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STL on the Air 📻

New $25 million St. Louis venture capital fund to boost minority startups

2 years 5 months ago
The venture capital space is overwhelmingly represented by white-owned companies. A St. Louis-based firm is hoping to change that by investing its millions in underrepresented founders whose ideas are being overlooked. Ascend Venture Capital founder Dan Conner and partner Yinka Faleti discuss how VC firms can increase diversity — and make huge returns at the same time.

School buses are failing to pick up Afghan refugees in St. Louis

2 years 5 months ago
Afghan refugee students are missing school because St. Louis Public School District doesn’t have enough drivers to fill their bus routes. Without a car, driver’s license or strong grasp of English, many parents are unable to get their children to school without a bus. Sue Scott, a volunteer with Welcome Neighbor, joins the show to talk about how missed bus routes affect the Afghan family she’s partnered with.

After demolition, what’s next for Jamestown Mall?

2 years 5 months ago
Jamestown Mall has sat vacant in unincorporated St. Louis County for about just over a decade. Now that the St. Louis County Council has approved a plan for its demolition, urban planner and consultant Bob Lewis discusses what could happen next — and why the mall was doomed to fail. (Correction: The former Jamestown Mall is located in unincorporated St. Louis County, not Florissant, MO.)

Here’s what St. Louis booksellers are reading this summer

2 years 5 months ago
Summer days can present an opportunity to explore fictitious worlds or delve into a gripping historical epic, and St. Louis’ local booksellers are on the case. Mark Pannebecker of Spine Bookstore and Cafe, Ymani Wince of Noir Bookshop and Joice Carrawell of Little Readers reveal their summer reading lists, including adult novels and children’s books.