After a series of presentations to GeoFutures leadership, the St. Louis Area Working Group, and the JeffVanderLou neighborhood, the Urban EcoBlock board members met with the staff of the St. Louis Development Corporation to discuss the alignment of the UEB concept and the City’s priorities for urban redevelopment in the North Side. Juwanna Brown, who is the project manager for the OurPlan Neighborhood Initiative under Project Connect, arranged the meeting with Lance Knuckles, Director of Strategic Growth & Development for SLDC. The board presented a high-level concept of the Urban EcoBlock, tying it back to the goals of Project Connect.

The SLDC spent the spring organizing Neighborhood Planning Meetings in six target areas, including JeffVanderlou, Old North, Hyde Park, St. Louis Place, Car Square and Columbus Square, and published the Roadmap to Economic Justice in April, 2022. The board remains highly eager to leverage the SLDC’s resources and relationships to help secure the appropriate development partner and work with the established Neighborhood Planning Groups to identify prospective sites and ideas to develop an initial prototype.