The Freedom Community Center (FCC) is a Black-led organization in North St. Louis that was founded to dismantle systems of oppression that inflict harm and trauma on Black communities in St. Louis City, particularly the police and the criminal punishment system. They ground themselves in the knowledge that Black survivors of St. Louis have the solutions to the question: What will keep us safe? They seek to build a community-based approach centered in safety, healing, accountability, and true freedom.

Deaconess Foundation supports Freedom Community Center through our Responsive Grants Portfolio. We support their work known as Resisting Systems of Oppression. Through this partnership, Freedom Community Center is better able to equip and position young survivors of harm to join and organize with a strong collective of Black survivors of harm in St. Louis. FCC staff organizes young people who have experienced violence in their community. Through bi-weekly power building meetings and other efforts that grow out of the We Keep Us Safe Power Building Meetings, they work to build a strong network of people who have survived significant harm who are ready and capable of engaging with political actors to advocate for the material change that they seek in their community.

Learn more about Freedom Community Center: freedomstl.org.