Beyond Housing moves headquarters to 24:1 footprint
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2016 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
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CAC Audited APRIL 13 – 19, 2017
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Slay slammed for ‘poor exit strategy’ Rec center closed for New Life residents By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
State Senator Jamilah Nasheed and youth protested outside 12th and Park Recreation Center on Friday, April 7, after the Slay administration temporarily canceled youth programs at the center to accommodate homeless people who had been staying at New Life Evangelistic Center, which the city forced to close.
Several political and community leaders said they were outraged that the Slay administration executed a “poor” plan for relocating about 125 homeless residents living at the New Life Evangelistic Center’s homeless shelter on 1411 Locust St. For four years, downtown residents and business owners – along with some city officials – have been trying to close the doors on the shelter, run by Rev. Larry Rice. Recently, a circuit court judge approved the city’s “cease
See NEW LIFE, A7
Vol. 89 No. 4 COMPLIMENTARY
Friendly Temple opens bank branch Baptist church in North City partners with Midwest BankCentre
Photo by Marty Murray Jr.
By Chris King Of The St. Louis American It was something that you don’t see every day. A black banker was praying on the pavement in front of a Baptist church. He was praying for the prosperity of a new bank branch that the church was opening on its campus and the well-being of the community served by the church – and, now, by the bank. The senior pastor of the church – Pastor Michael F. Jones of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 5553 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood of North St. Louis – thinks it has never happened before, but could set a new standard. “We think we are great standard bearers for the nation,” Jones said of the partnership between his church and Midwest BankCentre, which opened a
See TEMPLE, A6
AuguSt 9, 1944 – ApriL 7, 2017
A literary love story’s final chapter Photo by Lawrence Bryant
Farewell, Chuck Berry Mourners paid their last respects to Chuck Berry, rock and roll’s original architect, at the Pageant in St. Louis on Sunday, April 9. He passed away in his St. Louis-area home on March 18 at age 90. For a story about his Celebration of Life and more photographs, see page C1.
since 1989. But within a year, his luck had turned. He was hired back at the center as the vice president of planning and development, and his first project was to lead the construction
See SALUTE, A6
See AUTHOR, A7
Businessman, nurse, humanitarian, comedian Mark Sanford of People’s is 2017 Stellar Performer in Health Care
The year of 1993 was a difficult one for Mark Sanford, executive vice president at Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers. “I lost my job, I lost my mother and got
divorced all in the same year,” Sanford said. “That was just devastating.” As a single father with full custody of his two children, he was left to juggle three jobs and the challenges of single parenthood. The position he lost was the outreach manager at People’s Health Center, which he had held
By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American With the passing of Patricia McKissack on Friday, April 7, 2017, the world lost the surviving partner of one of the most prolific duos in literature. She suffered a heart attack and was taken to an area hospital, where she was pronounced deceased. She was 72. Fredrick and Patricia McKissack embarked on their collaborative literary mission nearly 35 years ago with the intention of being the change they wanted to see. The couple Patricia decided that little black boys and McKissack girls deserved positive images of themselves and a broad scope of their people’s rich history as they turned the pages of books. The McKissacks knew that these words would be critical in shaping what they think, feel
Salute to Health Care
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Famed children’s author Patricia McKissack passes at 72