A Regional System Without a North Star

The St. Louis Business Journal recaps the recent Advance STL panel with Dara Eskridge of Invest STL, Eric Scroggins of The Opportunity Trust, and Chris Krehmeyer of Beyond Housing. They noted that the St. Louis region suffers from a fragmented and “highly unsophisticated” political system that lacks shared vision and coordinated leadership. 

They described a region where elected officials, nonprofits, and the business community often operate in parallel rather than in alignment, making it difficult to advance long-term solutions. Despite this critique, each leader pointed to their own organizations’ place-based and systems-focused work as examples of how the region can move toward a more unified “north star” that prioritizes equitable growth, stronger public systems, and sustained investment in historically under-resourced communities.