SITE OVERVIEW ♦ ST. LOUIS | MISSOURI
Target Area: The Near North Side • Population: 4,700
Fiscal Agent: City of St. Louis Department of Health
Research Partner: The Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri – St. Louis
Crime Concerns: Homicides, sexual assaults, robbery, aggravated assaults, and other violent crimes
BCJI Funding Year: 2015 Planning & Implementation
Neighborhood Profile
The Near North Side is comprised of 114 city blocks and includes two major neighborhoods – Carr Square and Columbus Square. Residents of the Near North Side face significant economic challenges. The median household income is under $20,000 and the unemployment rate is almost double that of the City’s rate. In addition, more than half of all households are headed by a single female which is often cited as a key risk factor for poverty and other poor individual and family outcomes.
A majority of Carr Square and all of Columbus Square lie within a large cluster of violent crime hot spots. According to 2014 Uniform Crime Reporting Data from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Part I Violent Crime Rate for Carr Square was 37 per 1,000 residents and 25 per 1,000 residents for Columbus Square, compared to the City’s overall rate of 17 per 1,000 residents.
Planning Process
The BCJI project, Near North Side Stabilization Initiative, intends to transform the neighborhoods of Carr Square and Columbus Square into vibrant, self-sustaining communities by leveraging an existing Youth Violence Prevention Partnership as well as the partnership cultivated under the Choice Neighborhoods Grant. BCJI partners are now working to achieve this vision by working towards the following goals:
- Create a safe, stable physical environment for residents, by implementing Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).
- Reduce the number of repeat offenders, by enhancing existing restorative justice programs through the court system and the Division of Probation and Parole.
- Prevent and deter crime, by working with residents to set individual goals and strengthening and creating partnerships with local workforce agencies and organizations to increase employment training and job opportunities for residents.
Other Key Partners
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Urban Strategies, the Missouri Department of Corrections – Division of Probation and Parole, 22nd Circuit Court –Family/Juvenile Division, St. Louis Public Schools, St. Louis Mental Health Board, City of St. Louis Problem Properties Office, and the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment
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