| St. Louis Five Year Consolidated Plan Strategy | |||||
| Chapter 2 |
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Infrastructure | Public/Social Services | Public Facilities | Quality of Life | Conclusion 
Within the past five years, many factors have affected the City's ability to meet the needs of its residents. The devolution of responsibilities to state and local governments, the effect of the balanced budget, and welfare reform will continue to place greater strains on the local budget. However, positive efforts, including partnerships and collaborations, the increased role of faith-based organizations, and the contributions of the Danforth Foundation and the St. Louis Community Foundation, have contributed greatly to the City's revitalization efforts. The most significant of these factors are described below. DEVOLUTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES The devolution of responsibilities to state and local governments has added a severe burden to the already tight budgets of states and cities. Since 1994, state and local governments have even greater responsibility for welfare reform, job training, Medicaid benefits, and other social programs. This shift in responsibilities is not likely to be reversed soon and will continue to burden the city. EMPHASIS ON PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS Throughout the City, many positive changes have occurred because of partnerships and collaborations. The Empowerment Zone received commitments from more than forty organizations, including government agencies, private businesses and non-profit organizations and institutions. The investment of these organizations could total as much as $2.5 billion. Another major collaborative effort, St. Louis 2004, is developing initiatives that will provide solutions to regional problems. The St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative is a collaborative effort among more than 400 agencies, community groups, governments, and businesses. It is designed to prepare former welfare recipients for the work place and assist them in finding employment. Many other similar partnerships throughout the region are contributing to the revitalization of the City including ARCHS, Sustainable Neighborhoods, Caring Communities, and the Regional Report Card. PRIVATIZATION Privatization of public services has evolved as a popular method to try to improve services. Throughout the country, privatization has been considered for many government functions, including prison management, education, and street maintenance. Within the City of St. Louis, several functions have recently been privatized. In July 1999, the St. Louis Housing Authority began privatizing operations in an effort to improve its services. The Housing Authority has some experience in privatization with tenant-based management, which it has used for many years. Some mental health services in the City of St. Louis have been also been privatized. The BJC Health System now operates the St. Louis Mental Health Center, which used to be operated by the Missouri Department of Health. The privatization of the Metropolitan Sewer District was investigated but was rejected in favor of restructuring. WELFARE REFORM AND WELFARE TO WORK Welfare reform has had a disproportionate impact on many urban areas, including St. Louis. In 1996, the City of St. Louis had 6.6% of the state's population, but had 23.4% of the AFDC/TANF caseloads. Because caseload decline is linked to the extent of poverty in the city, the rate of caseload decline in St. Louis from 1994 to 1997 was significantly slower than the average decline for the state of Missouri. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FOUNDATIONS In 1997, The Danforth Foundation announced a change in its funding priorities, choosing to focus on its hometown's needs rather than higher education nationally. As a result, the Foundation has contributed significantly to revitalization efforts of the City. It has shown interest in the St. Louis 2004 project, Sustainable Neighborhoods, the Regional Report Card, child care programs, and the new Vashon High School and the surrounding community. Within the past few years, the Foundation has contributed funds to establish the Danforth Plant Science Center, plan the refurbishment of Soulard Market, and renovate an annex of the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Foundation also established the "I Dare You" award, which honors an area religious organization committed to working with the community, and donated $88,000 to support CommUnity, a grass-roots initiative on racism and other problems. The St. Louis Community Foundation serves the philanthropic needs of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The mission of the Foundation is to act as a catalyst in identifying and addressing community needs, while serving donors' interests. In July 1999, the St. Louis Community Foundation made a grant of $100,000 to the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance. The grant will support the community-based planning process under the Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative in four of nine designated neighborhoods. This planning process, conducted at the grass roots level by neighborhood leadership, is the preliminary step in revitalizing selected neighborhoods in the City, County and East St. Louis HEALTH CARE CHANGES Both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals are increasingly put in a position of having to consider the bottom line when they treat patients and plan for expansion. Hospitals in the 1990s have gone through the merger and acquisition processes experienced by other institutions during the 1980s. Integrated delivery systems throughout the U.S. combine hospitals at different geographic locations (horizontal integration) and different types of care--primary, acute, and long-term (vertical integration). Many hospitals have expanded profitable programs while reducing services that are not profitable. HMOs and the government have forced medical-care providers to undercut each other to produce savings for consumers, investors, and taxpayers. This has resulted in many complaints about access to care and poor quality. In 1996, the St. Louis region's only quasi-public hospital, St. Louis Regional Medical Center, lost its major source of funding and was forced to close. In 1997, a consortium of St. Louis' health systems and medical schools joined with St. Louis Regional and the community to consider new ways to collaborate in meeting the health needs of the region. BJC Health Systems - the area's biggest health care provider - took over management of the ConnectCare health care plan for uninsured St. Louisans. The five-year agreement calls for the city to pay a maximum of $5 million to help run ConnectCare. Overall, ConnectCare costs are expected to total about $38 million annually, with the state government committing about $26 million in state and federal aid. ConnectCare now serves about 80,000 area residents, 40% of whom have no insurance. EDUCATION Within recent years, there have been substantial changes that affect the public education in the City of St. Louis. Ballot victories allowing new capital improvements and changes in the court-ordered desegregation plan will change the facilities and the delivery of education for many students. In addition, state certification of teachers and concern over student test scores continue to be issues for the system. Through a capital improvements plan begun in the late 1980s, 99 school buildings were renovated and six new buildings were constructed. Three new schools opened in 1995, three opened in 1996, and one opened in 1997. In February 1999, City voters approved a sales tax designed to help end school desegregation. A new law also returns control of the schools from the federal courts to the local school boards. However, schools are now faced with the task of improving achievement at the same time that they receive $7 million less each year from the state for expenses. The sales tax will provide $23 million a year for city schools and will trigger about $40 million in state aid, but this falls about $7 million short of the amount that is received through the desegregation plan. Also, city school enrollment is expected to increase because of fewer transfers to St. Louis County. The accreditation process for the public school system began on March 8, 1999. The review focused on many factors including class size, scores on the Missouri Assessment Program test, teacher training and certification, and the nutrition of the cafeteria meals. A recommendation has been made that the schools should not be accredited. The district will have the remainder of the 1999-2000 school year and two additional years to show improvement. If they remained substandard after that period, the State Board of Education probably will call for a transitional school board. Low test scores, particularly on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test, continue to be an issue and will be an important factor in the accreditation process for the school system. There are a number of city schools targeted for improvements and special assistance because of low test scores. As part of the desegregation settlement, the number was increased from ten to forty. SUBSTANCE ABUSE Substance abuse continues to be a contributing factor to many problems in the state of Missouri and the City of St. Louis. According to the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, alcohol and other drug abuse affects more than 259,000 Missourians directly as substance abusers and another 800,000 Missourians who are family members of substance abusers. The toll is measured in both human and economic terms. Substance abuse contributes to domestic violence, the break-up of marriages and families, and lost productivity on the job and in school. It afflicts more than half of all persons incarcerated for committing crimes in Missouri. Alcohol intoxication is a cause in a large portion of deaths from burns, fires, homicides, assaults, drownings, suicides, and traffic crashes.
Although crime is often stated as a major concern for City residents, St. Louis has experienced decreases in crime rates and the residents' perceptions often do not reflect reality. Total crime nationwide dropped 4 percent from 1996 to 1997 while St. Louis showed a 9.3 percent drop. This decrease is part of a decreasing crime trend that has existed since 1993. In the City, from 1993 to 1998 total crime dropped slightly more than 20 percent. Serious crime has also fallen sharply. In 1998, St. Louis had the lowest number of homicides since 1964. Juvenile crime has also fallen sharply; this decrease is usually attributed to the decline in crack cocaine. Drug abuse and crime are intertwined. Three-fourths of the people incarcerated in Missouri have a substance abuse problem and 90 percent of them said they were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time they committed their crimes. Studies also show that crime rates are reduced by 80 percent in the first year among those who have completed treatment programs. Efforts to reduce substance abuse would also go a long way in reducing crime. Although juvenile crime has decreased, efforts are still needed to address this issue. In 1997, Attorney General Janet Reno called for more money for after-school crime-prevention programs since most violent juvenile crime occurs between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Several programs in the City have been established to address high-risk teens and juvenile crime. Project Respond manages the City of St. Louis SafeFutures program, a federally funded partnership aimed at reducing youth violence and delinquency. Project Respond's Pilot Educational Program (PREPP) serves high-risk youth who are at risk for delinquency, gang involvement, school failure, and other problems. CHILD CARE AND EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT Child care is a problem for many low-income residents. Average child care costs are roughly $4,000 per child per year and are often the second or third biggest item in the household budget. Programs that offer sliding scale fees or subsidized care serve only a fraction of the children who need services. As a result, too many children spend time in make-shift, temporary arrangements. In July 1999, Missouri's laws which regulate day care were strengthened to require that any care giver (including unlicensed centers such as those run by religious organizations) receiving state payments must submit to background checks. The new law also releases federal food money to license-exempt child care centers for the first time. Thus, the number of Missouri children who will benefit from food reimbursement will increase from 49,000 to 78,000. | |||||
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PUBLIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES
CRIME
