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Balancing
Development
By Kevin Kipp
Denny Coleman
President and CEO
St. Louis County Economic Council
Denny Coleman has reasons for what he says and does.
According to Coleman, president and CEO of the St. Louis County
Economic Council, his organization is “about attracting businesses
and jobs, but we’re also about development and redevelopment in
our inner suburbs.”
Coleman comes honestly by this balanced regard for new growth and
old neighborhoods. Before his bachelor’s in urban geography at Saint
Louis University and his master’s in urban planning at the University
of Wisconsin, he grew up in South City near Jefferson and Gravois.
His children were the sixth generation born into the old neighborhood.
Coleman didn’t say how many generations besides his played fuzzball
in St. Francis DeSales’ schoolyard. He also frequented the semi-pro
softball games at Fox Park back when men played the game, too. His
father was a warehouseman employed by Cupples Company, Coleman says,
“mostly in Overland but he spent a few years at Cupples Station.”
But the most compelling basis for explaining Coleman, claims Coleman,
starts with Saint Louis University High, where he graduated in 1968
His education and enculturation at the hands of the Jesuits “through
four years of high school and four years of college, plus all the
retreats form the overarching influence in my choice of careers,”
he confesses.
Two imperatives of the Jesuits’ mysticism cum pragmatism stuck with
him: “It’s a good thing to strive to be the absolute best you can
be in whatever you choose in life. But then use whatever position
and whatever prerogative you have to help those who are less fortunate
than you. The whole philosophy makes you think why you’re here in
the first place. That’s influenced [everything] I’ve been involved
in.”
His first career stop, 1975 to 1982, was as executive director of
DeSales Community Housing Corporation, which he cofounded with then-DeSales
pastor Rev. Art Bromschwig.
“We started a [separate] not-for-profit to be seen as a non-sectarian
benefit to the neighborhood, as well as broadening our funding support,”
Coleman says. He also qualified the organization for a real estate
broker’s license, and created a for-profit rehab corporation.
Tom Pickel, current executive director at DeSales CHC, says, “Denny
started this from scratch. It’s one of the first of its kind in
the city, and he did it without a blueprint. What he created has
become a prototype for community development corporations throughout
St. Louis. He’s been a role model to lots of people in this business.”
Coleman also focussed on city-saving from 1982 to 1987 as vice president
of community development for the bank formerly known as Mercantile,
and then until 1990 as executive director of the city of St. Louis
Economic Development Corporation.
The organization Coleman now heads has 40 on staff and a $4.2 million
operating budget. Apparently his boss likes how Coleman runs it.
Buzz Westfall says that upon winning the County Executive office
in 1990, he “inherited 15 department heads. I replaced all but three.
Denny’s a magician at putting together deals. He’s a terrific people
manager with a hard-working staff. And they’re loyal.”
Their efforts facilitate traditional business expansion through
such initiatives as the World Trade Center, small enterprise centers,
low interest loans, or the high-risk loan pool established in partnership
with St. Charles County and the city of St. Louis.
Westfall appreciates SLCEC’s successes in both distressed and affluent
areas of the county, but cites the defense adjustment project as
Coleman’s finest hour: “He orchestrated and masterminded programs
that helped keep workers here in St. Louis, making as much or more
as before their layoff, through new jobs or their own businesses.
It’s a credit to everyone, especially Denny.”
Coleman’s view: “When McDonnell-Douglas cut back from 40,000 jobs
to 17,000, that forced us to diversify our economy, which also strengthened
it.”
This vigor is crucial to the future of distressed areas, from Wellston
to Lemay. “Deterioration and blight like the city has fought for
decades doesn’t respect political boundaries,” Coleman says. “We’re
seeing it in St. Louis County. It’s important to jump on these problems
now, while they’re still manageable and the county as a whole is
still very strong.”
Coleman sees progress. Take Wellston, where $35 million has been
invested since 1995, including the development of 100 new homes.
Coleman: “Job training through the Cornerstone Partnership [high-tech
manufacturing training facility funded by private, county, state
and federal funds] and the MET Center [construction and telecom
training] has been a real anchor for development in that area,”
he says. “Eighty percent of the grads are African American and the
average starting wage is $11.75 an hour after 16 weeks of training.”
People have reasons for what they say about Denny Coleman. It’s
what he does.
Kevin Kipp runs Bubble Communications, a creative services and
community relations firm in St. Charles.
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