St Louis
Working Together to Win the Decade
DURATION: Ongoing since 2021
POPULATION: Growth rate 0.23%)
TOPICS: INVESTMENT, REVITALIZATION, COLLABORATION, PUBLIC SAFETY, TALENT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
URA SCOPE: ECONOMY Urban Prosperity Beyond GDP, STRATEGY. Shared Vision
MAIN ACTORS:Greater St. Louis, Inc
In the shadow of a difficult year, as 2020 strained communities and tested institutions across the country, something unexpected began to take shape in St. Louis.
A region often seen through the lens of division—split by city and county lines, marked by long-standing racial and economic disparities—found itself pulled together by necessity.
Amid the crisis, leaders from across the business and civic landscape began talking, coordinating, and solving problems side by side.
Out of that urgency came a bold decision: five separate economic development organizations would merge to form a single, unified entity—Greater St. Louis, Inc.
The aim wasn’t simply to recover from the moment, but to build something lasting. This new organization would carry forward the spirit of collaboration forged in hardship and turn it into a permanent structure for change.
In its early years, GSL focused less on flashy wins and more on building trust—developing what its leaders called “relational currency.” They listened.
They met people on their terms, learning what mattered to them. Slowly, a common vision for the region began to emerge—one that prioritized inclusive growth and recognized the complexity of the challenges ahead.
GSL’s leaders knew they couldn’t go it alone. They studied what worked in other cities, and shaped an approach that blended advocacy, investment, and strategic deal-making. They worked alongside elected officials and community leaders, becoming a partner in policy and progress.
Today, GSL draws strength from a broad coalition—over 600 investors including major corporations, research institutions, startups, and neighbourhood businesses. Together, they’ve helped bring major employers to the region, created thousands of jobs, and supported transformative state policies, including Medicaid expansion.
As the U.S. enters a new era of industrial transition, regions like St. Louis face both opportunity and risk. Seizing the moment will require a united front. Greater St. Louis, Inc. isn’t just leading—it’s connecting the many pieces of a complex region and aligning them toward a future that leaves no one behind.
Challenge & Context
St. Louis faces a series of deep-rooted and interconnected challenges that have shaped the region’s trajectory for decades. Large portions of the metro, particularly in the urban core, have suffered from chronic disinvestment, leaving behind vacant buildings, deteriorating infrastructure, and neighbourhoods with limited economic activity. These patterns have reinforced longstanding structural inequities, especially along racial and geographic lines, resulting in unequal access to quality education, jobs, transportation, and essential services.
Public safety remains a major concern. The city continues to grapple with one of the highest homicide rates in the country, contributing to a widespread sense of insecurity and negatively influencing perceptions of the region both locally and nationally. This environment has further discouraged investment and undermined community stability.
At the same time, St. Louis struggles with a persistent waste of local talent. Many residents—particularly from historically marginalized communities—are excluded from pathways to economic mobility due to systemic barriers and a lack of supportive infrastructure. The fragmentation of governance and institutions across the metro area compounds these issues, making coordinated action difficult and slowing progress. These conditions pose significant obstacles to achieving inclusive and sustained regional growth.
Solution Proposed
Greater St. Louis, Inc. (GSL) serves as the principal steward of the STL 2030 Jobs Plan, a strategic roadmap designed to reverse long-term economic decline and position the St. Louis metro area for inclusive, innovation-driven growth. The plan is structured around five core strategies: fostering an inclusive economy, revitalizing the urban core, supporting small business and entrepreneurship, strengthening the region’s talent pipeline, and advancing St. Louis as a hub for next-generation industries.
Under this framework, GSL coordinates with municipal, regional, and civic partners to implement targeted initiatives. Recent efforts include the formation of a public-private partnership focused on downtown revitalization, particularly addressing two large vacant properties that have long hindered development. GSL also collaborates with Great Rivers Greenway to support regional mobility through the Brickline Greenway, a 10-mile trail system connecting key neighbourhoods and parks, improving quality of life and enhancing talent and business attraction.
In the area of global connectivity, GSL is working with Lambert International Airport on a master plan for modernization, including terminal consolidation. These efforts have already contributed to the restoration of nonstop transatlantic flights. Through coordination and alignment of regional assets, GSL is helping streamline economic development across sectors.
Impact
Despite its relatively recent formation, Greater St. Louis, Inc. (GSL) has demonstrated measurable impact across multiple strategic fronts. As the lead applicant for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC), GSL coordinated a regional coalition that secured $25 million in federal funding. A key outcome of this initiative was the allocation of $7 million toward the development of an Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center in one of the nation’s most economically disinvested areas—an investment designed to attract additional local and state resources while addressing longstanding structural inequities.
Efforts to enhance stakeholder collaboration were reinforced through direct engagement in all 15 counties of the St. Louis metro, where GSL leadership met with local business owners, officials, and community leaders. This relational strategy has helped align diverse interests around shared economic priorities.
Targeted revitalization of Downtown St. Louis has involved both cultural and infrastructural interventions. A partnership with GO! St. Louis led to the reimagining of the city’s marathon route to highlight key landmarks and reinforce civic pride, including the newly developed Major League Soccer stadium.
Public safety, specifically homicide reduction, was elevated as a regional priority through the publication of a whitepaper advocating for focused deterrence strategies. Subsequent adoption of a regional plan reflects the influence of GSL’s policy research.
To support transparency and accountability, GSL launched STL2030 Progress, a comprehensive platform for tracking progress on Jobs Plan initiatives. These tools enable comparative analysis with peer metros and map ongoing capital projects, reinforcing data-informed decision-making.
Collectively, these efforts underscore the organization’s capacity to coordinate complex, cross-sector solutions in a fragmented regional landscape.
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