A Special 3-Part Series by The Narrative Matters
Part 1 of 3 | Part 2 | Part 3
SSM Health: The Human Cost of Broken Commitments
In the boardrooms where decisions about the new $467 million SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital were made, the shortfall in minority business participation might look like a spreadsheet error. A percentage point missed here, a dollar figure adjusted there. But step outside those glass-walled offices and walk into the neighborhoods of North St. Louis, and you see that this “error” has a heartbeat. It has a face.
When SSM Health falls $74 million short of its promises to minority and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs), it isn’t just money that goes missing. It is opportunity. It is stability. It is the future of families and entire communities.
The Ripple Effect of a Missed Contract
To understand the gravity of this shortfall, we have to look beyond the aggregate numbers and examine the individual reality of a small business owner in the construction trades.
Consider a hypothetical firm like “Summit Electrical,” a mid-sized, African American-owned electrical contractor based in St. Louis. For a company like Summit, a project the size of the Cardinal Glennon expansion is a generational opportunity. Securing a contract on a job this size provides steady revenue for 18 to 24 months.
That revenue stream allows the owner to:
- Hire five new apprentices from the local neighborhood.
- Invest in new, safer equipment.
- Provide health insurance and benefits to existing staff.
- Secure lines of credit from banks that usually view small construction firms as “high risk.”
When that contract doesn’t materialize because the project developer failed to prioritize M/WBE outreach, the reverse happens. The apprentices aren’t hired. The equipment isn’t bought. The business stagnates, struggling to break out of the cycle of small, low-margin repair jobs.
This is the human cost. It is the apprentice who remains unemployed. It is the father who cannot afford to expand his business to leave a legacy for his daughter. It is the neighborhood that loses a stable employer.
Voices from the Frontlines
Community leaders have been vocal about this exact dynamic. The NAACP St. Louis City Branch and the MOKAN Construction Contractors Assistance Center aren’t just fighting for abstract principles; they are fighting for the survival of their constituents.
In a recent letter to city development officials, the NAACP emphasized that the failure to meet participation goals “undermines economic opportunity for minority and women-owned businesses and perpetuates systemic inequity in St. Louis.”
Adolphus Pruitt, representing the NAACP St. Louis City Branch, has made it clear that these agreements—the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) and Ordinance 70428—are the legal and moral bedrock for redevelopment. When these agreements are ignored, the trust between the community and the institutions that serve them is shattered.
MOKAN, which works directly with minority contractors to get them “project-ready,” sees the frustration firsthand. They prepare qualified, capable businesses to handle the work, only to see them sidelined. The message sent to these entrepreneurs is devastating: No matter how prepared you are, the door remains shut.
Systemic Inequity by the Numbers
The $74 million gap represents a massive transfer of wealth away from the communities that need it most. In St. Louis, the racial wealth gap is a well-documented crisis.
- African American Goals vs. Reality: The project aimed for 21% African American business participation ($98.4 million).
- Hispanic Goals vs. Reality: The goal was 2% ($9.3 million).
- Women-Owned Goals vs. Reality: The goal was 11% ($51.3 million).
When these targets are missed, we aren’t just failing to add wealth; we are actively maintaining the status quo. The construction industry has historically been an “old boys’ club,” where contracts are handed out based on long-standing relationships rather than open competition. CBAs are designed specifically to disrupt that exclusion.
By failing to enforce these goals, SSM Health inadvertently reinforces the systemic barriers that have kept minority businesses small and undercapitalized for decades. It tells the Black contractor that they are only good enough for the small jobs, while the massive, career-defining projects remain out of reach.
The Economic Multiplier
Money paid to a local minority-owned business circulates differently than money paid to a large, out-of-state conglomerate.
When a local M/WBE gets paid, the owner is more likely to live in the community. They shop at local grocery stores, use local mechanics, and support local charities. Their employees are often drawn from the surrounding zip codes.
Economists call this the “multiplier effect.” A dollar spent with a local minority business might circulate within the community three or four times before leaving. A dollar spent with a national firm often leaves the state immediately.
By shorting M/WBE participation by $74 million, we aren’t just losing that initial sum. We are losing the $200 million or more in economic activity that those funds would have generated through the multiplier effect. We are losing the tax revenue that would have fixed local schools and paved local roads.
A Betrayal of Mission
What makes this situation particularly stinging is the source. SSM Health is a mission-driven, non-profit organization. Their mission statement speaks of “revealing the healing presence of God.”
Healing is holistic. You cannot heal a community physically while ignoring its economic wounds. Poverty is one of the single biggest determinants of health outcomes. By denying economic opportunity to the very populations they serve, healthcare institutions work against their own mission.
True community health requires economic justice. It requires that the people living in the shadow of the new hospital have the means to afford care inside it.
The Path Forward: Advocacy and Support
This story is not over. The community has the power to change the ending. We must recognize that every missed target has a human cost, and we must refuse to accept “good enough” efforts that yield poor results.
How You Can Help
- Support M/WBEs Directly: whenever you need work done—whether it’s home repair, consulting, or catering—make a conscious effort to hire minority and women-owned businesses.
- Amplify the Message: Share the stories of local contractors. Use social media to ask SSM Health why they are falling short.
- Back the Advocates: Support organizations like MOKAN and the NAACP who are doing the heavy lifting of monitoring these agreements. They need public backing to give their demands weight.
The $74 million gap is not just a statistic. It is a vacuum where jobs, hope, and progress should have been. It is time to fill that void with action.
Follow The Conversation
For Your Review:
Laura S. Kaiser, Presdient, CEO SSM Health, letter dated 09.09.25
SSM Letter Response dated 10.2.25
Otis Williams, Interim President/CEO St. Louis Development Corporation, letter dated 10.15.25
#EconomicJustice #SSMHealth #CommunityImpact
