These days, it seems as though St. Louis is only in the news for one of two things: Baseball, and topping the list of Americas most dangerous cities.

From the outside looking in, the ‘Gateway to the West’ doesn’t seem like a very spectacular city at all, and a quick drive through some of the less modernized areas downtown would likely enforce that idea.  A new program, called Arch Grants, is setting their sights on changing that for the better. Their angle is to bring a more robust startup culture and infrastructure in St. Louis.

“It would be pretty cool if the city was safer and more tailored to younger people,” senior Claire Patterson said.

Arch grants plan to increase the employment growth and to establish St. Louis as a city where entrepreneurs want to start their businesses. The program offers startup funding in the form of grants and supports the startups as they remain or transition to downtown St. Louis. Arch Grants selects what they see as promising startups and begin their funding with $50,000 and non-dilutive capital, which is what makes St. Louis such an attractive city for new businesses.

“Depending on the level of government involvement, this could be a great idea,” progress monitoring coach and former personal finance teacher Jeff Blankenship said. “If it’s big businesses helping small businesses, that is great for the growth of the local economy.”

The program is funded by a group of larger local corporations and organizations  in St. Louis. It is run by a board of directors that’s consistent of people prevalent in St. Louis community development. Several companies have already received grants through the program, such as SimMachines, Food Essentials and Knowink. Each company has ideas that either are unique or beneficial to the growth of the city.

“St. Louis is already somewhat of an underrated city. Seeing something new and creative downtown would be a nice change,” senior Thomas Euson said.

Arch Grants has already kick started 35 companies, and it seems as though the program has no plans to slow down anytime soon. St. Louis is beginning to emerge as a hotspot for jobs, so whether you are thinking of joining the workforce out of high school or getting a degree, staying close to home would not be a bad idea by any means.