Regional Business Council

Giving back: improve the quality of life in the region by bridging corporate and nonprofit communities. - st. Louis social venture partners (svp) directly invested $95,000 into five nonprofits. They were able to apply the funding towards projects essential to building capacity and functionality in their organizations such as which helped our investees acquire marketing services, strategic planning consultants, security equipment, upgraded internet service, and board development software. - social venture partners welcomed three new partners for a total of 35, working to build capacity within five nonprofit organizations that collectively serve over 20,000 youths in the st. Louis region. - thanks to the connections of our svp partners, all five nonprofits served were able to attend professional development workshops focused on nonprofit board development. - the svp grant committee concluded a thorough grant application process, selecting two new organizations to support in 2025 - bridge 2 hope and show me the world project - who serve students and their families in under-served school districts in st. Louis city and county. - rbc's it's our region fund grant committee allocated $100,000 to 22 nonprofit organizations in the st. Louis region, including illinois's st. Clair, madison, and monroe counties. - the rbc raised $21.3m for the united way of greater st. Louis. These funds help the united way address the st. Louis region's needs and ensure our residents meet their basic needs of food, shelter, and transportation as well their long-term needs, including job training, youth programming, education, and counseling.

Skilled workforce: to build a more informed, connected, and reliable pipeline of skilled workforce talent in rbc's five priority industries: construction, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, and first responders. - stl.works targeted 17 public school districts, representing roughly 160,000 students that indirectly influenced over 4,000 students through interactions with over 360 educators and directly reached 3,500 students and 70 counselors, educators, principals, and superintendents. - rbc's workforce development manager, organized and participated in 86 speaking engagements in 17 targeted school districts with increased involvement with southwest illinois districts alongside stl.works industry sector partners in healthcare, technology, public safety, advanced manufacturing, and construction/trades. - stl.works facilitated interactions between 36 partner companies and students, principals, assistant principals, and counselors. Stl.works held 15 career explorations at rbc companies and supported over 200 students and young adults with internship and job shadowing experiences in the industry sectors in partnership with access point, ccdi, gateway south, and rbc companies. - stl.works helped spearhead over four public safety workforce committee meetings with over 15 municipalities in attendance. Additionally, stl.works with the help of funding from the drug enforcement agency (dea) sent 50 students from five school districts in the st. Louis region to first responder camp. - stl.works helped organize and give keynotes at four education and workforce conferences: saint louis university with 200 attendees, lindenwood university with 100 attendees, florissant kiwanis with 200 attendees, washington university with 50 attendees. - stl.works helped organize two large-scale teacher explorations: missouri chamber's show me careers, which hosted 50 teachers, and missouri energy workforce consortium (mewc), which hosted 65 teachers for a skill trades luncheon. - financially supported workforce development certification and career readiness programs in the region: global center for cybersecurity ($25,000), npower ($25,000), urban league save our sons and sisters ($200,000). - rbc also provided $10,000 in support of missouri chamber of commerce's show-me careers ($10,000), which provided direct insight into in-demand occupations to key educators, counselors, and administrators throughout the region in an immersive summer externship program. Talent development & retention: to attract, retain, and develop a highly skilled and diverse professional talent base in the st. Louis region by providing valuable opportunities for networking, professional development, and civic engagement. - contributed to the retention of diverse talent in the region through the mentor network program by pairing 122 college students with business and civic leader mentors in the region and supporting the program with activities and professional development. - communicated through a monthly email newsletter with 3,200 young professionals, providing them with information on professional development opportunities; networking, social and professional events in the region; and job opportunities in the region. - rbc's leadership 100 group inducted 21 new members, fostering community, connection, and philanthropic and civic service among emerging business leaders. Leadership 100 has 92 members serving on 158 different regional boards.

K-12 education: invest in the economic future of our region by advancing opportunities for learning and academic excellence for every child, especially disadvantaged youth. - kipp schools: provided $75,000 in financial support to kipp schools st. Louis, specifically for kipp st. Louis high school's kipp forward program that provides mentoring, guidance, wrap-around support and other services for students as they create prepare for and attend post high school studies. - school board governance: funded the opportunity trust with $25,000 to support training programs focused on best practices for public school board governance with an emphasis on student outcomes. - k-12 public policy: rbc invited the commissioner of the missouri department of elementary and secondary education to speak with rbc boards members and communicate the statewide plan for improving educational outcomes for missouri students. - literacy access and enrichment: granted $50,000 for st. Louis public schools foundation's roll out of its home libraries pilot for k-8th grade students in 5 schools, specifically helping fund portable library kits for the 1 in 4 slps students who are homeless on any given night today. - teacher and administrator professional development: rbc provided $30,000 to the university city school district to support the district's senior leaders attending the school turnaround leaders institute at harvard university during the summer of 2024. This funding allowed five administrators and two school board members to take part in an intensive program that allows leaders to develop a theory of action and implementation for their school district. Additionally, the rbc organized an event for the education and business community featuring dr. Tiffany anderson, current superintendent of the topeka public schools and former superintendent of jennings school district located in the st. Louis region, who spoke on anderson's approach for building parent capacity in high-poverty schools. Inclusion: cultivate a welcoming and globally attractive regional business environment and address systemic racism through education, targeted intervention, and investments - developed the plan for cohort 3 of the small business executive leadership initiative in 2025, leveraging learnings from surveying participants in the first two cohorts.other public partnerships and collaboration - rbc also actively supports the work of many area chambers whose work advances rbc's priorities and helps build a stronger region, including: asian american chamber of st. Louis; hispanic chamber of st. Louis; leadership council of southwest illinois; mosaic project. - conducted meetings to inform rbc members about developments affecting rbc priorities in the areas of crime and public safety, career pathways, and education policy.