Health, Science & Environment

Community is at the Heart of a Healthy Neighborhood

St. Louis Public Radio | By Mary Delach Leonard

Published April 22, 2015 at 3:26 PM CDT

The importance of community can’t be stressed enough, according to mothers of students at North Side Community School who attended a recent session of The Listening Project. Susan Spann and Traci Haines also shared insights about the lasting impact of the foreclosure crisis. They agree that the large numbers of vacant homes in North St. Louis continue to tear at the fabric of their neighborhoods.

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Health, Science & Environment The Listening Project

Mary Delach Leonard

Mary Delach Leonard is a veteran journalist who joined the St. Louis Beacon staff in April 2008 after a 17-year career at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she was a reporter and an editor in the features section. Her work has been cited for awards by the Missouri Associated Press Managing Editors, the Missouri Press Association and the Illinois Press Association. In 2010, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis honored her with a Spirit of Justice Award in recognition of her work on the housing crisis. Leonard began her newspaper career at the Belleville News-Democrat after earning a degree in mass communications from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she now serves as an adjunct faculty member. She is partial to pomeranians and Cardinals.

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