Chimes Junior Honorary and the Assembly Series are co-sponsoring an informal discussion with Francis G. Slay, mayor of the City of St. Louis, at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Danforth University Center Tisch Commons. The event is free and open to the public.
According to Chimes’ co-chair Jake Novick, a junior business student, the goal of the program is to create awareness among students of urban problems such as educational disparities, homelessness and gang violence, and how these issues affect the students’ adopted city.
“We hope that Mayor Slay will give an overview of what’s happening in the City of St. Louis, how the local government is trying to address the types of social ills that plague all urban areas, and what we can do to help,” Novick said.
Slay, elected in 2001, was re-elected to his third term in April 2009. He is only the fourth mayor in the city’s history elected to serve three terms in office.
During his tenure as mayor, Slay has been working to fight chronic poverty and the social ills that accompany it by expanding job training, attracting private investment in neglected neighborhoods, helping ex-offenders and homeless people become productive citizens and improving education for all children, including those in poverty.
The mayor is a strong advocate of public education.
In addition to supporting efforts to improve the St. Louis Public Schools, he believes that additional public education options must be created and advocates the creation of quality charter schools.
Slay earned a bachelor’s degree from Quincy College and a law degree from Saint Louis University.
He practiced law for 20 years at Guilfoil Petzall & Shoemake, where he was a partner specializing in commercial law and corporate litigation.
He served as a St. Louis alderman for 10 years and then as president of the Board of Alderman from 1995-2001.
Slay, an avid soccer fan and former college player, is one of 11 children and was raised in south St. Louis. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s High School.
For more information on this or other Assembly Series events, call 935-5285 or visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu.