State and local revitalization efforts in East St. Louis, Illinois

This article explains how the processes of suburbanization, deindustrialization, disinvestment, and globalization combined to destroy the economic security of East St. Louis, Illinois, a once-thriving industrial and transportation center. The article discusses the impact that the city's 1991 economic collapse had on its ability to maintain basic services. It describes how state and federal officials worked together during a six-year period to support the community-stabilization efforts of local officials. The article shows how specific state and federal initiatives reinforced the actions of municipal authorities to strengthen the city's fiscal well-being, enhance its municipal services, improve its housing stock, expand local business and employment opportunities, and lessen the city's most serious environmental problems. The case illustrates the powerful role that enlightened state and federal policies can play in mitigating the most serious consequences of contemporary economic restructuring on local populations.