By Jorie Schuckman
FOCUS St. Louis

We had two blog posts last week referencing safety and the city, and wondering what kind of toll it takes on you and what we can do about it.  After my experience yesterday, I can tell you, firsthand, what kind of toll it takes on you.

By Sonji Young
FOCUS Director of Bridges Across Racial Polarization

Say it with me. O-BA-MA. Oh how the energy flows, without seeming to end.  Some call it Obamafied. Others coin it as Obama-mania.

By Jorie Schuckman
FOCUS St. Louis

The record-breaking stimulus bill recently signed by President Obama includes something for nearly everyone.  Let’s hope that includes those that many of us take for granted, but most of us couldn’t live without – the day-to-day workers that make our lives go.

By Elizabeth Hise
Special to the FOCUS Blog

In the past few years, St. Louis has received a few… auspicious… titles. In 2006, it was dubbed the most dangerous city in the United States

By Jeanette Cooperman
Special to the FOCUS Blog

A year and a half ago, I did something I never thought I’d do. I left the city. Moved with my husband to Waterloo, a small German town on the edge of Metro East. He’d gotten a job running a historic site in Ellis Grove, so the small town life I’d always resisted was suddenly the only way to keep the job I loved.

By Nikki Weinstein
FOCUS Director of Policy and Community Engagement

The students got me thinking this week. I presented to a Saint Louis University class on the work FOCUS is doing related to immigrant education. The conversation turned to our advocacy around allowing every immigrant student, regardless of their legal status, to attend college or a university.

By Sonji Young
FOCUS Director of Bridges Across Racial Polarization^®

A few days ago, I bumped into a high school classmate in a local bookstore.  I was surprised to see him, and even more eager to catch up on the time that had elapsed since we last saw each other. 

By Jorie Schuckman
FOCUS St. Louis

The Missouri legislature has a couple of different education proposals it is debating this session that you may be interested in.

By Sonji Young
FOCUS Director of Bridges Across Racial Polarization

Some 28 years ago, my mother gave me my name after developing an admiration for Muhammad Ali’s first wife. Pronounced (sOn-Gee), I’ve discovered the complexities of ethnic identity and how it can be masked and often times, mistaken. 

By Melanie Adams
Special to the FOCUS Blog

As we celebrate the start of another Black History Month, this one holds special meaning.  This year, for the first time in our country’s history an African American man was elected president.