I think government from a local state to federal level has completely abandoned North City.

The government has failed North City.

And part of the reason we responded so quickly the same day the tornado happened was because we anticipated that the government would fail North City.

We thought it would be an immediate failure, but that they would get it together and come along.

And now we're nine months out and it's still failing our people.

But failure was never an option for the North Side.

And there has been a lack of response.

It's been too slow.

It's been too many hiccups, too many reasons and excuses on why resources aren't making it to the people.

And since the people needed help, the people responded.

What has happened in the nine months since the tornado is failure from our governments, but powerful solidarity from everyday people.

A brainchild of two nonprofits in St.

Louis.

And that was the people's response.

The people's response was birthed out of the same thing that birthed Action St.

Louis.

We knew that we had to do something.

We had to get active.

We decided to put out a call for volunteers to go canvas neighborhoods to help clean up.

And it ended up creating this infrastructure out of the YMCA parking lot, where we held over 10,000 volunteers, gave out over 20,000 meals, supported over 6,000 families in a six-week time period.

-We distributed $400,000 in direct cash assistance to residents with partners like InvestSTL.

It really stood up one of the larger recovery efforts.

And we're not a recovery organization.

We're an organizing organization.

So we just used the tools that we had to build the apparatus to stand in the footprint.

And it really morphed into a movement.

Filling the gap where civic leaders could not.

A movement that is still boots on the ground, but now with a permanent home.

This is the Northside Movement Center.

This gym is the Mill Creek Gymnasium.

So every room in the Northside Movement Center is named after a current or former neighborhood in North City.

And the building is 36,000 square feet.

We actually purchased it in 2023.

And so very quietly, while the people's response was happening, the recovery is happening, this building was under construction in the North Point neighborhood.

- This is what community looks like.

- This is what community looks like.

- I am so excited for the opening of the Northside Movement Center, and movement is in the title on purpose, because it is for us.

- It's a space for community to have access to, so they can have access to this gym, conference rooms, a co-working suite, operating hours, and evening and weekend hours.

And it really is the culmination of what I believe Action St.

Louis is.

Action St.

Louis, to me, is a love letter to Black people in St.

Louis.

It is about making love actionable, and that's the work that we do every day in this building.

It's about bringing that love to a physical place and creating what we call a home for our movement.

- Taking action where it counts.

- We've sort of lifted up a phrase that means a lot to me, that North City is the North Star.

And what that truly means to me is that our eyes have to be on the prize of North City being whole.

St.

Louis reaches the next place.

It reaches being a better place, a more transformed place if North City is our North Star.

When I think about what it means to be from St.

Louis, it is to take action against injustice.

That is the spirit of this city.

It always has been.

There's a legacy of being there for the people who need it and fighting against the systems that harm us.

And that's the true spirit of St.

Louis.

And I hope we continue to honor that spirit in action.