St. Louis is a city of survivors.
The Freedom Community Center (FCC) is a new, Black-led organization in North St. Louis that was founded to dismantle systems of oppression that inflict harm and trauma on Black communities in St. Louis City, particularly the police and the criminal punishment system. We ground ourselves in the knowledge that the Black survivors of St. Louis have the solutions to the question: What will keep us safe? Given the resources to alleviate immediate economic needs, the space to facilitate communal healing, and the time to dream collectively of alternative approaches, our community of survivors meaningfully address harm happening in St. Louis.
Together we will work toward a future of compassion and investment not punishment and isolation. We center our work on five main principles: Collective Power, Communal Healing, True Accountability, Embracing Repair, and Nonviolence.
Join our healing community.
Join our mailing list to stay tuned to updates on our progress!
A love letter to St. Louis
St. Louis is my first love. I grew up in the Penrose neighborhood in North St. Louis City. My neighborhood was an ecosystem of Black-led structures - beautifully-worn, three-story, brick homes filled with family dynasties, Black educators and violence interveners. Our whole neighborhood convened for even the smallest of holidays. We shared everything, from toilet paper to babysitters. We fought each other. We cried together when young people died in our communities from gun violence. We pooled our resources to help Black mothers buy cars and much more. Even with young eyes, I know we had something that the rest of St. Louis didn’t have - a collective, struggling, loving community.
Over time, our structures and systems that we depended were intentionally divested from and ripped from us. Police replaced our community centers and public schools. Families escaped to North County. Violence grew, and decay started to set in. I also started to decline. Between the age of 17 and 21, I cycled in and out of the St. Louis City Justice Center and The Workhouse for small crimes of poverty. Unfortunately, many of the kids from my neighborhood walked down the same path I did. We went from sharing the streets to sharing the same jail cells. I literally celled with one of my childhood best friends. His first night in our cell I watched him violently shake from substance withdrawals. I stuffed paper into vent holes to keep him warm - there was no way I was going to let him go through that by himself.
Donate here.
Your donation is tax-deductible because the Freedom Community Center is a registered 501(c)3 organization.
Contact us.
Your support is critical. Only together, can we realize this ambitious vision. Sign up at the bottom of the page to join our email list.
For general questions, email info@freedomstl.org.