ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city鈥檚 economic development arm will pay a contractor up to $150,000 to develop an 鈥渆conomic justice action plan,鈥 to prioritize its work and also coordinate its use of federal stimulus dollars with efforts to raise private capital.
最新杏吧原创 Development Corp.鈥檚 initiative comes just more than a year after the office released its 鈥Equitable Economic Development Framework,鈥 a strategic plan aimed at stemming population loss and rebuilding the city鈥檚 Black middle class. Developed over an 18-month planning period, the city paid some $800,000 to Boston-based Mass Economic for the effort.
But the document was unwieldy: 445 pages with 56 strategies and action items. New Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said during her campaign that the plan didn鈥檛 tell 最新杏吧原创 anything new and that 鈥減eople deserve action.鈥
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Now, with new leadership at SLDC 鈥 Neal Richardson, who took over in June following the retirement of longtime chief Otis Williams 鈥 the Jones administration is putting its own twist on the strategic direction of the powerful economic development agency. Daffney Moore, who was promoted in July to Richardson鈥檚 chief of staff, said the action plan will prioritize some of the goals in the Equitable Economic Development Framework while also laying out strategies to raise and leverage private capital as well as federal and state dollars.
最新杏吧原创 development office says it will shift to place-based effort, including project managers dedicated to specific neighborhoods.聽
鈥淲e want to make sure we have enough capital to do what we need to do in the community,鈥 said Moore. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take billions of dollars to redevelop the city of 最新杏吧原创.鈥
Moore, a former city manager in East 最新杏吧原创 and Dellwood, was hired at SLDC in 2019 to oversee its local Opportunity Zone program, part of the 2017 federal tax overhaul that offers tax breaks for investors who put capital into developments located in lower-income areas. Moore also ran for the city鈥檚 school board this year and was supported by a political action fund that also supported Jones.
SLDC鈥檚 board agreed Thursday to let Richardson execute a contract for the the new action plan with the Columbus, Ohio-based Council of Development Finance Agencies, a national association that provides consulting services. 最新杏吧原创 planning firm PGAV and private , a former official at the 最新杏吧原创 Economic Development Partnership in 最新杏吧原创 County, will also work on the new plan. Henderson was one of Jones鈥 appointees to a 25-member panel advising the administration on spending nearly $500 million in federal pandemic aid.
Board members unanimously supported the resolution, but they asked SLDC staff to provide regular progress reports to them on the plan鈥檚 development. They also instructed staff to show them the final contract when it鈥檚 written.
鈥淚鈥檓 curious how this is all coming together, the final piece of it,鈥 said board member Matt McBride, an attorney at Lashly & Baer.
The new action plan will be created quickly, with a draft in early November and a final plan by mid-December, Moore said.
Referencing the existing plan, SLDC board member Sean Spencer said he was 鈥渁 little concerned about duplicating services.鈥
Moore said the contract will have a defined scope of work.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to duplicate anything, and that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 an action plan,鈥 she said.
Richardson said much of the focus will be on 鈥渄eveloping a pool of funds鈥 so the existing plan 鈥渋s actionable.鈥
Nahuel Fefer, Jones鈥 director of policy and development, said the action plan will help the city win or coordinate dollars from several federal pandemic programs, including the , the American Rescue Plan and the pending infrastructure bill, plus a new round of New Markets Tax Credits.
Fefer has served as SLDC board chair as part of Jones鈥 transition but is stepping down so Richardson can chair the board as past SLDC directors have. Fefer will still work closely with SLDC, and he said the action plan would help formalize the new administration鈥檚 development incentive philosophy. Though he said he believed the city鈥檚 development principles are clear, he acknowledged developers want 鈥渃lear processes and policies.鈥
Negotiations with the new aldermen and mayoral administration slowed the project鈥檚 approval, but the parties say they now have a 鈥榤odel for equitable development.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e heard loud and clear from the development community,鈥 Fefer said.
City Hall has renegotiated several tax incentive deals since the Jones administration moved in, most prominently the next phase of the City Foundry development that was pushed to include a $1.8 million contribution to the city鈥檚 affordable housing fund in exchange for $18 million in tax incentives.
鈥淎ctually pulling this together into a formal policy and process that developers can look at and expect consistent outcomes is important to us,鈥 Fefer said.
