Scenes from Community Day at SIUE's East St. Louis Center

Scenes from Community Day at SIUE's East St. Louis Center

On Saturday, April 4 at the Wyvetter H. Younge Higher Education Campus, more than 400 visitors gathered for Community Day. An event in which dozens of vendors, employers, mobile clinics and food trucks came together to connect East St. Louis residents with a multitude of valuable health, wealth and job resources.

Community members took part in a resume workshop, record expungement process, gift card giveaways and an egg hunt where local children took home over one thousand eggs filled with candy and goodies on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Campus.

"The kids went crazy for the egg hunt. It was hilarious and fun just to watch," said Alex Maxie, a senior public relations major who is a team member of Reach PR, an SIUE senior capstone project that partnered with SIU System Office of Community Engagement to produce the event.

He added, "The parents were just as engaged as the kids were, and from what I could tell, everybody walked away with at least something that they needed from the event, whether that was a resource or just information." The youth area was housed in the campuses We Care Clinic where children received mental health resources as well.

The impact of Community Day will last longer than one day. Recent graduates of the Macedonia Development Corporation Clean Energy Workforce Hub engaged with employers at the event to discuss potential employment.

"Community Day delivered real results for the community. We saw employers actively recruiting, residents making direct connections to jobs and training programs, and clear pathways opening into the region's growing clean energy workforce," said Connie Frey-Spurlock, PhD, Director, SIU System Office of Community Engagement.

"That kind of impact only happens through strong collaboration-from SIUE colleagues like Dr. Tandra Taylor and Dr. Mark Dochterman, to the students who helped bring this event to life, to our partners across sectors including employers, training providers, and policymakers. When we align around opportunity like this, we don't just host an event-we help create momentum that leads to lasting change."

First Alert 4 covered the event and spoke with hosts United Congregations of Metro-East who co-presented the event with SIUE and SIU System Office of Community Engagement.

Photos by Howard Ash