Outreach Weekend Report

Architecture 374

by Justin Placek, ESLARP Outreach Weekend Assistant

On Thursday, 22 Architecture students, professors and staff headed down to East St. Louis. We met an additional 12 students and a professor from Southern University that made the trip from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After meeting everyone we headed to St. Louis to have lunch and then tour different housing projects that were financed in different ways.

On Friday, we all took a tour of East St. Louis and then met with the Ascension Board at St. Paul Baptist Church. Both schools came together and then split into 6 teams. A Q & A session about the project that both schools will be working on throughout the semester followed. The project location was adjacent to St. Paul Baptist Church in the Southend. All of the teams proceded to do field measurements and Site Analysis. At about 5pm we all headed back to the hotel to get cleanup and have dinner. After dinner all of the groups got together and worked on different schemes and design ideas for the project. I believe every team was up all night cranking out schematic designs to present to the Charrette with Ascension the following morning.

Saturday morning, we headed to St. Paul Baptist Church to present our ideas to the Ascension Board. After all the groups presented lunch was served. After lunch, all of the teams had about 4 hours to to make the recommended changes to their designs before a final presentation. At about 5pm all of the groups presented again to the board. Overall the Charrette was a great success. It provided every team with a better idea of what the board and residents of the area really want with this project. After dinner we all headed to St. Louis for a fun-filled evening around LeCledes Landing.

On Sunday, we took the Southern University Students to the airport and then we went to the St. Paul Baptist Church service. The entire trip was a great experience and definetly laid the ground work for the rest of the semester.

Leisure Studies 199ST Tourism Development

by Bruce Wicks, Professor

The goal of this class project is to assist in organizing two special events that will help attract visitors to East St. Louis the third weekend of June. Special events are likely to be one of the only ways to draw people to this community with the ultimate objectives of promoting local businesses, fostering community pride and beginning the long process of reversing the negative image of East St. Louis. The theme of these events revolve around the very rich heritage found in ESL and neighboring communities. The two events are the "East Saint Louis Heritage Festival" which will focus on local artists and the "Eads to Mounds Heritage Trail" that will emphasize and link African-American, Mexican-American (Fairmont City) and Native American (Chaokia Mounds) heritage. Both events will be held in conjunction with the National Road Festival. Our primary partner is Kathy Andria with the American Bottom Conservancy.

On this past work weekend we met with a small group of community leaders to discuss mission, direction and possible partnerships. The class visited local heritage sites as well as examining the tourism/event infrastructure of the area. Site visits were conducted and digital record was made. We visited an African-American art gallery in St Louis to help develop linkages to the arts community. The data collected was then used in classes on campus to begin the planning process.