Mark celebrates five years as Ameren Illinois president
@stlouisamerican
Page B1
2016 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
@stlouisamerican
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited JUNE 8 – 14, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 12 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
‘It’s time for us to have a voice’ Sheila Rendon, a longtime St. Louis Place resident, spoke as a panelist at a June 1 public forum called “What are Community Benefit Agreements?”
Citizens demand a seat at the development negotiating table with Community Benefits Agreements By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
n “Never believe anything that comes in the form of a handshake – always have it in writing.”
Longtime St. Louis Place resident Sheila Rendon realized in 2007 that developer Paul McKee Jr. was beginning to buy up all the land in her North St. Louis neighborhood, including buying out some of her neighbors. She didn’t
– Sheila Rendon
know it was McKee because it was done under the name of
more than a dozen “shadow companies,” she said.
She later learned about McKee’s “vision” – and she clarifies that it wasn’t a plan – to redevelop North St. Louis. That’s when she and her neighbors established a group called the Northside Community Benefits Alliance. In 2009, the group had See CITIZENS, A6 Photo by Wiley Price
Former Suggs Scholar to start at Lewis Rice law firm
Brotherly love Two brothers and fellow cub scouts from St. Peters Jaxson Spears, 9, and Brysen Spears, 7, both students at Hawthorn Elementary School, place flags on headstones in Jefferson Barracks National Cementery on Sunday afternoon. The event was the 68th Annual Gravois Trail dedication.
Maikieta Brantley also recognized at Women’s Justice Awards By Pat Matreci For The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
of eventually going to law school to carry out her legacy.” Brantley is creating a legacy of her own. Maikieta Brantley She recently was is fulfilling a dream recognized by Missouri shared with her mother, Lawyer’s Weekly at Rochelle Tilghman. the 2017 Women’s Brantley, a recent Justice Awards event, graduate (May 14, receiving the Leaders 2017) of the University of Tomorrow Award. of Missouri-Columbia It is given to women School of Law, is set to law students who embark on her career in demonstrate leadership, the fall as an associate professionalism, and a with Lewis Rice in St. passion for making a Louis. difference in the justice “I always had system or the legal intentions of going to Maikieta profession. law school,” Brantley Brantley “This award meant said. “My mom had so much to me, as I completed a summer did not feel that I deserved it,” law institute when I was younger. When she was unable to enroll full See BRANTLEY, A7 time as a law student, I set a goal
Brown School partners with CWAH Elite WUSTL social work school advises grass-roots agency on succession and growth By Sophie Hurwitz For the St. Louis American The Brown School of Social Work tends to evoke the castlelike buildings of Washington University’s Danforth Campus. However, the Brown School, which claims in its mission statement to “collaborate
with organizations to use evidence to improve access to and quality of social services and to address social and economic justice,” holds to its mission of being embedded in the community by having an office at the Better Family Life building on Page. A group of Brown School
SuStAining community Women students recently convened at Better Family Life (BFL_ to present their findings after spending time in collaboration with several community organizations. Aside from partnering with BFL, they
also worked with Northside Community School and Community Women Against Hardship. Each of the four groups of students jumped at the chance to apply the social
work skills they had been learning in school. They met with members of their assigned organization and members of businesses, nonprofits and media outlets that partner with their group. They used the data gathered to determine each organization’s priorities, and then finally submitted a report
detailing recommendations for how each organization could sustain itself and thrive in the future. One group of students – Najjuwah Walden, Shakira Onwuachi and Jamie Bruner – worked with Community See CWAH, A7