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The group has also campaigned against pre-trial detention of defendants and opposes cash bail. The group also opposes the incarceration of poor and Black people as punishment for crimes and instead wants the money spent on social programs. 2
The group’s executive director is also the chairperson of the St. Louis Reparations Commission which seeks to pay reparations to Black St. Louis residents for slavery and racism. 3
Background
Anti-police activists founded Action St. Louis in 2014 after protests in Ferguson, Missouri against Michael Brown’s killing by a police officer. The group started as a coalition and then became a standalone independent group. 4
The group has a related 501(c)(4) group, Action St. Louis Power Project. 5
Activities
#WokeVoterSTL
In 2016, Action St. Louis founded #WokeVoterSTL to engage in year-round political education and activism to increase Black turnout in elections. 6
Opposition To Voter ID
In 2016, Action St. Louis opposed the Missouri Voter ID Requirement Amendment, which required all Missouri voters to show voter ID when they vote. 7
Campaigning Against District Attorney
In 2018, Action St. Louis joined with other anti-police activists in opposing St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch (D) because he did not charge the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. The group rallied behind then-Ferguson City Council member Wesley Bell (D) who defeated McCulloch. 7
Increased Minimum Wage
In 2018, Action St. Louis supported Missouri Proposition B increasing the state’s minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2023 and indexing it to inflation thereafter. 6
Close Medium Security Institute
In 2018, Action St. Louis joined with ArchCity Defenders and the Bail Project STL to close the Medium Security Institute, known as the Workhouse. The coalition also called for an end to cash bail and the incarceration of poor and Black people. In 2020, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance calling for the closing of the jail and reallocating the money to reentry programs and alternatives to policing. The group’s goal is to permanently limit St. Louis’s ability to jail poor and Black people. 2
Medicaid Expansion
In 2020, Action St. Louis supported Missouri Amendment 2 which expanded Medicaid coverage to childless, able-bodied adults. 6
People’s Response Act
In June 2021, Action St. Louis supported the People’s Response Act, proposed federal legislation proposing alternatives to policing, encouraging state and local governments to defund the police, and creating a Division of Community Safety in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 8
Defund The Police
Action St. Louis supports defunding the St. Louis Police Department. The group campaigns for defunding the police with CAPCR, Forward Through Ferguson, and ArchCity Defenders. The group claims social programs are a better use of public safety money than the police. The group calls for the elimination of vacant police officer positions, the SWAT team, and the ShotSpotter system, which detects the source of gunshots. The group wants to train civilians instead of police officers to interview victims and draft incident reports. 1
In 2021, group members joined with other radical left to left-of-center activists to elect Tishaura Jones (I) St. Louis mayor. In her first week of office, Jones cut $4 million from the police overtime budget and used the money to hire social workers within the police department, housing programs, and other social programs. 9
People’s Plan
Action St. Louis has joined with numerous other left-of-center to radical-left groups in supporting The People’s Plan St. Louis. 10 The plan calls for defunding police, legalizing drugs and prostitution, legalizing offenses such as public urination and public camping, and closing the Medium Security Institute and giving reparations to its inmates. 11 The plan also called for increasing taxes on the wealthy and some nonprofits to fund social programs. 12 The plan calls for establishing a state constitutional right to abortion and more public housing. 13 The plan also calls for free municipal IDs for illegal immigrants and registering inmates to vote and allowing them to vote while incarcerated. 14
Reparations
In March 2023, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (I) appointed Action St. Louis’s executive director Kayla Reed to the St. Louis Reparations Commission which seeks to identify discrimination and harms against Black St. Louis residents and pay them reparations. 15 Reed eventually became the chairperson of the commission. 3
Leadership
Action St. Louis’s executive director is Kayla Reed, who is also a group co-founder. She is also a lead strategist at the Movement for Black Lives. 16
The board chair is Michelle Higgins, who is the co-founder of the group. 16
Finances
According to Action St. Louis’s 2023 tax return, the group had $4,683,454 in revenue, $1,727,195 in expenses, and $2,984,273 in assets. 17
Financial Statistics
Total Assets
Total Revenue
Total Expenses
Revenue Detail
Expenses Detail
Employee Compensation
- Number of Employees: 11
Highest Earning Employees
| Employee | Title | Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Kayla Reed | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | $100,546 |
Grant Activity
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $5,718,028
- Number of Grants: 74
- Number of Funders: 38
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $2,230,000
- Number of Grants: 2
- Number of Recipients: 2
Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:
| Amount | Year | Funder | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,200,000 | 2025 | Friends of Northside | HUB COLLABORATION PROJECT |
| $30,000 | 2024 | Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative | SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT/EXECUTION OF STRATEGIC INTEGRATED VOTER ENGAGEMENT PLANS |