In this issue... Urban Studies Seminar on Rich and Poor in St. Louis Project Covered in Suburban Journals First Video Clip from Seminar Openmoney.org Cartoon of the week!

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Urban Studies Seminar on Rich and Poor in St. Louis

Civitas Associates concluded the initial phase of its Urban Studies seminar with six students from Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School. The students are Bobbi Clemons, Joyce Davis, Dan Donahue, Stephen Griffard, Rachel Kunce, and Nichole Tiggs. The outstanding faculty advisor from MRH H.S. is Model U.N. faculty advisor, Ms. Carolyn Jackson. After the week of workshops, everyone agreed to continue the project so that we can all learn more about the related issues and also begin service projects.

On Monday and Tuesday of last week, we did the following:

* Met with Blair Forlaw, Director of Policy and Programming at East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, to discuss metropolitan disparities of income and wealth. Ms. Forlaw also provided valuable information on how the fragmented structure of governments in the St. Louis metropolitan area makes it more difficult to create and implement comprehensive policies to help the poor.

* Were interviewed by Ms. Cathy Cohn of the Suburban Journals newspapers. The article appears in the link below.

* Met with Ken McCoy, director of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).

* Toured the former Mill Creek Valley and LaClede Town areas of St. Louis to study the how affordable housing in St. Louis has not been preserved; rather it has been replaced with institutional growth.

The students in the seminar have been taking copious notes on their experiences and have begun writing reflections on what they have seen. We have considerable photos as well as video. Some is now posted on the web; more will be available in coming weeks.

The project will continue. There will be more media coverage following interviews on August 19 by Hilary Wicai of KWMU-FM (90.7) -- NPR Radio in St. Louis.

The calendar of events for the project can be reviewed by clicking here. You can review daily events by using the link below. The first article from the workshop is from Stephen Griffard. You can access it by To Web Pages on M-RH Urban Studies Project

	Project Covered in Suburban Journals
The Urban Studies seminar was covered by the Suburban Journals newspapers. You can read the article by Cathy Cohen below. To Article in Suburban Journals �

	First Video Clip from Seminar
Our first video clip from the Urban Studies seminar is now available. Many more will be online shortly. This first clip involves our visit to City Hall in Kinloch, MO (Missouri's poorest town) on Wednesday, July 17. The primary speaker is Board of Aldermen president Leonard Carter. Our special thanks to Julian Darley in Vancouver, BC for streaming the video for us. We will be working with Julian considerably more in the future! To video link of Kinloch City Hall Visit �

	Openmoney.org
We just returned from a most successful trip to Comox, British Columbia gathering information on the concept of community currency. It is a novel idea that could have fine applications in St. Louis. In future newsletters and on our web site, we will provide you with more information on this concept. To openmoney.org �

	Cartoon of the week!
Perhaps there are still some folks (unlikely among our readers) who feel that the teaching of the theory of evolution should be illegal. This week's cartoon addresses this issue that brought us the Scopes Trial among other dramatic events in American history. Please feel free to E-Mail us cartoons that you find of interest or ones that you draw. We would like to make this a real participatory section of the weekly newsletter. Discussion Forum Home Page �

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