Celebrating Our 2026 Award Winners

2026 Sustaining Housing Dreams Funsdraiser

Award Winners

At Tower Grove CDC, our mission is simple: we promote and improve quality of life by attracting public and private investment and providing real estate and other community services. Every year, that mission comes to life through the people and organizations who partner with us, advocate alongside us, and do the hands-on work of building stronger neighborhoods.

This year, we're honored to recognize three individuals whose leadership reflects that mission in three very different, equally vital ways. Join us in celebrating them on October 8, 2026 at our annual Sustaining Housing Dreams Fundraiser.

Community Service Award: Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier

Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier has represented the 7th Ward on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen since 2023, building a legislative record centered on housing stability and tenant protection. But it's her vision in authoring Board Bill 41 that we're honoring today — the legislation that established the City of St. Louis's first formal framework for defining, certifying, and prioritizing Community Development Corporations for city partnership and investment.

Without Alderwoman Sonnier's leadership on BB41, the certification process CDCs will rely on soon — and our ability to attract right-sized investment into our neighborhoods — simply wouldn't exist. Her work reflects months of collaboration and advocacy across the community development sector, and it has fundamentally strengthened the partnership between city government and neighborhood-based organizations like ours.

Thank you, Alderwoman Sonnier, for building the infrastructure that makes our work — and the work of CDCs across the city — possible with a bright future!

Community Partner Award: Adam Marles- EverTrue

We're proud to honor Adam Marles and EverTrue with this year's Community Partner Award. Adam and his team were essential partners in bringing EverTrue Crossroads at Bevo Mill to fruition — lending their staff's expertise, stepping up with a generous donation to help close the project's funding gap, and trusting Tower Grove CDC as a partner every step of the way.

Adam's leadership is a prime example of what St. Louis needs: unabashed, aggressive investment in our community. Since joining EverTrue in 2021, he has grown the organization to nearly 4,000 employees serving more than 16,500 older adults annually, making it the 10th-largest nonprofit senior living provider in the nation. In the St. Louis region specifically, he has championed investments in affordable housing and community-based support that help older adults age with independence and dignity.

Thank you, Adam, for believing in what we're building — and for backing that belief with real resources.

Community Impact Award: Julie Sommers

Julie Sommers has spent nearly two decades investing in St. Louis, starting with the rehab of distressed properties in the Tower Grove Heights and Cherokee historic districts. But it's her leadership around professional leasing and housing stabilization — and her dedicated use of our ARCH by HomeScreen program — that we're recognizing this year.

Julie has been a long-time user of HomeScreen, supporting this program back when all of the applications were collected and processed manually. She was one of the first users of the HomeScreen web-based software that launched in February 2019 and has since approved over 100 applications through the HomeScreen software.

Julie was also an early adopter of ARCH by HomeScreen, joining this program just after it launched in January 2021. ARCH by HomeScreen helps people without stellar rental or credit histories find and keep housing, giving them a real chance at stability. Julie has embraced that mission fully: after the May 2025 tornado, she was on the ground providing food, water, and wellness checks to displaced and homebound neighbors. She shared one of her properties on ARCH by HomeScreen during this time, and approved an application from a single mother displaced by the tornado to move into one of her rental properties. 

Julie's company remains the only business member of the regional Continuum of Care, frequently offering to buy bus or train tickets for people in need of transportation back to their families or other support systems. 

Thank you, Julie, for proving that good business and good neighboring aren't mutually exclusive — they're the same thing.

Join Us to Celebrate

We'd love for you to help us honor Adam, Julie, and Alderwoman Sonnier in person at Sustaining Housing Dreams, Tower Grove CDC's annual fundraiser.

  • Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026

  • Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM CDT (awards ceremony begins at 6:30 PM)

  • Location: Das Bevo at Bevo Mill, 4749 Gravois Ave, St. Louis, MO 63116

  • Registration deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 11:59 PM CDT

We're grateful to US Bank for serving as our Presenting Sponsor this year, helping make an evening like this possible.

Register for the event and buy sponsorships — we hope to see you there!

Sean Spencer