“St. Louis on the Air” production team members (from left) Miya Norfleet, Alex Heuer, Aaron Doerr, Elaine Cha, Danny Wicentowski and Emily Woodbury will have a role in sharing conversations that occur across historical divides as part of a new initiative funded through a grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. (Photo courtesy of St. Louis Public Radio)

The James S. McDonnell Foundation has awarded St. Louis Public Radio an $824,917 grant that will fund a new program designed to model how St. Louisans can talk across divides in order to create greater understanding in the region.

The grant is the largest ever received by STLPR, which is a listener-supported service of the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The funds will be distributed over four years to support the initiative on air, online and in the community.

“It is part of our mission as public media to bring the community together, bridge divides, and facilitate productive and genuine conversation,” STLPR CEO Tina Pamintuan said in a news announcement. “Especially in today’s polarized environment, as people’s experiences of life and relating to one another have become fragmented, it is more important than ever that we fully embody our mission. The program is a bold way to reach across differences and promote understanding. We are grateful to JSMF for recognizing the value of our work and for funding this new project.”

The initiative is said to be modeled after StoryCorps’ One Small Step program, which has been proven to increase levels of interpersonal empathy by pairing strangers with different political beliefs for a conversation, not to debate politics but to get to know each other as human beings. The station will facilitate local conversations between people across historical divides in the St. Louis region including class, race and geography.

STLPR will share these conversations on its award-winning talk show “St. Louis on the Air,” in regular segments on the podcast and radio episodes, in videos shared on social media platforms, and multimedia content to delivered in a new curated newsletter. It also plans to extend the initiative into the community with in-person listening sessions, public speaking engagements and partnerships with local non-profit organizations. Through this work, STLPR aims to make St. Louis a better place to live and to increase citizens’ regard for constructive conversation as essential for the greater good and a thriving St. Louis region.

“To turn the momentum we see in our region into inclusive, sustainable growth, we have to be able to work across lines that have divided us for too long,” JSMF President Jason Purnell said. “St. Louis Public Radio has the necessary community trust to facilitate conversations across differences. From those conversations may come unexpected alliances that can tackle our most persistent challenges in St. Louis.”

STLPR intends to hire a project producer and an engagement producer to support the initiative, and it will be sharing more information about the initiative on its website as the projects approaches its launch next summer.