James S. McDonnell Foundation

The team at JSMF is supporting four essential Areas of Focus in the St. Louis region. These Areas of Focus are deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing and offer a chance to collaboratively build momentum for positive change. One of our core Areas of Focus is Small and Midsize Businesses. JSMF supports these businesses to scale through: ✅ Increased access to capital and additional support for small and midsize businesses. ✅ Strengthened connections between small and midsize businesses, anchor institutions, financial institutions, and corporations to drive new business opportunities. Visit our website to learn more: jsmf.org. . . . #stl #stlouis #equity #community #partnership #smallbusiness #midsizebusiness

In the St. Louis region, too many homeowners in historically underinvested neighborhoods have been excluded from the tools needed to protect the value of their homes. That’s why Legal Services of Eastern Missouri is partnering with the St. Louis Home Repair Network (HRN) to help people repair and protect their homes. It’s a newly formed, first-of-its-kind partnership between attorneys and contractors that is working to stabilize the physical structure and wealth-building potential of homes in disinvested St. Louis neighborhoods. Support from JSMF is helping LSEM and HRN collaborate to offer estate planning and home repair services simultaneously. We are proud to support these organizations, as they both help build a St. Louis that works for everyone. . . . #stl #stlouis #equity #partnership #wealthbuilding #community

We don’t have to choose between innovation and investments in the people of St. Louis. We need both for growth.

Help us elevate the stories of those doing the hard work to make St. Louis a region of opportunity for all. Apply at jsmf.org/careers by February 17.

As today’s op-ed in the The St. Louis American shares, JSMF is partnering with Edward Jones to fund a “baby bonds” program managed by Mobility Capital Finance, Inc. (MoCaFi). The pilot program will seed $5,000 in an investment account on behalf of 300 income-eligible seventh graders in St. Louis. During this week when America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we find his work and memory especially poignant. In the spirit of Dr. King’s message of cooperation and collective care for our communities, we are excited to launch a collaboration that will help tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time: generational poverty. We invite you to take a moment to read this op-ed, co-authored by JSMF President Dr. Jason Q. Purnell, MoCaFi Founder & CEO Wole Coaxum, and Edward Jones Director of Community Relations David Stiffler. Baby bonds have the potential to make a substantial positive impact on the futures of young St. Louisans. We hope that existing programs and the pilot we are launching in St. Louis will inspire government, philanthropy, and the private sector to collaborate and adopt the baby bond approach as a national model for investing in America’s youth. #stlouis #babybonds #economicjustice

As part of our commitment to the St. Louis region, JSMF is supporting four essential Areas of Focus, including increasing opportunities for the region’s workforce and enhancing workforce systems. We do this by: 📌 strengthening high-quality early childcare and education to both prepare the future workforce and address barriers the current workforce faces; 📌 enhancing wraparound supports for students and job seekers to build awareness, readiness, and access to quality jobs; and 📌 strengthening connections between job seekers, employers, and education and training organizations. . . . #stl #stlouis #jobseeker #workforce

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Just before his death and five years after his iconic 1963 I Have a Dream speech, Dr. King was organizing a return to Washington, DC, to dramatize the cross-racial impact of poverty in the wealthiest nation in the world. This Poor People’s Campaign was designed to draw attention to the lack of economic opportunity experienced not just in the Deep South, but in urban and rural communities throughout the United States. King believed that there had to be better ways to support the basic needs and the human dignity of the women, men, and children who were left out of America’s economic promise.    Economic justice was not a new concept for King. He knew that the promise of progress contained in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 could not be fully realized for all Americans without full participation in the nation’s economic life. Indeed, though it is often truncated as the March on Washington, the full title of that historic gathering of 250,000 people was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The two were inextricably linked.   Economic opportunity is closely linked to self-determination at JSMF as well. We believe that the opportunity to secure a thriving wage job, grow a business, and build and protect wealth makes it possible to direct the course of one’s life and provide for the future of one’s family. It gives individuals a say and a set of choices about their lives and their communities.   As we at JSMF pause to honor the Martin Luther King holiday, we will be thinking of the beloved community he envisioned and recommitting ourselves to supporting the work of making the economic promise of our community finally and fully accessible to all.         #MLKDay #EconomicJustice #BelovedCommunity #StLouis

St. Louis is a region filled with brilliance, creativity, and strength. But for decades, racial segregation and economic disparities have placed unjust limits on many opportunities. Residents of predominantly Black neighborhoods have considerably lower average net worth than residents of predominantly white neighborhoods — among many other systemic inequities. JSMF is dedicated to addressing these issues by supporting initiatives that improve economic mobility. Our mission is to foster inclusive growth, elevate shared prosperity, and improve the quality of life in St. Louis for *all* St. Louisans. Learn more about our history, our work, and our vision in this video.

JSMF is pleased to announce a recent grant of $637,000 to WEPOWER and its mission-aligned partners. WEPOWER conducts invaluable research, planning, training, and community development to improve the St. Louis region’s early childhood education (ECE) landscape — and JSMF understands that ECE programming is not only critical for parents in today’s workforce, but also essential for the next generation’s long-term economic mobility. The ultimate aim of the funded WEPOWER project is to deliver sustainable, high-quality early childhood education with a seat for every child in our region who needs one, and to ensure that all St. Louisans have access to quality child care. Charli Cooksey, WEPOWER CEO, said: “When we invest in the systems that care for our children, we are investing in creating a prosperous region. Early childhood systems change is a moral and economic imperative for our region.”