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A brief essay about St. Louis' notorious eminent domain history--

--along with 2 recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch articles about "urban renewal" projects that are scheduled to reoccupy the Mill Flats area, which hosted the most notorious episode of displacement of African-American communities: the Chouteau Greenway project (will it serve or displace low-income St. Louisans?); and SLU's Mill Creek Flats high-rise project, which certainly will, and whose name seems to me an especially tone-deaf if gutsy move...

https://humanities.wustl.edu/features/Margaret-Garb-St-Louis-Eminent-Domain

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/steelcote-developer-plans-more-apartments-brewery-space-in-million-midtown/article_811eaf96-76e1-5c20-a870-1e79abd3f06e.html

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/chouteau-greenway-project-aims-to-knit-st-louis-neighborhoods-together/article_55fea4e6-6829-5c80-9168-313305b4e3bb.html

Food stamp (SNAP) rolls increased over the years, and the article addresses that this is a sign of poverty.  The USDA is an agency that administers food stamps.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are two agencies that many low-income families are enrolled in.  WIC provides nutritious food for pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants and children up to the age of five; it is specifically available for household up to 185 percent of the federal poverty lines.  SNAP provides low-income families with nutritious food.

This study determines if childhood blood lead levels correlate with educational achievement.  They studied this through standardized test scores.

The sources of resilience come when the economy improves.  This graph shows that the poverty rate had increased from 2008-2009 because of the recession the country went through.

Some vulnerabilities affecting Essex county include households an influx of headed by one parent, births by unmarried women, and weak family economic security.

Lamy uses quotes, specific policies and programs, and statistics involving child development.  She discusses how SNAP, WIC, Housing First, EITC, and other programs and policies can be supported in housing, food, health, and jobs.

Newark school's reported that their almost half of buildings have lead in their water.  This is creating immense vulnerability in Essex County, and the issue in Newark dates back to about four years ago.  This problem also stems from the history of lead-based paint, which was outlawed in 1978, but still can be found in many homes, and poisons children.

Professionals can use this data to place an emphasis on the need to solve blood lead issues in children.  This study concluded that a higher proportion of black students had higher blood lead levels; professionals can use this information to decrease the experience gap by working on solving blood lead issues.