Two of St. Louis’ most prominent social justice groups are moving in together.
Action St. Louis and ArchCity Defenders on Tuesday are launching the public phase of a capital campaign to renovate a building in the city’s North Point neighborhood, to be known as the Northside Movement Center. The two groups will have offices there, plus space for community gatherings. They also hope to launch a coworking space for small businesses or other organizations.
“Historically speaking, when you think about movement, land is a core part of how you think about building power,” said Kayla Reed, executive director of Action St. Louis. “When you have space, you have the ability to be nimble and responsive to what community needs.”
So much of the work the groups do is rooted in bringing people together, said Blake Strode, the executive director of ArchCity: Spaces like the Deaconess Center on Vandeventer have been tremendous partners, but they can’t accommodate all the needs.
“It’s a recognition that this sector has really grown, that we have strong relationships, that we’ve built a body of work and to some degree, it feels appropriate to have a home for that movement work,” he said.
Michael-John Voss was one of three St. Louis University School of Law graduates who founded ArchCity in 2009. He said the center represents the “blossoming of that initial seed of being community-led and community-focused.”
“This vision that we had as young neophyte lawyers, with the assistance and vision of others that have joined us, has really become something of a reality that in our wildest dreams was again, just a dream,” he said.
The total project, including the purchase of the building at 5939 Goodfellow Blvd. and renovations, will cost about $10 million. The groups hope to raise at least $15 million by 2027 to allow them to seed a fund for maintenance and upkeep.
For about 20 years, the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church used the 36,000-square-foot building as its Family Life Center, complete with banquet space and a day care facility. It was the vision of the church’s longtime pastor, Willie J. Ellis Jr.
But the space was expensive to operate, said New Northside’s current pastor, Rodrick Burton. And though he was not looking to sell the building, he said the offer from the groups was something he and the church’s members felt they could not pass up.
“It’s the vision on steroids,” he said. “The resources, the services they can do and have a track record of doing, is even beyond what my predecessor had envisioned. It’s going to be a huge blessing to the community.”
ArchCity and Action will begin operating from the building on Jan 5. A grand opening of the center, including for the coworking space, is set for late winter.
This story has been updated to correct the square footage of the building.
