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ST. LOUIS — A community development nonprofit is aiming to get $3,000 checks into the hands of over 1,000 north St. Louis residents whose homes were severely damaged by last month’s tornado.

Invest STL has already raised more than $2 million of a $4 million goal for , which aims to disburse $3,000 in direct cash to at least 1,300 households in north side neighborhoods most affected by the May 16 tornado. Invest STL plans to connect with residents whose homes suffered severe structural damage and received one of the “red tags� designating such damage. St. Louis officials have said about 1,350 buildings received such red stickers.

Dara Eskridge, chief executive officer of Invest STL, said the money is intended to help residents as they wait for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a $100 million state aid package and $30 million set aside by the city while also paying for needs those programs don’t cover.

“Those are all very useful resources for helping people recover, but they are also very restrictive,� Eskridge said in an interview. “They are all focused on very specific needs, and direct cash assistance, like the Northside Resilience Fund, gives families the nimbleness or flexibility that they need to make real time decisions for their families as needs are emerging.�

Invest STL, which was formed to connect philanthropic donors with neighborhood-focused community development projects, has experience administering direct cash programs. In 2023, it launched the “Rooted� wealth-building initiative, which gave $22,000 grants to West End and Visitation Park residents for home repairs or investment with few strings attached.

“We already understood the value and the flexibility of providing that kind of support to people,� Eskridge said. “ was created to help counter the threat of displacement just because of development patterns. Now we’re looking at a very different scale and threat of displacement because of a natural disaster.�

Invest STL plans to begin contacting residents with red stickers next week and helping them fill out applications for the $3,000 direct cash assistance.

The organization has already been actively engaged in the area, particularly in the Ville neighborhood, one of the hardest hit by the tornado. Invest STL worked with nonprofits Ìý²¹²Ô»å Dream Builders 4 Equity to launch and operate an emergency hub on Martin Luther King Drive to distribute supplies and food to tornado victims.

InvestSTL has an ongoing partnership with 4theVille and Northside Community Housing to focus resources in the area, which even before the tornado had the most vacancy in St. Louis. Half of the parcels in the neighborhood are empty lots, the buildings that occupied them demolished over the decades, . Eskridge said Invest STL, currently based out of a Delmar Boulevard office near the West End, plans to open another office on Martin Luther King Drive in the Ville later this year.

With FEMA assistance for home rebuilding capped at $43,600, and the scope of state and local aid programs still uncertain, Eskridge said groups like Invest STL and their funders will be essential for long-term recovery in tornado-ravaged neighborhoods.

“There’s a tremendous gap there that needs to be filled, and it needs to be filled by local and national corporate and philanthropic resources,� Eskridge said.