West End Community Development
Planning Partner RFP Response
OVERVIEW
Over the past year, the Steering Committee has deliberately reassessed and realigned the West End Plan with the principles, structure, and operations of a truly resident-led planning process towards equitable development. In response to a call for a new Community Development Planning Partner, 12 firms submitted proposals for the West End Planning RFP Selection Committee and three firms moved to the final round.
Planning Partner RFP Submissions
APD Urban Planning Management
blck spces
Camiros
CED
DesignWorkshop
Development Strategies
JQUAD Planning Group
OCOPOS **
PGAV Planners
SOM**
UNC Greensboro
YARD**
**Finalist selected | See background below
Background on Finalists
Session One: SOM
9:00 am to 10:30 am CT | Watch Recording | Share Feedback
West End Collab is a true partnership between SOM, Action St. Louis, Vector Communication and H3 Studio. Our team is uniquely qualified for the West End Community Development due to our experience, expertise, capacity and excellence in delivering community-led, implementable plans in predominantly Black communities. West End Collab has decades of experience partnering with community and city leaders and a profound understanding of the creative process and policies that change the game.
We go beyond advocacy to the deepest levels of community engagement to ensure action, equitable investment and implementation. Our approach is focused on outcomes and is tailored to the needs of each community we work with. The voices of these groups have allowed us to develop new and unique solutions in our designs to deliver superior project plans. West End Collab considers the following core values when designing an Equitable City:
Racial Equity
Economic Mobility
Access + Connectivity
Livability
Affordability
Education
Health + Wellness
We will work closely with Cornerstone Corporation, the West End Steering Committee and community to set the overall vision ensuring the final deliverables the residents and leaders are proud to own and move forward. West End Collab will collaborate with YOU to deliver an impactful plan that creates lasting positive effects for the community.
Session Two: OCOPOS
11:00 am to 12:30 pm CT | Watch Recording | Share Feedback
West End Plan Community Development Planning Partner Overview of the Joint Partnership of OCOPOS (with Bookman Associates + Thread Collective) & P3: Public Participation Partners
OCOPOS (Our Communities, Our Plans, Our Stories) is changing how community planning gets done by bringing concrete DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion and justice) solutions to complex and entrenched issues facing communities resulting from historical underinvestment and the displacement pressures of gentrification. Our firm, and the partnership within which we work in the collaborative of P3 (Public Participation Partners), Bookman Associates and Thread Collective (all established businesses of 10+ years of operation) is focused on empowering residents to successfully advocate for well-defined community goals so they can determine and drive the future of their neighborhood. We offer the full suite of community engagement and planning services, including spatial, land use and master planning; housing, small business and economic development policy; real estate and financial modeling; community services and programming assessment and design, food, energy and sustainable infrastructure and resiliency; public and community health; urban design and more. There is no stone left unturned in our process, and no expertise we don’t have to ensure community members can make the plan that is right for them. P3 is a registered DBE/MBE and OCOPOS is in MWBE registration process.
https://www.ocopos.net & https://publicparticipationpartners.com/
Session Three: YARD
1:00 pm to 2:30 pm CT | Watch Recording (Note: must download to view)| Share Feedback
We are a team of designers, developers, and planners who double as people connectors, activators, and storytellers. Our team works to creatively bridge the gap between community and commerce. We thrive at the intersection of community and commerce. Sometimes complicated, sometimes tense, and sometimes downright messy, that energy is the same space where growth begins. Our founding belief is that development shouldn't develop-out the community, and the best way to get there is through a collaborative process for building places that people connect to emotionally and economically.