The Gephardt Institute had a remarkable year in 2024, which included hosting polling places for three elections and in the City of St. Louis for first time, bringing national civic leaders like Richard Haass, Michael Isikoff, and Valerie Jarrett to campus, record numbers of students participating in The Longest Table, Civic Café, St. Louis Fellows, and on-campus voting, and profound civic learning and dialogue across the Institute’s programs and classes. 

Watch our 2024 Highlights Video to see it all in action!

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Mac Barnes '26, a 2024 St. Louis Impact Fund Transform Grant recipient, unveiled his artwork "Quilts as Civic Engagement: An Interactive History of St. Louis and the Delmar Region" at Delmar DivINe in December.

Mac Barnes ’26, a 2024 Transform Grant recipient of the Gephardt Institute’s St. Louis Impact Fund, unveiled his exhibit, “Quilts as Civic Engagement: An Interactive History of St. Louis and the Delmar Region,” on Wednesday, Dec. 18.  

Coinciding with the grand opening of WashU’s Community Engagement Office, located in Delmar DivINe at 5501 Delmar Blvd. in St. Louis’ Central West End, hundreds of visitors viewed and praised Barnes’ quilt, posed for photos and asked the WashU junior about his inspiration and process.  

Barnes applied for a Transform Grant, offered through the Gephardt Institute’s St. Louis Impact Fund, in December 2023, and his project was approved for $3,225 in funding. 

This came after Barnes presented work in the institute’s The Queer Experience Art Exhibition, held in Spring 2023.  

“The ‘Quilts as Civic Engagement’ project leverages everyone’s comforts with quilts and the specific community’s memories of North Delmar via submitted photographs to spark new dialogue, learning, and understanding of past present and future of the region,” said Barnes. “It is this dialogue and increased understanding we feel will create the deeper connections needed to bridge current divides between students, North Delmar inhabitants, and outside stakeholders that can uplift and support the community together.”  

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This month, just days after a storm blanketed Missouri in snow, the Civic Scholars Classes of 2025 and 2026 embarked on their annual immersion trip. From Jan. 7 to 10, and with an itinerary that required flexibility due to the weather, the Civic Scholars met with community organizations, local elected and city management officials, and small business owners, while traveling to communities like North St. Louis and Cherokee Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, and Columbia, Missouri. The Civic Scholars witnessed a swearing-in ceremony for new state legislators, learned about the inner workings of city government and the relationship between citizens and city councils, heard from a state lobbyist about how organizations make their cases for legislative votes, and enjoyed some local food and fun in each community. 

St. Louis Fellow Brodhi Ramirez '27 worked at ArchCity Defenders last summer, as part of his internship with the Fellows program last summer. 

Persistence can pay off.  

One day, while sitting in his “Social Inequality in America” class, St. Louis Fellow Brodhi Ramirez ‘27 listened to a teaching assistant discuss the role that the legal and social justice organization, ArchCity Defenders, played in the Ferguson Uprising.  

“I got chills for a minute, and that same day, I sent Jacki [Langum, Deputy Director of ArchCity] an email,” Ramirez said.

Needless to say, he got the job. Ramirez spent the summer at ArchCity as a St. Louis Fellow, supporting their mission of providing pro bono legal and social services support to St. Louisans. 

ArchCity Defenders is an advocacy organization based in downtown St. Louis that “combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence, especially in communities of color,” through their legal support work. 

Continue reading this story on our blog.

FIND YOUR BALLOT

ABSENTEE VOTING
BY STATE

REGISTER TO VOTE

MISSOURI VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS

Upcoming Elections in the St. Louis Region:

Missouri No Excuse, In Person Absentee Voting (Early Voting):

Two weeks before each Missouri election, voters may cast their ballot at a variety of locations in their voting jurisdiction. St. Louis City voters may find locations here; St. Louis County voters may find locations here. 

Elections in Other Counties and States:

If you vote outside of St. Louis, you may have upcoming elections. Click here to see what elections are scheduled in your home state. 

Find more voting resources at vote.washu.edu

Autumn Dennis joined the Gephardt Institute's Marketing and Communications team last summer.

As the Digital Communications Specialist at the Gephardt Institute, Autumn Dennis is responsible for content creation, graphic design and storytelling—the behind-the-scenes work that is integral for the Institute’s success.  

“I love what I do now. It feels like it integrates

everything I’ve ever done,” said Dennis. “My whole thing is providing opportunities for students to engage with their passions.” 

Prior to arriving in St. Louis, Dennis had lived in Tennessee their whole life. They proudly call Nashville their hometown, although they later moved to Pulaski, Tennessee to attend college at Martin Methodist College.  

“Moving from an urban to rural environment really changed my whole worldview,” said Dennis. “Pulaski was a totally different context than Nashville, but I grew so much from it. It changed my entire perspective on how different people live their lives, and it showed me how poverty changes from an urban to rural context, as an example.” 

Continue reading this story on our blog.

2024 Highlights Video
Produced by Maggie Lu '26

Quilts as Civic Engagement
Marley Wiemers '25

Brodhi Ramirez and ArchCity Defenders
By Julia Robbins '24

Autumn Dennis Staff Profile
By Marley Wiemers '25

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