Compiled
by Lauri Johnson
CLAY HELPS COMMUNITY COLLEGE SECURE
GRANT FOR TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. has helped St. Louis Community College
secure a $317,400 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for
the Manufacturing Skills for a Changing Economy—Integrated Systems
Technology program. College officials recognized Clay for his
efforts at the college’s board of trustees meeting.
The program will provide training for 30 dislocated and unemployed/underemployed
workers and 30 incumbent workers in essential foundation skill
sets required by modern manufacturing operations. Participants
will use state-of-the-art equipment and training simulators
along with computer-aided instruction to prepare them to work
as maintenance technicians.
The program will be offered at the Florissant Valley campus’
Emerson Center for Engineering and Manufacturing, and participants
will be recruited at the Metropolitan Employment and Training
Center and career centers.
VERIZON WIRELESS GIVES $40,000 GRANT
TO THE ST. LOUIS FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER
Through the Verizon Foundation, Verizon Wireless has awarded
a $40,000 grant to the St. Louis Family Justice Center to upgrade
technology for a survivor intake database and to improve services
to survivors of domestic violence. The grant is part of a $100,000
multi-year pledge by Verizon Wireless to support the justice
center’s new program that coordinates community response and
domestic violence.
“We are pleased to continue our financial support of the Family
Justice Center and to enhance data and information technology
that will enable victims of domestic violence to find safety,”
states Mark Crumpton, president of the Kansas/Missouri region
for Verizon Wireless.
The Family Justice Center provides a one-stop resource for women
and families seeking an escape from domestic violence and abuse.
Located at the corner of Tucker Boulevard and Olive Street in
St. Louis, the Family Justice Center opened in 2005 with a $1.4
million grant from the U.S. Justice Department.
STEADYRAIN WINS AWARD FOR BUILDATOUR.COM
REAL ESTATE WEB SITE
The Web Marketing Association has honored SteadyRain for outstanding
achievement in Web site development with a Real Estate Standard
of Excellence WebAward for its work on BuildATour.com.
Buildatour.com markets and sells virtual property tours to real
estate agents and brokerages. The site has an intuitive interface
that enables users to register and customize tour features such
as photos, music, logos and contact information. Once the virtual
tour is completed, it can be accessed via e-mail, hyperlink
or another listing.
The WebAwards recognize the best Web sites in 96 different industries
and set standards for industry benchmarks based on the seven
criteria of a successful Web site. Entries are judged on design,
copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation
and use of technology.
Founded in 1999, SteadyRain is a business and technology solutions
firm focused on Internet strategy, interactive design and application
development.
LACLEDE GAS CHAIRMAN RINGS CLOSING BELL
TO CELEBRATE THE COMPANY'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY
On March 7th, Douglas H. Yaeger, chairman, president and CEO
of Laclede Gas Company, rang the closing bell at the New York
Stock Exchange in tribute to Laclede’s historic role in the
region, and the country.
The Laclede Gas Light Company was founded 150 years ago on March
2, 1857. Nearly four decades later, in 1889, the St. Louis-based
company first listed its stock (LG) on the NYSE.
“We’re proud of our involvement in the metropolitan area and
of being an established building block of the business community
early on. In fact, in 1896, Laclede Gas Light was one of 12
companies included on the first Dow Jones list,” said Yaeger.
Today serving more than 630,000 customers, the Laclede Gas Company
is the largest natural gas provider in the State of Missouri.
KETC DOCUMENTARY ABOUT GATEWAY ARCH
IS CHOSEN FOR NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
Monumental Reflections, a KETC documentary that explores what
the Gateway Arch means to St. Louis and to the world, has been
accepted for national distribution to public television stations
by American Public Television. First broadcast on KETC/Channel
9 in June 2006, the half-hour documentary will be offered by
American Public Television as part of its April program selections.
“On the heels of St. Louis receiving international recognition
for urban renewal in 2006 from the World Leadership Forum, the
broadcast of Monumental Reflections in other markets will demonstrate
to the rest of the country this city’s long history of renewal,”
states Jack Galmiche, president and CEO of KETC. “As this program
makes clear, the Arch is symbolic of so many things, not the
least of which is revitalization and civic pride.”
Monumental Reflections shows the Arch and its place in the landscape
from many perspectives through interviews with architects, artists,
activists, archivists, construction workers, tourists, writers
and others who all relate unique opinions of what the Arch means
personally, symbolically and historically.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE LAUNCHES
FIRST PHASE OF NEW WILDWOOD CAMPUS
St. Louis Community College has launched the first phase of
construction of a new campus in Wildwood, Mo., a project that
will include the region’s first ‘green’ roofed college building.
Architect Wm. B. Ittner Inc. designed the 66-acre campus to
create environmentally friendly, energy efficient and flexible
space in order to earn Leadership in Energy & Environmental
Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The first phase will focus on a 73,000-square-foot building
that incorporates a number of “green” elements. A “green” roof
that is accessible from the building’s central atrium will be
planted with sedum, a drought-tolerant plant that will reflect
heat from the sun in the summer and help insulate the building
in the winter.
The structure will be 30 percent more energy efficient than
a typical code-compliant building of its size, achieved in part
by capitalizing on the use of sunlight for heating, cooling
and natural light. Two- and three-story cisterns at the entrances
to the college will collect rainwater for irrigation. Other
conservation features include waterless urinals, drought-resistant
landscaping and a quarter-acre retention pond landscaped with
trees, bushes and native prairie grasses.
The Wildwood campus is scheduled to open in August 2007.
For more information on community colleges in the St. Louis
region, please visit the St. Louis RCGA website at http://www.gotostlouis.org./x516.xml
BJC HEALTHCARE AND UNITED HEALTHCARE
STREAMLINE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES TO CUT COSTS
In an effort to address escalating healthcare costs, BJC HealthCare
and United Healthcare have launched a program to jointly streamline
administrative processes to help lower healthcare costs for
their patients.
The two organizations established a project team to identify
areas where they could improve billing and payment processes.
The team is using Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a pilot site, examining
every step of the healthcare process—from physician services
to claims processing—to remove inefficiencies and associated
costs.
“We are very pleased to be working with United Healthcare on
this initiative and are encouraged by the early results we are
seeing,” states Steve Lipstein, president and CEO of BJC HealthCare.
“For our patients, improving administrative processes will help
reduce costs and improve their total healthcare experience,
which is our primary focus.”
After nine months of work, the project team’s first phase was
completed in the fall of 2006. BJC HealthCare plans to implement
the team’s recommendations at all 13 of its hospitals.
REGIONS NAMES NEW MIDWEST PRESIDENT
Regions Financial Corp. has promoted St. Louis Area Executive
Michael Ross to regional president of the Midwest Banking Group.
Ross will succeed current Midwest Regional President Steve Schenck
of Indianapolis, who is retiring.
“I am excited to continue building on the great foundation that
Steve established for the Midwest,” says Ross. “Now that Regions
is one of the nation’s top 10 banking companies we can reach
even higher to expand our benefits and solutions for our Midwest
customers’ financial needs.”
Ross joined Regions in 1984 as group president. Prior to joining
Regions, he held a number of management positions within the
financial industry, working for Bank of St. Louis, General Bancshares
and Capital Bank and Trust.
Ross currently serves on the board of the Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville Chancellor’s Council; the University
of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor’s Council; the Regional Business
Council, the Missouri History Museum Sub-District, the Transport
Museum Association; Citizens for Modern Transit, the Racquet
Club; Saint Anthony’s Medical Center; the Saint Louis Zoo; the
St. Louis RCGA; Saint Louis University; Junior Achievement of
Mississippi Valley; and Boy Scouts of America, Greater St. Louis
Area Council.
ALTER TRADING ACQUIRES WISCONSIN RECYCLING
FIRM
St. Louis-based Alter Trading Corp., a leading processor of
scrap metal, has purchased Samuels Recycling Co., which operates
ferrous and non-ferrous metal recycling centers in seven locations
throughout Wisconsin. The acquisition will significantly increase
Alter’s capacity and make it one of the largest scrap metal
recycling companies in the United States.
“This acquisition will only serve to enhance Alter’s commitment
to our consumers, our employees, the environment, and to the
communities in which our facilities are located,” states Robert
S. Goldstein, CEO and president of Alter Trading Corp. “The
dedication, integrity and commitment to quality that can be
found at each Samuels Recycling location complements Alter’s
own high standards.”
Alter will operate 28 metal recycling facilities and five trading
offices in seven states, as well as a representative sales office
in Shanghai, China.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS NEEDS MORE
AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is launching an
ambitious effort to recruit volunteer mentors who can help children
in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. The new initiative, called
the Urban Expansion Project, seeks to provide mentors for 3,250
children in urban areas over the next four years. Since the
recruitment, screening and support of a Big Brother or Big Sister
costs $1,000 per match, the agency wants to raise $3,250,000
to fund the new mentor matches.
The need for mentors is particularly urgent in some urban neighborhoods
and schools, where approximately 13,000 children have a parent
in prison, according to Big Brothers Big Sisters. These children
are at high risk of eventually being incarcerated themselves
and desperately need mentors.
“Children in the urban market face multiple challenges—poverty,
higher levels of violence and unemployment, under-performing
schools and gang- or drug-ridden neighborhoods,” states the
executive summary of the Urban Expansion Project. “Ninety percent
of our urban market waiting-list youth are African-American,
and as the number of parents requesting African-American mentors
increases, we need to recruit more African-American volunteers.”
St. Louis City License Collector Michael McMillan and Alderman
Lewis Reed have stepped forward to become sponsors and honorary
chairs of the Urban Expansion Project. The general chairs are
Vincent Bennett of McCormack Baron Salazar, Sal Martinez of
SLM Consulting and Sandra Moore of Urban Strategies. Big Brothers
Big Sisters is still adding sponsors and partners to the Urban
Expansion Project and will soon launch fundraising and volunteer-recruitment
campaigns. For more information, please visit www.bbbsemo.org.
NEW HARRISON CENTER TO EXPAND REACH
IN NORTH CITY
St. Louis Community College’s William J. Harrison Northside
Education Center was established in 1994 to promote accessibility
to higher and continuing education in the North St. Louis community.
Located at 4666 Natural Bridge Road in the old Julia Davis Library
building, the center has fulfilled this mission and has grown
over the past decade; more than 6,000 students per year benefit
from the center and its outreach programs. But the lack of classroom
space and parking is limiting academic delivery.
St. Louis Community College is committed to the future growth
of the center. The college is proposing construction of a 30,000-square-foot
facility along Cass Avenue adjacent to Vashon High School and
near the Clyde C. Miller Academy in the JeffVanderLou Neighborhood.
The projected cost for the new Harrison Center is $10 million.
The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has pledged $300,000, payable
over three years, to the St. Louis Community College Foundation
to support construction of the center.
The new facility will house four general-purpose classrooms,
laboratory space, administrative offices, and common areas for
students, staff and community members as well as parking. Kennedy
Associates Inc. is the college’s architectural design partner
for the project.
Academic offerings will concentrate on computers/technology,
childcare, environmental sciences, and allied health.
VILLAGE GREEN BRINGS ST. LOUIS A NEW
LIFESTYLE
A joint venture between two third-generation real estate businesses—The
Lipton Group Inc., a well-known professional management company
founded in St. Louis, and Village Green, one of the nation’s
leading managers and developers of apartment communities, has
brought a new lifestyle for St. Louis renters.
Village Green/Lipton LLC has the combined power of a locally
owned entity and a national firm and oversees nearly 25 properties
and more than 4,500 units in the St. Louis area. The company’s
ability to breathe new life into older communities is evident
with its transition of Mark Twain Village into Village Park
of Ballwin, which represents one of the company’s four product
brands. City Apartments, another Village Green brand, is also
present in St. Louis at the West End City Apartments community,
which brought together three historic buildings with an $8 million
renovation.
At Village Green communities, attention is paid to detail, from
resort-style resident services and amenities to environmentally
conscious buildings. Village Green provides high-end apartment
design, monthly social activities, rent rebates to go toward
home ownership, special military pricing, referral bonuses,
value-added upgrades and 24-hour service express. For more information:
www.villagegreen.com
MODOT'S "SMOOTH ROADS" COULD
SAVE MOTORISTS $100 MILLION ANNUALLY
Jefferson City State highway officials say the Missouri Department
of Transportation’s latest road-smoothing program, which will
improve the state’s 5,600 miles of major highways over the next
five years, will save drivers 2.4 percent in fuel costs. Work
also will include wider stripes and rumble stripes, brighter
signs and paved shoulders.
“Smooth highways really help fuel efficiency,” says MoDOT Director
Pete Rahn, adding that rough roads cost the average driver an
estimated $275 a year in increased maintenance costs.
The work should also have an impact on safety, notes Bob Reynolds,
CEO of Graybar Electric and chair of RCGA’s Infrastructure Council.
“I think it will save lives,” Reynolds says. “The roads were
so bad, with people constantly having to avoid potholes, not
to mention the added distraction of cell phones.”
Data was derived from a study that showed a 53 percent improvement
in road smoothness resulting from MoDOT’s recently completed
Smooth Roads Initiative, which already has improved 2,200 miles
of the state’s busiest highways.
For more information on infrastructure initiatives in the St.
Louis region, please visit the St.
Louis RCGA website.
EQUIS HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES
DRIVE FOR 5,000 HOTEL ROOMS
St. Louis-based EQUIS, a hospitality management and hotel development
company, announced that it expects to own or manage more than
5,000 hotel rooms in five years based on deals currently in
the pipeline.
Formerly known as Dominion Hospitality, EQUIS has created a
portfolio of large and small hotel properties that currently
totals approximately 1,200 rooms. Recent projects include an
urban high-rise Residence Inn by Marriott at Highway 40 and
Jefferson; two Riverport properties that include a Residence
Inn by Marriott and a Homewood Suites by Hilton; and a 188-suite
Residence Inn by Marriott on Jefferson Avenue near Highway 40
in St. Louis. Under development is the Westin Hotel at the Galleria
on Brentwood, located across from the Saint Louis Galleria.
SCOTTRADE WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
IN ASSOCIATE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Online investment firm Scottrade has been named the 2006 Learning
Leader for Operational Program Excellence by Bersin & Associates,
a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning
and talent management. Scottrade won the award in the midmarket
category, which covers organizations with fewer than 10,000
employees.
The award recognized Scottrade’s commitment to professional
development and enhanced client service through an innovative
training program targeted to Scottrade associates. The Learning
Leaders Program recognizes organizations that have developed
and executed learning and development initiatives efficiently
and effectively with significant business improvements.
PRIDE LAUNCHES INCUBATOR PROGRAM FOR
MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS
A meeting for minority entrepreneurs in the construction industry
was held on Jan. 5 to introduce a first-of-its-kind initiative
to build a sustainable minority contracting community in St.
Louis. PRIDE, a construction labor-management organization,
is establishing an incubator called the Regional Union Construction
Center to help minority owners of union construction companies
grow their businesses via a structured program that shares best
industry practices.
Participants will have their operations assessed by industry
experts and will then receive a tailored training and educational
program, one-on-one counseling and access to a three- to five-person
business advisory board.
The incubator’s business development program began accepting
applications from qualified small minority-owned construction
companies in January, according to Alan C. Richter, the incubator’s
executive director. The center, which is based at the Wellston
Enterprise/Small Business Building at 6439 Plymouth Ave. in
St. Louis, aspires to mentor five to seven minority contractors
in its first year.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY SIGNS PACT WITH INDONESIA
ORGANIZATION FOR BUSINESS AT MIDAMERICA
St. Clair County, Ill. signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA), located
in the Riau Islands in Indonesia, to support mutual international
air cargo services at their respective airports.
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, the Batam Industrial
Development Authority, Evergreen International Airlines, and
Cardig International signed the Memorandum during a meeting
at the Indonesian Trade Ministry in Jakarta.
The Memorandum cites numerous shared interests between MidAmerica
and BIDA, including: economic incentives to promote mutual attraction
of air cargo carrier Jakarta services, marketing the air cargo
community, promoting air commerce between Hang Nading International
Airport (managed by BIDA) and MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (managed
by St. Clair County), and establishing an “air bridge” between
the two airports
“This is an important agreement that will have significant impact
on St. Clair County. We have been working on this since the
airport’s air cargo facility was built two years ago. It will
bring jobs, as well as new businesses to St. Clair County, and
it opens a new market for Indonesian companies to distribute
their goods in the U.S.,” Kern said.
“MidAmerica St Louis Airport represents huge opportunities for
serving the needs of companies in the expanding international
air cargo business. This Memorandum marks the opening a new
era of trade with one of Asia’s fastest growing manufacturing,
distribution and emerging cargo center. Not many people know
that Indonesia is the fourth largest nation in the World,” Cantwell
said.
For more information on MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, please
visit the St.
Louis RCGA website.
BOEING UNDERWRITES UNIQUE LITERARY VENTURE
Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front
in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families was released
in March by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). The anthology
was made possible by the Boeing Company’s support of the NEA
National Initiative, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime
Experience.
The book is made up of more than 100 submissions, including
journal entries, letters, short stories, and emails sent to
friends and family from the front.
“The Operation Homecoming initiative has provided a unique venue
for our nation’s servicemen and women and their families to
share their experiences and stories with others,” said Jim Albaugh,
president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Boeing’s support also includes a book tour to more than ten
military bases nationwide and overseas.
Proceeds from the book will be used to provide arts and cultural
programming to U.S. military communities.
In addition to the anthology, a television documentary of Operation
Homecoming will air on PBS.
Through interviews and dramatic readings, the film transforms
selections from the book into a deep examination of the experiences
of those serving in America’s armed forces.
Throughout the film, the soldiers express a profound hope that
people will listen to their stories and try to understand what
they have seen.
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” premiers
Monday, April 16.
