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Reinvest North County Fund Gives Grants to Area School Districts, Ferguson Businesses
The Reinvest North County Fund has begun distributing grants. The fund was started by North County Incorporate (NCI), a regional development association, with the St. Louis Regional Business Council (RBC) to help businesses and school districts affected by recent events in Ferguson.
The fund gave $10,000 grants to four school districts: Normandy, Ferguson-Florissant, Jennings, and Riverview Gardens.
In Jennings, School Board President Terry Wilson said, “We appreciate the commitment from organizations in the North County community to support schools.” The district has earmarked the funds for additional counseling staff and professional development for teachers to better address violence, mental health, and safety issues. Additionally, these funds may be used for transportation support for those families impacted by the Ferguson unrest, she said.
The fund also distributed grants totaling $55,000 to 12 businesses: Ferguson Laundry, Ferguson Market, Infiniti Styles Barbering and Beauty Salon, King David Fashions, Missouri Home Therapy, New York Grill, Northland Chop Suey, Prime Time Beauty and Barber, Pro Long Nails, St. Louis Barbecue (Red the Barbecue Man), Sam’s Meat Market, Swiish Bar and Grill.
Emerson Grants for Education, Jobs
In a major announcement last week from Ferguson-based Emerson, the company announced a total of $4.4 million in scholarships will be available for North County School Districts, scholarships available also at UMSL and Ranken Technical College.
Emerson announced that it will donate $300,000 a year for five years to UMSL as part of a “Ferguson Forward” plan. The money will be for scholarships in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The scholarships will be available to minority students and students whose parents are not college graduates.
Thirty scholarships will be available each year to graduates of the following school districts: Ferguson-Florissant, Normandy, Jennings, Hazelwood, Riverview Gardens and Ritenour.
Emerson will also donate $400,000 in the next four years to help students in Ferguson who want to attend Cardinal Ritter High School.
Emerson had previously announced plans to bring an additional 200 jobs to a new $25 million facility coming to its Ferguson campus.
Meanwhile the first of a series of “town hall” meetings promoting a 5-week series at various Ferguson locations was held Monday night to create a more one-on-one dialogue with the community. Organized by the city and U.S. Justice Department, the meetings are open only to Ferguson residents and the media was not invited.
