a HUD coordinator for the region and five new dedicated members of AmeriCorps.
"Today's announcement of a City-County Promise Zone recognizes that for our region to succeed, we must work together," said St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay. "I am pleased to join St. Louis County and St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, along with leaders of affected municipalities and other governmental subdivisions, to be part of this collaboration. When we strive together as a region, great things happen."
St. Louis Economic Development Partnership led the regional effort to win the Promise Zones designation. The plan sets out to create sustainable strategies to improve distressed portions of St. Louis City and County:
1. Increase economic activity2. Reduce serious and violent crime3. Improve educational outcomes4. Create sustainable mixed-income communities5. Improve health and wellness
"This Promise Zone designation will help us improve people's lives in the most distressed areas by leveraging existing plans and creating sustainable strategies in Ferguson, North St. Louis County and North St. Louis City," said Rodney Crim, president of St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. This recognition allows communities to work directly with federal agencies to give local leaders proven tools to improve the quality of life in their most vulnerable neighborhoods. St. Louis was one of eight communities to win the designation.
"From my time as Mayor to my tenure as Secretary, I've seen first-hand how a Promise Zone designation can spark progress and possibilities in underserved neighborhoods," said HUD Secretary Castro. "A zip code should never limit the hopes that folks have for themselves or for their children. We're proud to be working with a wide-variety of local leaders to strengthen neighborhoods and to unlock doors of opportunity that have been closed for far too long. "Concurrently, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced a $5 million dollar federal job training grant for St. Louis. The funding expands the local network of American Job Centers and encourages greater collaboration between the workforce system and community organizations to better serve area youth with little-to-no work experience or post-secondary education. |
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