The St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce supports disadvantaged communities in the St. Louis metropolitan area with beautification, remediation and transit improvement projects. St. Louis remains one of the most segregated cities in the U.S., with Black neighborhoods experiencing more crime, poorer health outcomes and less economic investment. Drawing upon the assistance of local schools, churches and Americorps, the organization is in the process of improving the streetscape of seven low-income neighborhoods north of Delmar Boulevard by planting 1,400 trees, renovating 13 medians, creating pedestrian- and bike-friendly lanes, and adding traffic-calming infrastructure to the streets. Grounded in history, the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce recognizes the disastrous consequences of redlining, urban renewal and Jim Crow-era segregation and partners with residents, governments and nonprofits to celebrate the history, art and culture of neighborhoods often deprived of resources.
In 2022, the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce, the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations and residents of the seven neighborhoods along the Hodiamont Tracks built 13 Little Free Library installations to be placed throughout the area.
Founded in 2019 by Sandy Brooks, a retired pediatric physical therapist, the organization has two full-time employees and hopes to add positions in education and program management. The St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce is leading a variety of projects around the city, from revitalizing the 17-acre Marquette Park with stormwater management solutions (the park is flooded for four months out of the year), a community garden, and fitness trail, to commissioning a sculpture memorializing Archer Alexander, an enslaved man who risked his life to save Union soldiers and whose unmarked grave in St. Peter’s United Church of Christ Cemetery has been listed on the National Parks Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The Chamber also provides one-on-one mentorship to students and working artists; its first student mentee designed a 270-foot-long mural next to Hodiamont Tracks, an abandoned streetcar railway undergoing transformation into a paved pedestrian and bike trail.
St. Louis residents participate in a street clean-up day. Photo: Sandy Brooks