On that same election day, the Forward Through Ferguson nonprofit announced a massive regional collaboration will be applying for a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation to find innovative ways to improve that status of racial equity in a region with a stained history of division.

“We have the outcomes we have today because of centuries of laws and policies that intentionally denied access to opportunities for some, while putting no barrier to the same opportunities for others,” said Nicole Hudson of Forward Through Ferguson, which grew out of the Ferguson Commission that issued 189 calls to action following the 2014 and 2015 protests in the St. Louis region. “This is math. And over the years, that math adds up.”

How does St. Louis get to that equity? It builds mass transit in diverse neighborhoods. It improves educational opportunity for young, black children. It reduces crime in high-poverty neighborhoods. It changes laws so governments stop preying on poor people simply to raise revenue so the governments can continue to exist.

Two years after Ferguson, there is progress being made on some of those fronts.