St. Louis, MO — Reparations Station — Black American Grassroots Council

In December 2022, Mayor Tishaura Jones signed Executive Order 75, creating a volunteer Reparations Commission for the City of St. Louis. After 18 months of study, 27 public meetings, and testimony from more than 100 Black residents, the commission delivered a 124-page report in October 2024. It recommends housing, health, education, and economic programs, payments of up to $25,000 to families displaced by urban renewal, and a permanent reparations committee to work out the rest.

A commission created by executive order can only recommend, and the city never gave it a budget. In March 2025, Jones said Missouri law bars direct cash payments and pointed to existing housing programs instead. She left office in April 2025. In the coverage I could find, the administration of Mayor Cara Spencer has not announced a plan to act on the report. This page is the record, and the way to reach the people who decide.

★ Created December 7, 2022

The Commission

Who Sat on It

Nine St. Louis residents appointed in March 2023 as unpaid volunteers. The order required the group to include a civil rights advocate, a clergy member, an attorney, an academic, a public health expert, and a young person. Kayla Reed chaired it and Dr. Will Ross was vice chair. Eight of the nine were Black.

The Process

The first public meeting was April 24, 2023. Through September 2024 the commission held 27 public meetings, heard from experts on redlining, health, policing, and demolished Black neighborhoods, and took testimony from 109 Black residents. Jones extended its deadline to September 2024 at its request.

Its Resources

No city budget. The mayor's office said boards and commissions do not get one unless it comes from tax revenue. The only funding was a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to print and distribute the report. Members said they paid some costs themselves.

★ Delivered October 2024

The Report

What It Documents

Slavery and racial violence in the region; the destruction and forced removal of Black communities in Mill Creek Valley, the Pruitt-Igoe housing project, and McRee Town; and the restrictive covenants and redlining that blocked Black families from building wealth.

How It's Organized

Recommendations in seven areas: housing and land, neighborhood environment, education, public health, economic justice, policing and criminal justice, and state violence and legal reform. Each is split into restitution (repair for people harmed) and policy (changes so harm is not repeated). It also asks for a public apology and a formal history.

Its Own Caveat

The commission wrote that one local report cannot fully repair families and is no substitute for national reparations.

★ The Ask

Who Would Be Paid, and How

Who Would Qualify

Descendants of enslaved people in St. Louis, and Black residents or former residents, including those who moved away because of discrimination, who can prove past or present residency and were harmed by systemic racism.

Specific Payments

Up to $25,000 for Black former residents or direct descendants of people displaced from Mill Creek Valley, Pruitt-Igoe, and McRee Town. A police-violence fund starting at $25,000 per documented incident. Housing grants, down-payment help, home repair, and property tax relief for descendants and residents of redlined areas.

What It Left Open

The report sets no total amount for general cash payments and names no funding source. It asks the city to create a permanent reparations committee with economic experts to calculate what is owed, set eligibility, and track progress. Members floated the Rams settlement fund, unspent federal pandemic aid, cannabis tax revenue, and general revenue.

★ As of September 2026

Where It Stands

The City's Response

In March 2025, with the report five months old, Jones's office had not fully read it. She said many recommendations were being met through homebuyer grants, home repair, job training, and north St. Louis investment. She said Missouri law makes direct cash payments unconstitutional. I found no announced plan from the Spencer administration.

The Voluntary Fund

Aldermen created reparations funds in 2022, which residents can add to through property tax or water bills. By October 2024, they had given $1,411.52.

Who Decides

The Mayor and the Board of Aldermen. The Mayor, the Comptroller, and the Board President also sit on the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which approves city appropriations.

★ Take Action

Tell St. Louis
Where We Stand

The report has sat with the city since October 2024 with no announced plan. The Mayor and the Board of Aldermen decide whether anything in it, starting with the permanent reparations committee, is funded and built. What they hear from residents is part of that decision. Send the letter.

★ Letter in Preparation

The council is finalizing the text of the letter. Check back shortly — or use the contacts below to write in your own words now. A message you wrote yourself carries more weight than a form letter, and it carries it today.

Subject Line

Open in Email App

★ Add a sentence in your own words before you send — offices weigh identical messages as one.
★ The letter goes by email to the Mayor. The Board President and your alderperson are best reached by phone or through the city's elected-officials page, below.

Aldermen are elected by ward, and they vote on anything the city funds. Find your alderperson on the city's elected-officials page.

★ City of St. Louis

Cara Spencer became mayor on April 15, 2025, after defeating Tishaura Jones, who had created the commission. Megan Green presides over the Board of Aldermen.

★ St. Louis City Hall · 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103

★ The Public Record

Orders, report & coverage

The executive order, the commission's report, and the reporting that traces what has and has not happened since. The commission met in public monthly, and video of its meetings is on the city's commission page.

Ongoing

City of St. Louis — Reparations Commission page, with meeting recordings

City Page →

December 7, 2022

Mayor's Executive Order No. 75 creating the commission

Executive Order → Release →

March 10, 2023

Mayor appoints the nine commissioners

Release →

October 2024

Final report and recommendations (124 pages)

Full Report →

October 15, 2024

STLPR — the report's recommendations, and the commission's funding fight

Story →

October 17, 2024

KSDK — the report delivered to the mayor's office

Story →

March 3, 2025

STLPR — Mayor Jones on cash payments and Missouri law

Story →

September 26, 2024

STLPR — Black St. Louisans on why cash payouts matter

Story →

October 2024

St. Louis American — the commission releases its report

Story →

★ St. Louis — Running Timeline

Upcoming, then newest first

★ Take Action

Open Now

Write the Mayor and Your Alderperson

Nearly two years after the report, no hearing, vote, or plan on it has been announced. Tell the city whether you want it acted on, what you would put first, and whether the permanent reparations committee the commission asked for should be created.

Send the letter →

Nothing Scheduled

City Response to the Report

The commission's mandate has ended. What happens next is up to the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen, and I found no announced date for either to take it up.

Source: City of St. Louis →

★ Past Events

April 15, 2025

New Mayor Takes Office

Cara Spencer, who had served on the Board of Aldermen, was sworn in after defeating Mayor Jones with about 64% of the vote. The commission's report passed to a new administration.

Source: First Alert 4 →

March 3, 2025

Mayor Jones Says Cash Payments Are Barred

Jones told St. Louis Public Radio the city had no reparations plan yet and that Missouri law makes direct cash payments unconstitutional. Her office had not fully read the 124-page report, and she said many of its recommendations were being met by existing homebuyer, home-repair, job-training, and north St. Louis programs.

Source: STLPR →

October 15, 2024

Final Report Released

The commission released its 124-page report and delivered it to the mayor's office. It recommends up to $25,000 for families displaced from three demolished communities, cash payments or tax relief for descendants of enslaved St. Louisans, housing, health, and education programs, a public apology, and a permanent reparations committee. Mayor Jones's office said it would review which recommendations were feasible.

Source: STLPR →

September 30, 2024

Final Meeting; Draft Report Presented

At its last public meeting, the commission presented its draft report and took comment. Residents thanked the commission, but some worried that recommending a permanent committee meant payments would be delayed further.

Source: STLPR →

February 2024

Deadline Extended to September

At the commission's request, Mayor Jones extended its term so it could keep hearing from residents and finish the report. Members also asked the mayor for a budget, which they did not get.

Source: STLPR →

April 24, 2023

First Public Meeting

The commission met at Harris-Stowe State University to collect feedback from descendants of enslaved people and other Black St. Louisans. Reports at the time noted that no money had been set aside for reparations and no eligibility rules had been drawn.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch →

March 10, 2023

Nine Commissioners Appointed

Jones named the members of the city's first Reparations Commission after an open application process. The commission was subject to Missouri's open-meetings law.

Source: City of St. Louis →

December 7, 2022

Executive Order 75 Creates the Commission

Jones signed the order creating a nine-member volunteer commission to examine race-based harms in the city, present-day effects, and a proposal for repair, including a method and potential funding. She had announced the plan in October at a community teach-in.

Source: City of St. Louis →

2022

Voluntary Reparations Funds Created

Aldermen passed legislation creating reparations funds, which Jones signed. Residents could contribute through property tax and water bills. The Collector of Revenue began receiving donations in November 2022.

Source: Riverfront Times →

★ Note

Nothing in the report is binding, and nothing has been paid. The commission was created by an order of the previous mayor. It had no authority to spend and no budget to work with, and its report goes only to the city's leaders, who decide what to adopt.

The main legal claim on the record comes from Jones, who said Missouri law bars direct cash payments and made an exception only for pandemic-era assistance. The report itself does not answer that. Its restitution recommendations run to grants, loans, tax relief, and programs, alongside cash, and it leaves the amount and eligibility of general cash payments to the permanent committee it asks the city to create. That committee is the report's first structural request.

Economist William Darity, quoted in St. Louis Public Radio's coverage, argued that the racial wealth gap is too large for any city to close alone and that only federal cash payments could do it, with local programs supplementing them.