“We’ve got to try to make these houses affordable to keep current residents in place,” Ahmed explained. “That’s where the impasse has been.”

So far no government or business entities have signed on to partner in the project.

But the agency plans to announce its status as an EnVision Center this April, a designation granted to nonprofits by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. No funding is tied to the designation but Ahmed said he’s confident that being an EnVision Center will encourage more big donors to climb on board.

Ahmed said part of the challenge is that businesses, as well as the state and local government, consider the development of north St. Louis a “low priority.”

“There are so many things about black-white St. Louis that I’ll never understand,” Ahmed said. “How can you not see the devastation that could result if this is not built up, if it’s not an indigenous effort by the people who come out of these communities? How could you not see what could possibly result?”