🔍 From the Field: "How to Advance Development Without Displacement"
📰 In The News
✨ CBN Member Bright Spots
📅 Community Calendar
💼 Career & Volunteer Opportunities
🌱 Funding Opportunities
✏️ Resources & Training
🔎 FROM THE FIELD
How to Advance Development Without Displacement
Last week, CBN & InvestSTL staff joined community development association leaders from across the country at the 2026 Community Opportunity Alliance National Summit, a 3‑day convening focused on strengthening the national field, advancing equitable development, and equipping associations with tools to support their networks. The Summit offered deep policy insight, hands-on learning, and powerful examples of community‑driven innovation. Across plenaries, workshops, tours, and peer discussions, one theme resonated deeply: development without displacement, ensuring that revitalization strengthens neighborhoods without pushing out the people who built them. As CBN continues its critical role as a Bridge Builder, these learnings reaffirm our mission to connect our members and STL community with the tools, solutions, resources, and most importantly, the PEOPLE (that’s YOU!) who make equitable development possible.
*Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, CBN Executive Director, Linda Nguyen, moved to St. Louis in 2013 to get her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the Washington University in St. Louis with a concentration in social and economic development and a specialization in nonprofit management. Linda is dedicated to the strengthening of organizations’ capacity and building strong neighborhoods through the reinvestments of people and places.
TOP NEWS
▫️$10.5 Million in Federal Funding for St. Louis Greenways
▫️St. Louis NOFAs, RFPs and RFQs Released
▫️Help Shape the Future of St. Louis Streets
$10.5 Million in Federal Funding for St. Louis Greenways
The East-West Gateway Council of Governments approved $10.5 million in federal funding for three greenway projects across the St. Louis region, with construction expected in 2029 and 2030. $7.5 million of the federal grant will help build the section of Brickline Greenway on Market Street from Tucker to 4th Street, including intersection and crosswalk upgrades. This is the 12th federal contribution, totaling $61.9 million awarded to the project. Generous donors to the Great Rivers Greenway Foundation have given more than $80 million on top of the local (Great Rivers Greenway), state and federal public dollars. The $245 million public private partnership is 68% funded, leaving $77 million to be raised. With 1.25 miles built and being used daily, 2 miles in construction, and more in design, the Brickline Greenway will continue to open until the four anchor parks and hundreds of destinations are connected for a dynamic experience across 14 city neighborhoods. Other investments include:
Hodiamont Greenway: $1.5 million for a 0.4-mile section between Gwen Giles Park and Goodfellow Boulevard, with a paved trail, safer crossings, improved lighting, and other safety upgrades.
Centennial Greenway: $1.54 million for improvements to 0.9 miles of the existing Spencer Creek Trail in St. Peters, including widening the trail, replacing two bridges, improving drainage and sight lines, and adding a pedestrian signal.
Together, the projects will expand connections, improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, and advance greenway development throughout the region. Read the full announcement and project details
St. Louis NOFAs, RFPs and RFQs Released
St. Louis procurement and funding opportunities are available for CDCs, consultants, developers, and other partners working in housing, neighborhood revitalization, CDBG-DR implementation, and related professional services. Current opportunities include:
Procurement Opportunities
CDBG-DR Green Infrastructure Design & Construction Management RFQ Proposals Due: Sept. 18
CDBG-DR Real Estate Title Services RFP Proposals Due: Oct. 1
A new Department of Transportation is coming to St. Louis, and community voices should help shape it from the start. 2025 Community Building Awardee,Transform 314 is collecting feedback from residents about how they learn about street and sidewalk projects, how they want to be engaged, and what they expect from the City's new Department of Transportation.
With your help, they will provide the City with real data from real St. Louisans before the Department launches in 2029. Takethe surveyand help Transform 314 tell the City how residents feel. Your opinions matter, and so do the conditions of our streets and sidewalks and other public infrastructure!
CBN MEMBER BRIGHT SPOTS
UMSL Seeking Teachers of Home Maintenance & Repair
Photo Credit: Kresge Foundation
The UMSL Des Lee Collaborative and the St. Louis Public Library will be offering free classes on home maintenance and repair in Fall 2026. They are looking for teachers to teach: 1) General Home Maintenance; 2) Basic Home Systems: Heating, AC, Plumbing, Electrical; 3) Winterizing Your Home. Teachers will be expected to develop their own curriculum. Any equipment needed will be provided. The classes will be at the Julia Davis Libraryfrom 5:30 to 7:30 pm on November 10, 24, and Dec.1st . Pay is $500 per class; you can apply to teach one class, two, or all three. Email a letter of interest describing your background and experience to mcavant@umich.edu. They will begin reviewing applications onSeptember 11 and continue until all three classes have been filled.
OnSeptember 29th, UMSL CIAC and St. Louis REALTORS® will hosta conversationabout an important but often overlooked part of our region’s housing challenge: how we repair and preserve the homes we already have. Todd Swanstrom will share new research examining the repair needs of single-family homes in St. Louis County, followed by a panel discussing current home-repair efforts in the St. Louis region bringing together people from housing and community development, local government, philanthropy, finance, construction, public health, and other sectors that have a role to play in addressing this issue.
Vacancy To Vibrancy In Dutchtown
A building that sat vacant for years in Dutchtown opened its doors today as affordable housing ready for two families. For this vacancy, they got there through litigation and a filed lawsuit. Dutchtown Main Streets and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri brought a vacancy case on a long-neglected two-family building, and title moved to Tower Grove CDC. They filed that suit in 2023 and three years later the property is ready to be a home!
Tower Grove CDC secured an affordable Housing Program award with Midwest Bank Center sponsoring the application in partnership with the International Institute St. Louis to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines. Rubicon did the construction. Numerous partners and one goal: bringing affordable housing to the Dutchtown neighborhood for as many neighbors as possible and tackling the problems caused by vacancy. While Dutchtown Main Streets and the litigation don't produce the housing, it's one tool that has helped drive down vacancy in the neighborhood 25% since its peak in 2022. If you have a vacant property in Dutchtown you want them to look at reach out at EV@dutchtownstl.orgor visit www.dutchtownstl.org/vaco.
Dutchtown Main Streets also teamed up with Employment Connection for their ninth cohort of Green Jobs clients. The Dutchtown Beautification Team had a recent field training visit to Marquette Park in the great Dutchtown STL neighborhood!
Registration is now open for the fall semester of Enterprise University, hosted by Enterprise Bank & Trust. The program offers 30+ no-cost, 90-minute virtual courses designed to help leaders and professionals tackle business goals and challenges. Courses run September through November and cover management and leadership, finance and operations, human resources, marketing and sales, plus trending topics like AI strategy and cybersecurity. Browse the coursebook and reserve your spot.
Building Pathways to Financial Well-being through Education and Coaching
Thursday, Sept. 10th at 8am
Join the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for an interactive gathering focused on real solutions that support financial well-being in our communities. The event brings together community leaders who understand what’s working on the ground locally and what’s still needed. Hear from financial education and coaching organizations about the results they see every day, the barriers they face, and the support consumers need to be credit ready.
