For six years, Dream Builders 4 Equity has been working toward a better future for both local young people and north St. Louis. The nonprofit employs historically underserved youth and local contractors to do large scale community-led development projects. Currently, it’s in the middle of a 50-house renovation project in the Hyde Park neighborhood. T&S spoke with CEO and president Michael Woods to learn more about the organization and its impact.

Where did the idea for Dream Builders 4 Equity come from?
It started with myself and my friend Neal Richardson’s desire to give young people all the information they need to succeed. We wanted to share everything we had learned along the way, so they could have a head start. I’m a published author and entrepreneur, and Neal works in corporate community development. We both had experience in real estate, so we thought we could empower youth and get them involved in developing the neighborhoods they live in.

How do you engage underserved youth?
We are really trying to tackle the epidemic of vacant homes in north St. Louis. We hire youth between the ages of 16 and 25 to partner with minority contractors to rehab houses. We pay $15 an hour, and participants also receive equity from the home sales in the form of scholarships. We have them keep a journal about their experience, which we then help them turn into a published book they have 100% ownership of. We also run an eight-week summer academy that covers a variety of topics, such as personal financial literacy, real estate ownership and book publishing. People often assume we just teach kids about construction, but it’s really about them taking ownership—whether it’s investment in the community or taking control of their own story. We have some participants who choose to seek employment as a contractor, but others are pursuing advanced degrees. We help them figure out how to take their next steps. That’s why we’re called Dream Builders—it’s all about letting them explore and build up to whatever dream they want to pursue.

What is Dream Builders 4 Equity’s four-pillar model?
Along with serving youth, we also work to support residents, business and real estate. To serve current residents, we also provide free renovations to homeowners in the neighborhood, and we provide free landscaping during the summer. These are opportunities to support community members and make sure they feel like they are a part of the development. For businesses, we work with local, minority contractors to keep our dollars in the community. Since this is a multi-year development, we’re also providing some stability—they know they have a project to work on for the next five years. Finally, we want to bring the north St. Louis real estate market back to its original glory. New builds are often cheaper and have their merits, but by choosing to rehab these houses, we’re celebrating the historic value of the neighborhood. We want to take nuisance properties and turn them into amazing homes.

You recently were donated a new building by Midwest Bank.
It’s a beautiful historic building. While we own the building, Midwest Bank is still renting space from us, so they are still serving the neighborhood and are invested in the community. It’s a great partnership, and now, we can say we have a home in Hyde Park. It shows that we aren’t going anywhere, that we plan to continue supporting the neighborhood. Our goal is to bring in other mission-based organizations so that the building can be a hub for community resources. In the long-run, we also want to build dormitories so our participants and contractors have a place to stay while working in the neighborhood.

How do you want the organization to grow in the future?
Going forward, we want to continue to be a part of the transformation of the Hyde Park neighborhood. It’s a beautiful community full of amazing people. We want to complete 50 projects, 25 rehabs and 25 free home renovations, over the next five years. We want to perfect this model so that we can grow into other parts of the city and even expand across the country. We’re passionate about putting youth at the center of community revitalization
and development.

How can people support Dream Builders 4 Equity?
Definitely follow us on social media and visit our website to keep up to date on the work we’re doing. We’re always looking for donors to invest in our work so we can continue to grow. We also like to invite community members to visit our properties so they can see how we are impacting north St. Louis.

Photos courtesy of Dream Builders 4 Equity