FOCUS St. Louis was created through the merger of two of the region's most influential nonprofit organizations, Confluence St. Louis and The Leadership Center of Greater St. Louis. These organizations shared a history of working to make the St. Louis region a better place for all people. Together they represented more than 30 years of experience in developing community leaders and engaging citizens to influence community policy.

During this time before the merger, The Leadership Center trained more than 1,000 community leaders and Confluence experienced several policy successes, including the formation of the still operational Equal Housing Opportunity Commission (EHOC).

After careful consideration of the region's needs and their own strengths, the leadership of Confluence and The Leadership Center determined that they could expand the reach and impact of their programs and activities by merging the two organizations. On July 1, 1996, FOCUS St. Louis was formed with a mission to create a thriving, cooperative region by engaging citizens to participate in active leadership roles and to influence positive community change.

Since then FOCUS has been instrumental in forming vibrant new organizations such as the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative and high-impact collaboratives such as BoardLinkStL and Connect With Young Professionals. FOCUS has successfully shaped policy issues in numerous ways including:

• Prevailed against tough opposition to preserve affirmative action in Missouri in 2008 through the WE CAN Coalition
• Through the MIRA Coalition, saved the right of all students, including immigrants, to be eligible for enrollment in Missouri's public colleges (successfully during legislative sessions in 2006, 2007 and 2008)