Annie Malone Children and Family Services leaders said they’re still waiting to receive $1 million from the St. Louis Development Corporation a year after the gift was announced.

The funding would go toward repairing the organization’s headquarters and historic building in the Ville neighborhood of north St. Louis.

The nonprofit announced a capital campaign Sunday to raise money for its headquarters located in its 100-plus-year-old building. The building needs significant updates to deal with its outdated boiler, old piping, lead, asbestos and roof, said Gyasi Haynes, vice chair of the Annie Malone Children and Family Services board.

“Now that the water damage is inside of the mansion, we’ve completely had to move out of there and find shelter in our crisis building,” Haynes said.

The crisis building is on Page Boulevard. Haynes said the organization — which provides educational resources and social services to families and children in St. Louis — has applied for numerous grants but has yet to receive any funding.

A spokesperson for the St. Louis Development Corporation said the organization is working to get Annie Malone that money.

“We’re moving forward getting all the documentation in place and working with Annie Malone, so it can receive its $1 million to fix/stabilize its roof,” said spokesperson Deion Broxton.

SLDC officials announced last February that Annie Malone would receive $1 million from its North City Grant Program to repair the headquarters.

The fund aimed to use federal coronavirus relief funds to support north city businesses. SLDC has faced scrutiny over how it ran the program, including awarding grants to businesses with addresses of vacant lots. Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick announced an audit of SLDC last year.

Its officials said the state audit had nothing to do with the delay.

Annie Malone’s $1 million in funding is part of the program’s community enhancement and façade grant programs. SLDC said that it approved 42 businesses for those grants but that only one business has received those funds. He said the goal is to distribute funds to the groups by next month.

“We had to go over and review and make sure people were safe and proper protocol was followed,” Broxton said. “Now we are wrapping up all the paperwork and receiving the necessary documents for all the individuals.”

Brian Munoz

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St. Louis Public Radio

Then in May the tornado hit, damaging the nonprofit’s roof and windows and waterlogging the walls, said Alderwoman Pam Boyd, president of the Annie Malone Children and Family Services board.

She questioned if lack of insurance was behind the funding delay. Boyd said that the organization was insured when it applied for the north side grant but that its insurance company has since dropped the organization after it filed claims following tornado damage.

“The tornado has tore the building up, then the pipes had burst,” Boyd said. “So now we’re in a pickle.”

SLDC said insurance is not a factor in the delay.

“In terms of Annie Malone being impacted by the tornado and then filing claims related to tornado damage, that has no impact on their grant,” Broxton said. “But part of the paperwork aspect of this requires things such as insurance, having the necessary limits, having [the Community Development Administration] and SLDC added as additionally insured.”

Nonprofits across the country have faced numerous cuts in recent years.

Annie Malone had received $3 million from the state a few years back for its economic mobility program that offers job training, mental health resources and education access to teens and young adults. But that funding shrank in recent years.

“I was fine,” Boyd said. “We just had to pivot and work it to make it work the best we could.”

Proposed cuts to the state budget could leave Annie Malone without state funding this year, Boyd said.

“We’re hoping that we’ll get put back in,” Boyd said. “We’re doing the work. We’re not just sitting there idly, we’re trying to make sure that we still do the services.”

Annie Malone leaders said it could cost $15 million to bring the building up to code and about $50 million for the old Black nursing quarters. Money raised by the capital campaign will not go toward the parade or May festival.

The organization canceled this year’s May Day Parade, the second-largest African American parade in the country, because of financial challenges. Last year’s parade was scheduled for May 18, days after the tornado.

The organization will hold a festival in its place this year to make up some of the money it would’ve made from the parade.

Haynes said that the nonprofit is working with state and local lawmakers to restore state funding and that many want to see it succeed.

“We believe that things will turn, it’s just slow,” Haynes said. “While it’s turning, it’s exhausting us.”