About Where We Stand: Measuring Success for the St. Louis Region
Where does St. Louis rank among other regions around the country? Is the area succeeding compared to other metros? And what is our definition of regional success, anyway?
East-West Gateway has explored questions like these for over 30 years in its signature strategic assessment of the St. Louis region: Where We Stand. The ninth edition of WWS was released in November 2024. This podcast takes listeners on a deep dive into the measurements that regions use to determine success and explores how the St. Louis metro area stacks up against other regions and where we might go from here.
Where does the St. Louis region stand on overall well-being? What have we learned about how to measure success for a region? What’s next for St. Louis as it looks to climb up the ladder on these rankings in the future? What has studying twelve issue areas over the last several months taught us about where we stand? Our twelfth and final episode explores the CORE Score well-being index for the St. Louis region and takes a look back at what we’ve learned over the full Where We Stand series.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (https://www.ewgateway.org/research-center/wws-2024/)
CORE Score Well-Being Index (https://www.amacad.org/news/economic-measurement-america-core-score)
Greater St. Louis, Inc. (https://greaterstlinc.com/)
St. Louis ArtWorks (https://stlartworks.org/)
Save Lives Now! (https://www.ewgateway.org/save-lives-now/)
30 Jul 2025
Where We Stand on Poverty
Where does the St. Louis region stand on poverty? What can the poverty rate tell us about the success or failure of a region? And how does this issue tie in with our recent discussions on income and education? What can understanding these deep struggles tell us about where we stand? Our eleventh episode explores the issue of poverty in the St. Louis region through conversations with EWG's Derek Wetherell and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s Dan Glazier.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (https://www.ewgateway.org/research-center/wws-2024/)
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (https://lsem.org/)
Missouri Works (https://ded.mo.gov/programs/business/missouri-works)
Mission: St. Louis (https://www.missionstl.org/)
Employment Connection of St. Louis (https://www.employmentstl.org/)
Community Action Agency of St. Louis County (https://www.caastlc.org/)
Missouri Job Center of St. Charles County (https://www.communitycouncilstc.org/resources/searchable-resource-directory/record/001i000000bljGfAAI)
16 Jul 2025
Where We Stand on Education
Where does the St. Louis region stand on education? Does our high rate of high school diploma attainment correlate with regional success? How do high school graduation rates relate to the number of bachelor’s degrees in the metro area? And how does whether you’re in the city or suburbs, Missouri or Illinois, determine what kind of education you’re likely to receive? Our tenth episode explores the issue of education in the St. Louis region through a conversation with EWG's Mary Rocchio.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (https://www.ewgateway.org/research-center/wws-2024/)
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation (https://jjkfoundation.org/)
St. Louis ArtWorks (https://stlartworks.org/)
UMSL Geospatial Collaborative (https://www.umsl.edu/geospatial/index.html)
9 Jul 2025
Where We Stand on Income
Where does the St. Louis region stand on income? So, how does the St. Louis region climb up the income ladder while trying to hang on to its purchasing power? When we open up St. Louis’s wallet, what does what’s in there tell us about where we stand? Our ninth episode explores the issue of income in the St. Louis region through a conversation with EWG's John Posey.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (https://www.ewgateway.org/research-center/wws-2024/)
Forward Through Ferguson (https://forwardthroughferguson.org/)
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (https://www.stlouisfed.org/community-development)
LaunchCode (https://www.launchcode.org/)
James S. McDonnell Foundation (https://www.jsmf.org/)
25 Jun 2025
Where We Stand on Infant Mortality
Mary Rocchio from EWG and Rose Anderson-Rice from Generate Health discuss infant mortality rates in St. Louis and how they reflect healthcare access disparities in this interview episode.
18 Jun 2025
Where We Stand on Crime
John Posey, Brandon Sterling, and Jessica Meyers examine crime statistics in the St. Louis region and discuss potential approaches to violence prevention in this interview episode.
11 Jun 2025
Where We Stand on Vacancy
Policy analyst Derek Wetherell examines St. Louis' vacancy rates, comparing them to other regions and analyzing the insights gleaned from the city's emptiest areas in this interview.
4 Jun 2025
Where We Stand on Housing Affordability
John Posey and Samantha Stangl examine housing affordability in the St. Louis region, addressing homelessness and exploring potential solutions in this interview episode.
28 May 2025
Where We Stand on Homeownership
Mary Rocchio from East-West Gateway's research team examines homeownership rates in St. Louis, revealing who benefits and who is excluded in this interview episode.
21 May 2025
Where We Stand on Racial Segregation
Where does the St. Louis region stand on the issue of racial segregation? How is the metro area divided, and how do we measure segregation? Our third episode explores the issue of segregation with East-West Gateway's research team and features James S. McDonnell Foundation president Dr. Jason Purnell.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (www.ewgateway.org/wws)
James S. McDonnell Foundation (https://www.jsmf.org/)
Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide (https://www.archcitydefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Segregation-in-St.-Louis-Dismantling-the-Divide.pdf)
Fair Housing Equity Assessment (https://www.onestl.org/resources/reports/housing/160-fair-housing-equity-assessment)
Health Equity Works (https://healthequityworks.wustl.edu/)
14 May 2025
Where We Stand on Employment
Where does the St. Louis region stand on the topic of employment? What industries do St. Louisans work in, and how might that be shifting? Our second episode explores the issue of employment with East-West Gateway's research team.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (www.ewgateway.org/wws)
STL 2030 Jobs Plan (https://greaterstlinc.com/our-work/job-growth/stl-2030-jobs-plan)
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (https://www.hccstl.com/)
Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center (https://www.amicstl.org/)
7 May 2025
Where We Stand on Population
Where does the St. Louis region stand on the topic of population? How fast (or not) is the region growing, and what can measuring that growth tell us? The first episode of the Where We Stand podcast delves into the issue of population growth with East-West Gateway's research team.
Links:
Where We Stand document and resources (www.ewgateway.org/wws)
International Institute of St. Louis (https://www.iistl.org/)
St. Louis Mosaic Project (https://www.stlmosaicproject.org/)
"Why Is St. Louis Growing More Slowly Than Expected?" (https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2019/june/why-st-louis-growing-more-slowly-expected#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThis%20shortfall%20is%20likely%20due,the%20region%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20noted.) from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank
29 Apr 2025
Where We Stand Teaser Trailer
How do we measure success for the St. Louis region? By population? Job growth? Crime rates? Something else? How does St. Louis compare to other metro areas around the country and what can we learn from what they’ve gotten right and where they’ve fallen short? Join us as we explore these questions in Where We Stand: Measuring Success for the St. Louis Region, a new podcast from East-West Gateway. Subscribe to Where We Stand wherever you get your podcasts, and dive into the data with the East-West Gateway research team as they seek to measure where St. Louis stands and where we might go from here.
Who has been a guest on Where We Stand: Measuring Success for the St. Louis Region
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Mary Rocchio
Rose Anderson-Rice
Derek Wetherell
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