Letter from the President; What Did 2013 Bring for Rise?

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Acree Photo_NL

2013 was a busy year for us, with multiple accomplishments that further our effort in community development. For starters, Larry Perlmutter joined our staff as our Communications and Development Manager. Larry came to us with previous experience in working with under-resourced neighborhoods and is working to promote our organization to the St. Louis area. Next we welcomed Mark Stroker as Director of Real Estate Development. Mark came to us from the Housing Authority of St. Louis County and works in all aspects of Rise’s residential and mixed use development.

We successfully completed the redevelopment of the Fox Manor Apartments in the Duchtown Neighborhood last June. In total, the project created 51 new energy-efficient apartments that became available to the local community. Because of the project, Rise received the DeSales Better Neighborhoods Award – an award recognizing people and projects that have made Saint Louis a better place to live.

We were extremely excited about the first annual Pop Up Street Party announcing our change from RHCDA to Rise and presenting our new logo, brand and website in September of 2013.

The groundbreaking of Emerald Ridge in East Alton, Il was a milestone for Rise and our partners. The project will replace the obsolete apartments in the area with 46 new affordable single-family homes surrounding Keasler Recreation Complex and Park. We look forward to revitalizing this community and will continue giving you updates on the project throughout the year.

We were pleased to award $72,500 in CDC Capacity Building Collaborative Grant Program grants to six different local community development organizations. These grants give CDC’s the funding and technical assistance needed to continue their revitalization work.

Finally, we also introduced the formation of our Young Professionals Board. The group is continuing recruitment, has created by-laws and committees and is looking forward to its first fundraising event on April 23rd.

These are a few of the highlights for Rise from 2013. We look forward to progress in our ongoing mission of improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods in 2014 and we will keep you updated as we continue “lifting our communities”.

Stephen Acree
President/Rise