Donate/Volunteer

To donate online, please click the Paypal button. If you wish to specify your donation area, please do so in the Paypal 'Notes' field. If you do not, your donation will be counted as unrestricted.

Donate by Phone or Mail – To make a credit card pledge, please call Vickie Kimmel Forby at 618-874-1671, ext. 103. To Donate by Mail, download and print the donation form and send to:

Emerson Park Development Corporation
P.O. Box 6126
East St. Louis, IL 62202

At the Emerson Park Development Corporation, our mission revolves around doing whatever we can to improve the lives of youth in East St. Louis and to help them rebuild their neighborhoods. It takes the State of Illinois $50,000 to incarcerate a prisoner for a year and only $15,000 to educate a student. Sometimes it takes tremendous resources to spark the fire of hope in a student’s eyes and sometimes it is as easy as striking a match. Either way, we cannot keep that fire burning without support from people like you.

Every gift to Emerson Park is used to improve the training our students receive and to support our neighborhood’s revitalization. Gifts can be applied in the following areas:

Unrestricted – Emerson Park will apply unrestricted funds to whatever program is in the most need at the time of your donation. This allows the most flexibility for the organization.

YouthBuild – gifts to the YouthBuild program will buy tools and uniforms for our students as well as fund additional training opportunities for the students.

Charter School – a gift to the Charter School means investing in new technology in our classrooms as well as cutting edge teaching materials. Because our student population often struggles with learning disabilities and chaotic environmental circumstances, new resources are constantly needed to support their continued learning.
In addition to this, our students often come to us hungry, and at a daily cost of $5 per student providing a satisfying lunch is a large, unrecoverable expense for the school. A gift of $1,000 provides a nutritional lunch to a student for the whole school year.

Community Advocacy – this area supports local youth and community residents in their efforts to take control of the governance of their own community. Funding in this area goes towards community advocacy training and events.

Housing & Economic Development – donations to this area supports Emerson Park’s efforts to bring affordable housing and essential services to the neighborhood. This includes building demolition, new home construction, home repair, and start-up business support.

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can."
     -- Sydney Smith