This blog piece was written by one of our students, Sarah. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to participate in the first week of an ongoing program called the SDG Changemakers which works with the United Nations Association to spread awareness and create solutions for current issues in the St. Louis Community through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. One of the days of the program was dedicated to a comprehensive tour of Cherokee street. During this tour, we learned about many small business and non-profit organizations whose goal is to rebuild and enrich the neighborhood of Cherokee Street by maintaining the influential immigrant culture from which it’s based.
We visited STL Style House, Pianos for People, Love Bank Park, Bridge Bread Bakery, The St. Louis Art Place Initiative, and The Nebula. The primary goal of these small business non-profits is to help people thrive on Cherokee Street while maintaining a sense of culture and community. Instead of focusing on big city goals such as stadiums, gigantic buildings, and other expensive, popular, modes of entertainment; the establishments on Cherokee Street are concerned with small steps that create change and make a difference in the lives of individuals. Another part of Cherokee Street that makes it so authentic and reflects the community of the street is the artwork that’s created on the side of buildings, sidewalks, inside restaurants, and even on the backboards of basketball hoops.
The objectives of the places we visited were centered around helping everyone receive equal access to resources and opportunities without discrimination based on wealth status or race, or sex. STL Style is a boutique with locally designed apparel infused with St. Louis culture and pride. The goal at Pianos for People is to provide free piano lessons and camps for children from low to moderate incomes. Love Bank Park is a place where pop up events and artists can happen with a basketball hoop and shelter from the shade. It provides the youth of the neighborhood to participate in a shared activity that they all enjoy. Bridge Bread Bakery helps those of the unhoused population find a steady source of income again in hopes for them to one day own a house or apartment. The St. Louis Art Place Initiative serves to provide spaces for artists of low and moderate income that are available to purchase so those artists can become homeowners. Our last stop, the Nebula, is a space open for small businesses to utilize office space to continue to grow and thrive.
Differing from other neighborhoods in St. Louis such as the Central West End or the Delmar Loop, Cherokee Street is not a polished, pretentious, developed strip mall to show off to appeal to wealthy people, but instead represents the community of the people that live there in a very genuine and gritty way. It’s open for tourists and locals alike, not to satisfy suburban needs or to entertain in a false way, but instead to educate and inspire.
