Sharpening Skills
Whitney Curtis
Square co-founder jim mckelvey, who started launchcode to help open new opportunities in the tech field.
Christopher Smith was ready for a better-paying job in the trades. Thomas Sanders was ready for a job in information technology. Neither had a four-year college degreeâyet both were able to achieve their goals, in part thanks to local workforce development programs.
Sanders had attended college but dropped out. He was working in a fast food restaurant when a friend told him about
NPower Missouri, which provides free technology training and development to veterans and job-seekers from underserved communities.
Advancing Education
The metro region offers plenty of advanced education options, including online degree programs, apprenticeships, and trade schools.
andresr Getty Images
If thereâs one word to describe St. Louisâ post-secondary education options, itâs robust. The metro area has more universities on one road, Big Bend Boulevard, than some entire towns do. (For the record, you pass four: St. Louis Community CollegeâMeramec, Webster University,Fontbonne University, and Washington University in St. Louis.)
Washington University in St. Louis
And these colleges and universities have been striving to provide more access to a quality education by leveling the admissions playing field, catering to all types of learners, and providing flexible degree options.
Michael P. McMillan, President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Photo by Lawrence Bryant
During the Urban Leagueâs recent Christmas food distribution event, lines upon lines of masked and yellow-safety-vested volunteers stood ready to pile boxes full of food and personal protective equipment into the propped-open trunks of the cars snaking around the parking lot.Â
This event came on the heels of 23 consecutive weeks of food distribution the Urban League ran between April and October of this year, giving out food to âaround 85,000 families,â according to Patricia Washington, the Urban Leagueâs vice president of communications.Â
St. Louis City Police Headquarters Photo by Dawn Suggs / St. Louis American
A 42-page report on the status of the St. Louis metro and county police departments consistently reiterated its employees think the agencies lack cohesion and unity â which has led to, in part, a fire-fighting mentality âin which they respond reactively to all calls for service in the absence of a clearly-articulated organizational plan.âÂ
Mayor Lyda Krewson, Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards and Police Chief John Hayden announced the results of the six-month, outside review of the police departments July 1; it was released publicly Monday.Â
St. Louis Regional Business Council and the companies of Civic Progress, a coalition of local businesses that work to improve the St. Louis region, funded the study.Â