Action St. Louis is a left-of-center racial agitation group active in the St. Louis area. The group has supported defunding the St. Louis Police Department and diverting the money into social programs. ¹

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. ⁸

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. ⁹

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. ¹⁰

Medicaid Expansion

In 2020, Action St. Louis supported Missouri Amendment 2 which expanded Medicaid coverage to childless, able-bodied adults. ¹¹

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. ¹²

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. ¹³

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. ¹⁴

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. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ The plan also called for increasing taxes on the wealthy and some nonprofits to fund social programs. ¹⁷ The plan calls for establishing a state constitutional right to abortion and more public housing. ¹⁸ The plan also calls for free municipal IDs for illegal immigrants and registering inmates to vote and allowing them to vote while incarcerated. ¹⁹

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. ²⁰ Reed eventually became the chairperson of the commission. ²¹

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. ²²

The board chair is Michelle Higgins, who is the co-founder of the group. ²³

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. ²⁴

1.  “Defund SLMPD.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/defund-slmpd.
2. “Close the Workhouse.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/ctw.
3.  Henderson, Andrea  Y. “St. Louis Reparations Commission Proposes Harm Report Focused on Six Areas.” STLPR, February 5, 2024. https://www.stlpr.org/race-identity-and-faith/2024-02-05/st-louis-reparations-commission-proposes-harm-report-focused-on-six-areas.
4. “Mission & Vision.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/mission-vision.
5. “Action Stl Power Project.” Action STL Power Project. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.actionstlpower.org/.
6. “#wokevoterstl.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/wvstl.
7. Reed, Kayla. “Kayla Reed on the Unseen Work of Ousting Robert #ByeBob McCulloch.” St. Louis American, August 16, 2018. https://www.stlamerican.com/news/political-eye/kayla-reed-on-the-unseen-work-of-ousting-robert-byebob-mcculloch/.
8. Reed, Kayla. “Kayla Reed on the Unseen Work of Ousting Robert #ByeBob McCulloch.” St. Louis American, August 16, 2018. https://www.stlamerican.com/news/political-eye/kayla-reed-on-the-unseen-work-of-ousting-robert-byebob-mcculloch/.
9.  “#wokevoterstl.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/wvstl.
10. “Close the Workhouse.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/ctw.
11. “#wokevoterstl.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/wvstl.
12. “The Movement for Black Lives Announces Support for the People’s Response Act.” M4BL, June 28, 2021. https://m4bl.org/press/support-for-the-peoples-response-act/.
13. “Defund SLMPD.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/defund-slmpd.
14. Rivas, Rebecca. “St. Louis Mayor Vowed to Transform Public Safety. Her First Year Saw Progress, Pushback .” Missouri Independent, April 19, 2022. https://missouriindependent.com/2022/04/19/st-louis-mayor-tishaura-jones-public-safety/.
15. “People’s Plan.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/peoples-plan.
16. “Re-Envisioning Public Safety – the People’s Plan St. Louis: Building Our St. Louis.” The People’s Plan St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.peoplesplanstl.org/public-safety.
17. “Funding Our Future – the People’s Plan St. Louis: Building Our St. Louis.” The People’s Plan St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.peoplesplanstl.org/funding-our-future.
18. “Making St. Louis Home – The People’s Plan St. Louis: Building Our St. Louis.” The People’s Plan St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.peoplesplanstl.org/making-st-louis-home-1.
19. “Building Inclusive Democracy – the People’s Plan St. Louis: Building Our St. Louis.” The People’s Plan St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.peoplesplanstl.org/inclusive-democracy.
20. “Mayor Tishaura O. Jones Appoints City of St. Louis’ First Reparations Commission.” St. Louis, March 10, 2023. https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/mayor/news/reparations-commission-appointments.cfm.
21.  Henderson, Andrea  Y. “St. Louis Reparations Commission Proposes Harm Report Focused on Six Areas.” STLPR, February 5, 2024. https://www.stlpr.org/race-identity-and-faith/2024-02-05/st-louis-reparations-commission-proposes-harm-report-focused-on-six-areas.
22. “Meet the Team.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/meet-the-team.
23. “Meet the Team.” Action St. Louis. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://actionstl.org/meet-the-team.
24. “Action St Louis, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/320634890/202401369349317110/full.