St. Louis County Port Authority approves nearly $5M in grants for nonprofits
By St. Louis Public Radio | By Lacretia Wimbley
The St. Louis County Port Authority Community Investment Fund recently approved nearly $5 million in grants to be dispersed to nonprofits in the county.
The annual grant program has been in place since 2010, but it took a pause last year. It supports economic and community development projects in St. Louis County that align with the Port Authority’s investment priorities, including business expansion, real estate development and entrepreneurship in underserved communities.
The program has grown in recent years.
Around 36 applications were reviewed in 2023, resulting in 21 awards totaling $3.3 million. This year, over 80 applications were submitted, and 38 nonprofits were approved for funding.
The funding hasn’t been dispersed yet, and that will vary based on individual nonprofit paperwork processing times, Port Authority officials said.
“We spend a great deal of time going through the applicants that we receive in order to select the very best ones that we think will have a major impact on people's livelihood in St. Louis, on the economic conditions in St. Louis, (and) on the ability to create new and interesting jobs that will keep people living in St. Louis and active in our community,” said Kevin F. O’Malley, chair of the St. Louis County Port Authority. O’Malley served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017 in former President Barack Obama’s administration.
“Like our funding the new St. Louis-London flights announced in October, we are hopeful that the investments we announce today will provide new opportunities and improve the economy of St. Louis County and the region.”
Leaders from Room at the Inn, a shelter in Bridgeton that houses families with children, applied for a grant through the program for the first time this year and were approved for $73K. The group’s Executive Director, Laurie Phillips, said the money will be used to resurface the parking lot of their shelter.
The organization recently completed a $2.8 million renovation of its building, she said.
“We are absolutely thrilled, because it's going to be sort of the icing on the cake of the renovation of our building,” Phillips said. “Generally, we house up to 35 people, and we have over 5,000 volunteer hours a year, so we have a lot of people coming in and out of the parking lot and out of the building. So it'll be a great addition for us to have a nice parking lot.”
Approved organizations receive varying amounts, O’Malley said.
“We do this on reimbursement. After the grant is approved, then a formal grant agreement is entered into,” O’Malley said. “Then we reimburse expenses after they've been incurred.”
Applications for the current grant cycle closed in July.
https://stlpartnership.com/stl-partnership-hosts-african-chamber-of-commerce/
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/inno/stories/fundings/2025/12/09/st-louis-county-port-authority-grants-38-nonprofit.html
https://stlpartnership.com/st-louis-county-port-authority-awards-nearly-5-million-to-grant-recipients/
