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Progress and Pivots: 2025 Year in Review

JSMF staff and board members at an economic mobility summit at WashU.

This was a milestone year for the James S. McDonnell Foundation. As several of our earliest grantees under our new St. Louis-focused mission built momentum in the first half of the year, the region was devastated by a powerful and deadly tornado. The storm deepened many economic disparities and increased the urgency for investment. Many grantees shifted their work to sustain relief efforts and address new realities, and we responded to the emergency by providing nearly $3 million in time-sensitive tornado relief grants. We’re grateful for those who have been and continue working tirelessly to aid the recovery, and we acknowledge that there is more work ahead, as many residents still face housing insecurity and hardship in the aftermath of the disaster.

In the second half of the year, JSMF marked its 75th anniversary, which offers us an opportunity to demonstrate our long-term commitment to St. Louis. We began by honoring the legacy of the Foundation with stories about our founder, James S. McDonnell, and then highlighted prior grantees representing decades of innovation. In October, we brought leading experts to St. Louis for an economic mobility summit hosted with WashU, the St. Louis Community Foundation, and the Marillac Mission Fund. We’re eager for the data and recommendations shared at the summit to inspire further collaboration in the region.

As we look to the future, we’re also setting our own strategic goals to measure impact achieved across grantees and impact investments. Here are some signals of progress we’ve seen from grantees this year.

Workforce

We are investing in organizations that strengthen the region’s workforce systems by building pipelines to high-wage jobs, increasing the number of children in high-quality early childhood education programs, and providing wraparound supports that help individuals thrive in school and at work.

Here are just a few highlights from JSMF grantees working in this area in 2025:

  • BioSTL launched training boot camps with wraparound supports that lowered barriers for youth and adult learners, providing pathways to in-demand industry-recognized certifications.
  • IFF financed and managed renovations for seven early childhood centers, increasing their capacity by dozens of seats.
  • UMSL School of Engineering hired a director and faculty members and enrolled more than 60 students in its first cohort.

Small & Midsize Businesses

Another one of our core investment pillars at JSMF centers on scaling small and midsize businesses, and we’re particularly focused on supporting organizations that are increasing access to capital, customers, and contracts for local business owners.

In 2025:

  • Our impact investment with St. Louis Community Credit Union increased the institution’s capacity to provide loans to more than 60 local nonprime and subprime borrowers.
  • The St. Louis Small Business Empowerment Center (SBEC) provided capacity support and loans to small businesses, generating new jobs through training, capital, and contract pipelines.
  • A Red Circle is building a cooperative with five North County food producers to scale community-based businesses and increase market visibility.

Wealth Building and Protection

This year, JSMF grants for wealth building and protection have increased access to financial services and products, attracted investment to low-wealth communities, and improved the capacity of community-based organizations to serve St. Louisans.

Some initiatives included:

Civic Infrastructure

Our final focus area is civic infrastructure, encompassing grantees’ efforts to improve collaborative capacity, strengthen current and future leaders, enable shared knowledge, and foster a shared narrative in St. Louis.

In 2025, some examples of progress include:

  • Grassroots organization Action St. Louis is building community-led infrastructure in North St. Louis to transform immediate disaster relief into long-term recovery.
  • Kids Win Missouri is partnering on a public-private cost-sharing model to lower childcare costs for families across the state.
  • MU Extension and UMSL’s Civic Collaboration Fellows kicked off the first cohort in a program designed to build civic leadership and knowledge of effective economic mobility policies and practices.

We know that long-term investment and commitment are necessary to increase access to economic opportunity in St. Louis, and we’re inspired by the work grantees and partners are accomplishing to move toward that goal in 2025 and beyond.

Photograph by Suzy Gorman and WashU.