Ronald Jones earned his BS in media studies from UMSL in 2020 and was also a member of the 2021 class of Coro Fellows. Now, he’s pursuing a Master of Public Policy Administration with an emphasis on local government. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Ronald Jones still remembers the flyer he spotted while walking across the Millennium Student Center bridge shortly after transferring to the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 2017. The flyer promoted an event called “How to Get a 4.0,” and it quickly caught his attention. At the event, he learned more about how the brain works, including study techniques such as a taking a short break to do something fun in between study sessions. Jones had never heard of that strategy, but he tried it and wound up earning his best grades yet.

“Ever since I came to UMSL, it’s been go time for me,” Jones said. “I had never really been dedicated to my studies like that until I came to UMSL. I just took that little idea and applied that for the rest of time I’ve been at UMSL, and UMSL did that for me.”

Jones, who earned his BS in media studies in 2020, has stayed busy since coming to UMSL. He’s received Chancellor’s Certificates in Fundamentals of Economic Development, Planning and Zoning, and Community Partnership and Coalition Leadership and also participated in the Neighborhood Leadership Fellows and Neighborhood Leadership Academy through the university. He was a member of the 2021 class of Coro Fellows, which he credits with helping him develop his skills in public policy, time management, communication and teamwork, and chart his current course.

Through the Coro Fellows Program – which Jones describes as the most intense program he’s ever been a part of – he had the opportunity to learn more about public policy by working in different sectors across St. Louis, including local government, nonprofits and the Cortex Innovation District.

“They all kind of work in their own little silos, and people don’t always know what the other is doing,” Jones said. “We were working with different nonprofits and trying to bridge them all together, especially if they are working for the same cause. We were looking at how we can all work together to just make St. Louis the best region that it can be.”

Jones has long been passionate about gardening and rebuilding St. Louis neighborhoods, but the Coro Fellows Program helped him realize another passion he wanted to pursue: local government. Although he had long wanted to build a career in community development, he wasn’t sure exactly how to do so. Working closely with local government as a Coro Fellow, he realized how much he enjoyed public policy and started to see a new path forward.

“I really liked being at the table and deciding things that were going to happen in the community,” Jones said. “Once I got to local government, it gave me the opportunity to go out and meet residents in the community and learn more about their needs.”

The Coro Fellows Program made for a natural transition to UMSL’s Master of Public Policy Administration. Jones is currently enrolled in the program, with an emphasis on local government, and will graduate next spring. Through the MPPA program, Jones is currently working as a city inspector and code enforcement officer for the City of Dellwood. In this role, he inspects homes and businesses for safety and issues citations for code violations.

“In order to move to Dellwood, your home has to get inspected,” Jones said. “So, basically, I’ll come out, and I’ll check the home. I’ll check your roof, your foundation, and my job is to make sure that everything is healthy and safe before you move in. And I do that on the residential side as well as the commercial side. If someone wants to open up a new business in Dellwood, I have to go and inspect the building to make sure that the building is safe for you to move in to do business.”

Jones’ long history in community development, having worked with his own Blackberry Landscaping LLC in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of North St. Louis, as well as AmeriCorps VISTA, the STL Vacancy Collaborative and the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis, has given him a thorough understanding of residents’ needs. But by giving him boots-on-the-ground experience working in local government, the MPPA program has helped him understand what it’s like to be on the other side.

“When you’re a resident who’s on the outside of local government looking in, you want change to happen,” he said. “You want things to just happen just like that. And local government, it doesn’t work that way. Everything has a process, and everything takes time. For example, if there’s a house in the community that’s vacant and people are complaining about it, to get the funding to tear down a vacant house takes almost eight months. To somebody that’s living next door to the vacant property, that seems like a lifetime, but it’s the process. Believe it or not, if you want a house torn down next year, in 2026, those funds have to be allocated in 2025 to get torn down for next year. When you’re on this side now, it all makes sense. There’s no easy fix. Sometimes we complain about people that are in charge because we feel like they’re not doing anything, but there’s just not always an easy fix like that.”

Eventually, Jones aims to run for city council, and he feels his experience working in code enforcement has given him a good grasp of what’s going on in the community. He’s passionate about continuing to prioritize community engagement and responsiveness as a leader and remaining accessible and visible to residents.

“I think a lot of times when people run for those positions, they kind of lose touch with the people,” he said. “I think it’s imperative to stay in contact with people. I would want to chat with my residents at least weekly, and feel like if they need something done, to get them answers in 24 hours. I think that’s the part that’s missing. I think the only time that we see our elected officials is during those meetings or when they’re out campaigning. They’re knocking on our doors every day, and then after the election’s over, they kind of disappear. I just want to make myself more available to residents.”

In addition to his work in community government, Jones has started devoting more of his free time to one of his other passions: African art. He started collecting African masks, textiles, books, jewelry and more in the early 2000s, around the time the St. Louis African Arts Festival launched in Forest Park, and now boasts a personal collection of over 500 different pieces. Eventually, he hopes to write a book about his collection and open a gallery in St. Louis, highlighting the city’s connection to its sister city in Senegal.