COMMUNITY WEALTH ACTION GROUP
We are a coalition of St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL, community members with a common goal: to build communities where we can all thrive. Whether you have lived here for decades, are a new neighbor, run a small business, or work to build new places and spaces in the community, this is the place for you. We will listen and learn from each other and take action together to write a new chapter for our cities where everyone has what they need to thrive.
The racial wealth gap is widening. In fact, we are on track for Black and Latinx households to reach a networth of $0 by 2053!
This country and our region can’t “inclusion and diversify” our way out of this vicious trajectory. We can’t simply “buy Black” our way out of generations of systemic exploitation and wealth stripping.
The Community Wealth Action Group, a coalition of St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL community members seeks to reimagine STL’s economy through a radically inclusive design process. Over five months and four community Design Days, we will co-create a Community Wealth Building (CWB) Playbook reflecting a diverse set of solutions from policies to programs and resource allocations to narrative shifts.
The community design process and CWB Playbook aims to build on existing efforts and plans while prioritizing a community wealth building framework. The Playbook will be released in June articulating a shared vision, set of values, a STL-community wealth building theory of change, priority outcomes, solutions, and naming institutions critical in ensuring the implementation of solutions.
Upon release of the CWB Playbook, we will then pivot to the Community Wealth Action Group training leaders as organizers, building power to achieve policy change, shifting public narrative, and standing up pilot projects that prove community wealth building as a worthy path forward for our region.
Join Us!
But, it starts with a vision. So, join us! Become a Design Fellow, join a Solutions team, share this page with others ready to build an economy where we are well and wealthy.