Our Vision

Moving forward together.

The Ashrei Foundation imagines a just Missouri where the way we look, where we are from, or who we define ourselves to be does not limit our access to quality and affordable healthcare, education, housing, technology, and economic stability. Ashrei exists to empower and activate the St. Louis community and partners throughout the state of Missouri to promote economic justice, to relieve suffering, and interrupt cycles of poverty.

“Ashrei,” is a word from the Psalms that means “forward.” Our work is to move our community forward on the path towards abolishing all systems of economic exclusion and oppression, to a future where all people may live with dignity, justice and freedom. Building upon established relationships of trust, the work of Ashrei will be to deepen the social justice work of the faith community and leverage resources that are not available to houses of worship.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization determined by the IRS to be a public charity (pursuant to IRC 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)) founded in June 2021. We are so grateful to our Founding Funder, the Clever Little Girl Foundation, which made it possible for the Ashrei Foundation to begin our important work immediately. The Clever Little Girl Foundation (CLG) was founded by Sue McCollum in 2020 in an effort to address systemic inequity in incremental yet meaningful ways. CLG is built on the philosophy that by identifying and tackling the root causes of systemic inequity we can make a big difference. In addition to providing ongoing financial support, CLG actively supports the Ashrei Foundation through strategy, networking, and more.

The Ashrei Foundation was created to take social and civic action. We seek to provide an engine so that the membership of Central Reform Congregation might extend and sustain the social justice core values of the Congregation for generations to come. The Ashrei Foundation will give a seat at the table to the leadership of Central Reform Congregation as it works with other congregations and nonprofits that make up the St. Louis Resource Collaborative to serve the most vulnerable on the North Side of the City of St. Louis. As a known and trusted presence in the City of St. Louis, the members of the Board of Ashrei will be able to engage communities of faith for projects and programs that serve the common good. Ashrei will work to design an outreach program to create dialogue and grow relationships between people who do not ordinarily meet.

Values

Grounded in our vision, the Ashrei Foundation pursues the mission guided by six fundamental values.

  • Building and facilitating trusting relationships across the state, working alongside while independent from Central Reform Congregation

  • Recognizing that everyone has infinite worth, and valuing all faiths, voices, and perspectives that call for moral courage and justice

  • Building bottom-up relationships working for the common good, led by family systems and trauma-informed approaches to understanding community dynamics

  • Finding value at the edges of our comfort zones and bringing our allies with us to dismantle white supremacy and systemic racism

  • We enter the work from a posture of curiosity, listening first and seeking to understand rather than impart knowledge

  • Supporting the pursuit of happiness as a basic human right

Organizational Priorities

We have identified three key priorities to drive our work forward.

  • Working to ensure that all people have low-/ no-barrier access to the economic resources and information needed to make healthy informed decisions for ourselves and our community

  • Bringing change through raising awareness, building strong partnerships, and developing a base of people who have energy, time and resources to engage in the issue

  • Working collectively to dismantle oppressive systems and create a liberated community, utilizing short- and long-term strategies of resistance

Strategies

Existing within these values and guided by these priorities, we will pursue our mission through four primary strategies.

  • Intentionally invest in community partners through financial assistance and capacity building, leveraging the strengths of our privilege to amplify new and existing efforts in the region

  • Grow democracy by building the "middle" in Missouri through increasing awareness and inviting opportunities for direct engagement

  • Building community power and dismantling racist systems relies on building healthy relationships: space for authenticity, building trust, navigating difference and power, and shared purpose

  • Demonstrate care for the whole person in our interactions with neighbors through identifying and offering immediate, short-term solutions to relieve suffering