Improving Watershed Resilience in the Gravois Jefferson Neighborhood of St. Louis

The EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) is awarding approximately $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments.

CIS is part of a team led by Climate Resilience Consulting that was awarded a contract to provide technical assistance to the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce. The project will focus on improving water shed resilience in the underserved neighborhood of Gravois Jefferson, including a redesign of Marquette Park to address flooding and drainage issues, and urban heat island and extreme heat challenges. The park includes the Thomas Dunn Learning Center, a community-serving facility working with over 100 community-based organizations to provide a wide range of services to neighborhood residents (e.g., food pantry, arts classes, sports facilities, free public pool, and other community programming). The project will also focus on a greenway and affordable housing project being led by the Arts Place Initiative and increasing connectivity of the greenway to Marquette Park. Combined, these projects will support the resilience of the local watershed. 

Anticipated benefits to St. Louis’ Gravois Jefferson neighborhood include i) mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat, and poor air quality; ii) reducing stormwater, flood risk, and spread of disease (water- and vector-borne); iii) carbon sequestration from urban greening and reforestation; and iv) preservation of arts, culture, and heritage.