A City at a Crossroads: What comes next for St. Joseph?

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- St. Joseph has long been a river town built on trading and manufacturing. It was the starting point of the Pony Express and later earned designation as an All-America City. But what does the future hold?

The Joseph Company, a local organization, released a survey earlier this year asking community members for their thoughts on the state of St. Joseph.

With 317 respondents, the results gave the group a blunt look at local confidence.

“78% of residents do not believe Saint Joseph is moving in a healthy direction for the future generations,” the Rev. Mary E. McDonald of Holsey Chapel said during a Joseph Company breakfast meeting.

Respondents reported low confidence in accountability, humility and relationships. The biggest red flag, organizers said, was hope for the future.

“Now that we have a sober self-assessment of where we are, we can grow, but it takes immediate attention and care now because ultimately, that’s a question of hope,” Joseph Company leader Wes Simmons said.

Simmons, who founded the Joseph Company, said he knows the scores don’t look great. He said the survey wasn’t designed to blast St. Joseph, but to open eyes to what the city was, where it is now and what it can be.

“People are rating their future worse than their present reality, which could be viewed as negative, but I see that really not as a negative,” Simmons said. “I see it as an opportunity. The good news is the future has not been created yet.”

The 317 respondents came from various walks of life. Simmons said 317 isn’t a huge sample size, but it’s large enough to gather useful data.

On its website, the organization said the sample reflected an established, civically active core of St. Joseph — skewing older, long-rooted and leadership-heavy — and should not be treated as a statistically representative cross-section of every resident.

“I don’t claim to be some community expert,” Simmons said. “I’m just kind of running down a dream, trying stuff, trying to take the coach approach at the community level.”

Respondents did express confidence in several areas, including compassion and kindness, supporting one another, and perseverance and resilience during adversity.

“I think that as a city we need to come together and clarify our identity and establish a purpose-based identity,” Simmons said. “What makes this place unique? Why would people want to come here? Why did people come here originally?”

Survey organizers said the findings do not mean St. Joseph is doomed. While the results can read as disappointing, they said it’s better to treat them as a possible path for the future — not a fixed fact of the present.

“In the world of sport, if there’s a player who loses hope, they hit the transfer portal, and when 78% of people are indicating a low measurement of hope in the future, if we don’t move the needle, people are going to hit the transfer portal,” Simmons said.

Full Joseph Company results are available on the organization’s website.