 Photo of Eltoreon Hawkins (right) and Angela Drake (left) presenting to the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Center for Community Progress Conference. Eltoreon Hawkins is 26 years old and was born and raised in the small community of Walnut Park, located on the Northside of Saint Louis. In the early ‘90’s, Eltoreon and his three siblings, two sisters and one brother, were raised by a very overprotective mother, Mrs. Tryanna Pippen’s, who didn’t allow them to go outside and play in the community, so they spent a lot of time in the house being creative and entertaining themselves. Many times, Eltoreon found himself looking outside his window and seeing kids riding their bikes up and down the street and wondered what that would be like. Over many seasons of constantly begging his mother if he could ride his bike outside, she finally gave in, but only if he wore protective gear which consisted of a bike helmet and pads. He would ride up and down the sidewalk, but as soon as he was out of his mother’s sight, he would take off the gear and hide it in the bushes and ride in the street with the kids in the neighborhood. Eltoreon attended Herzog Elementary and later attended Northwest High School, briefly. It was at this critical point in life were Eltoreon started going down the wrong path, so his mom sent him to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. His uncle Joe drove for Allen Cab, and he noticed that his uncle would come home every night with a lot of money from work which he used to take care of his family. Eltoreon noticed that with the earnings his uncle made from driving a cab, he was able to purchase a home, a car, and take care of his family all while being a middle school dropout. Over the summer, Eltoreon and his uncle would have many conversations which gave him the foundation to get focused, because one day he would have his own family to raise.  Photo of Eltoreon Hawkins rehabbing a building. Published on St. Louis Public Radio. Photo Taken by: Carolina Hidalgo He returned to Roosevelt Highschool in the fall with a drive to succeed. One of the classes he took a liking to was shop class which was taught by Mr. Bart who allowed him to stay after school and build bookshelves and dog houses. When the students would come back to shop class the next day, they would notice these projects over to the side and ask who built them. The shop teacher would say, “those are Eltoreon’s projects.” Shortly after, other students started staying after school in the shop class. Eltoreon was instrumental in helping to create the after-school shop program, and he stays in contact with Mr. Bart until this day. Eltoreon’s first job was working for Operation Brightside where he and other young men helped clean up the community. He also worked for Millennium Restoration rehabbing houses in South City. Some of Eltoreon’s fondest memories growing up in Walnut Park were at the annual neighborhood block party on Schulte and when his neighborhood Block Captain would gather the youth in the community for a trip to Six Flags.
In 2017, Eltoreon helped create the Finest 15, a program which highlights 15 of the best vacant properties in different neighborhoods in the City. He was motivated by his mentor, past Aldermen Chris Carter, who would take him to community meetings in Walnut Park. When Eltoreon purchased his first house from the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), the City’s landbank, and started rehabbing it, Chris Carter took notice and started bringing Eltoreon to a lot of community meetings. At these early meetings he started building relationships in the political arena that he still maintains now. “During the Obama/Trump Administration people outside the community saw the Walnut Park area as a very violent area, and it truly doesn’t have much violence, but it does have a drug problem, but no different than any suburb.” Eltoreon stated that he would love to see the block parties and the block captains getting back involved with the youth. “I want to mix fun and community building together. By doing this it will help to unify the community and get them back involved in being a positive force in the community.”
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