Deaconess Community,

The year 2023 has been gifted to us. Each year I inquire of the Lord to know what my focus should become. I am not big on making new resolutions at the start of a new year, but I am big on, “doing the will of Him that sent me and to accomplish His work.” (John 17:25).

The year 2023 is a year to pronounce blessings and favor. We are powerful by our very nature of being created in the image of God. "The tongue has the power of life and death" (Proverbs 18:21). We create the future by first, speaking it, then believing it while working towards it becoming our reality. Examine the words that you speak. What power do you unleash in your life and in the world by what you say?

Deaconess Foundation has a 100-year vision in mind. We speak into existence the realization of a beloved and thriving community where the allocation and realization of power and the distribution of resources, benefits and opportunities bless our children and our children’s children to the seventh generation. Data proves and we intrinsically know that when Black families and the oppressed are unsaddled from burdens, the beloved community becomes possible.

Thank you in advance for joining us on this seven-generation journey. Enjoy and embrace the pronouncement of blessings and favor for 2023 and beyond.

Blessings and favor will overshadow me.

I will enjoy abundant harvest.

The Deaconess team welcomed three members of the 2023 Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs from the University of Missouri-St. Louis for a group project placement.

Saida Cornejo is from Hayward, California. She attended the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in Ethnic Studies and Legal Studies. Saida is eager to apply her community-centered lens to her placements and explore how the public and private sector intersect in the St. Louis region.

Ch’aska Farber is from Santa Cruz, California. She attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota where she majored in Sociology, Anthropology and Race and Ethnic Studies. Ch’aska can’t wait to utilize her passion for the human experience to help guide her social and civil justice work in the future.

Adam Soliman is from Hamilton, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University, where he majored in Political Science, Religion, and Global Studies and minored in Spanish. A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Adam is excited to use his passion for law and civic engagement to understand how St. Louis functions as he prepares to apply to law school.

St. Louis Art Place Initiative’s mission is to build wealth and equity for low-to-moderate-income artists through homeownership. The Initiative was formed in 2017 around a community mandate and effort to design and implement a plan for affordable for-sale housing to artists in Gravois Park. The neighborhood is exceptionally artist-dense and artists – as predominantly low-income earners – were among the first displaced as gentrifying development practices began impacting the Gravois Park community. St. Louis Art Place Initiative works closely with the neighborhood beyond housing. They work with the residents, stakeholders, and the Initiative's homeowners to facilitate the creation of a community land trust that will collectively own all public and commercial space. The community governs the design, planning and development.

Learn more about API here.

Jacob Barker | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | December 26, 2022

Now, a recently formed neighborhood association wants a judge to wrest control of the building at 3509 Page Boulevard and give it to the group, arguing it is better positioned to secure the structure and keep it from further damaging nearby property values and quality of life. Read more.

The program will provide $500 monthly payments for the families for 18 months. The money will come from the city's ARPA funds.

Mark Maxwell, Sam Clancy | KSDK | December 13, 2022

ST. LOUIS — More than 400 families living in poverty will soon see direct cash payments from the City of St. Louis for at least a year and a half under a new bill approved by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen (BOA).

Jones has signified support for guaranteed income programs. She was one of dozens of "Mayors for a Guaranteed Income," including mayors from cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and New Orleans. Read more. 

Congratulations to Gloria Hampton at partner Unleashing Potential for being honored by the Missouri Afterschool Network with the Outstanding Afterschool Professional Award. Read more.

Upcoming Events

Workers Of Color and Women Are Leading The Way On Wage Justice | Nonprofit Quarterly | January 2023

The U.S. Could Help Solve Its Poverty Problem with a Universal Basic Income | Scientific American | January 2023

Shifting Power to Shift Systems: Insights and Tools for Funders | Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors | 2022