26th Ward Neighborhood Association

The Better Family Life 26th Ward Neighborhood Association serves as the catalyst for housing development and neighborhood stabilization by providing vision and dedicated services to residents and stakeholders in the ward. BFL creates and maintains positive coalitions between residents, organizations, institutions, businesses, city and national officials who share the common purpose of building a community that supports the needs of it constituents while attracting new interests.

The 26th Ward Neighborhood Association promotes a number of activities and programs geared towards the stimulation and revitalization of the community. It is clear from the feedback we have received from our local residents and stakeholders that a great deal of community pride exists in the ward. The 26th Ward is rich with family history and tradition, is in close proximity to downtown, Forest Park, and the Delmar Loop. The racial and economic diversity of the residents is vast, longevity exists in the community institutions, the architectural and historical significance of the buildings is noteworthy, and there is easy access to public transportation.

The 26th Ward contains parts of many neighborhoods, including Skinker/DeBaliviere, DeBaliviere Place, West End, Wells/Goodfellow, Academy, Kingsway West, and Hamilton Heights.

Services

The 26th Ward Neighborhood Association helps its residents to access services offered by Better Family Life and other services as deemed appropriate. Two core services offered by the 26th Ward Association are:

The West End Home Repair Program (WEHRP) is a multi agency partnership designed to leverage Community Development block grant funding, incorporate area stimulus funds, and integrate grassroots home repair programs. These resources are supplemented with Federal Home Loan Bank funding.

The primary goal of the program is to provide supplemental funding for the repair(s) of owner occupied homes in St. Louis City's 26th Ward. Although we are targeting low to moderate income census tracts with older, larger homes and a significant population of long term senior residents, priority will be given to clients who are currently on the City's Healthy Home Repair Program (HHRP) waiting list which has recently been transitioned to BFL for client intake management.

Funds from this program are used, but not limited to, sealing the exterior of the structure, i.e., roof replacements, guttering, downspout, fascia, cornice, tuck pointing and foundation repair.

Assistance is provided in the form of a zero-interest, forgivable loan. Up to $10,000 may be spent*, per unit, to bring the home into compliance with current building codes and ordinances. All exterior code related items must be addressed within the loan amount before non code items can be completed. *Loan amount based upon approval.

All recipients of the home repair program must undergo a total of twelve (12) hours of education: four (4) hours financial literacy, four (4) hours credit building and four (4) hours simple home maintenance. All applicants will be reviewed for compliance with both HHRP and HUD low/moderate income guidelines (80% of Area Median Income and below) and must have owned and occupied the home for at least two consecutive years.

Community Forums & Special Events Better Family Life presents forums and events designed to keep residents informed on services, and activities taking place in the 26th Ward as well as within the St. Louis Metropolitan area that may be of benefit to the residents including health fairs, events for senior citizens, safety initiatives, farmers markets, neighborhood clean-up and beautification projects, as well as the programs offered by Better Family Life, Inc. including Cultural Arts, Job Training, Youth Programs, Healthy Marriage Programs, etc.

The 26th Ward Neighborhood Association is funded by The Community Development Agency of St. Louis and supported by Alderman Frank Williamson.