Karen Buckley has served as the Project Manager at WLCDC for over a decade. Originally from New York, she moved to St. Louis more than 20 years ago, building a life on the southside. A visit to WLCDC in Wells-Goodfellow in 2014, however, left a lasting impression. On that first trip, she encountered a young man who had passed away on the sidewalk in the middle of the day, and was seemingly invisible to the rest of the world. The moment was haunting and stirred a deep sense of urgency—a desire to help in any way she could.

Karen believes that people deserve more than decades of neglect and empty discussions. She is motivated by the desire to see real things built—housing, grocery stores, jobs, and essential services. At WLCDC, she helped the organization shift from occasional community events to consistent outreach three days a week. When COVID hit, and the neighborhood lost many of its children after the closure of the Hodiamont Apartments, the organization had to ask itself what a community development corporation should do. Karen pushed for action, aiming to fill the gaps left by government inaction. Today, she continues to focus on advocacy and development in Wells-Goodfellow and Hamilton Heights, guided by the belief that real change begins with meeting people’s most urgent needs.