Our Family

 

Reverend Audrey Hollis

Rev. Audrey Hollis is the founder and director of United People and its umbrella non-profit, Beacon of Light Ministries. She is the Outreach Pastor at Greater St. Marks Family Church where United People is housed. Rev. Hollis has been involved in Christian Ministry, Advocacy, Civil Rights, and Social Justice work for her entire life and has worked with a variety of organizations including the Organization for Black Struggle, Missouri Jobs with Justice, and more.


Steve Hollis

Steve Hollis is Rev. Hollis’ husband and a board member of United People. While his full time job means he is not generally able to be present during the work day, he plays a critical role as UP’s primary grant writer and bookkeeper. Steve has also worked for years in advocacy and organizing, notably with unions and anti-racism work. He is our main connection to the Missouri Rural Crisis Center.


Kourtney Ross

Kourtney Ross is the United People project director and the daughter of Rev. Hollis. She has been involved with UP from the beginning, volunteering at the market and in the garden. Currently she is building and leading the United People youth program.


Sam Lai

Sam Lai is an Americorps VISTA member assigned to United People. His projects include Volunteer Recruitment, Internal and External Communications, and the building of a long-term Strategy Process for the organization. His background is in American Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, and Creative Processes. He started in July 2018.


Karon Hatchett

Karon Hatchett is the newest addition to the UP staff team. Her projects focus on outreach and community organizing. Karon has a wide range and depth of experiences that include running elections and campaigns in Denver and the state of Colorado. She has also been involved in community organizing through St. Louis organizations, most recently the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

 

Our Interns- Rachel & Julia

Rachel & Julia are college students in St. Louis. Their projects include marketing, social media, and recruitment.


Who is United People Connected to?


United People strives to collaborate with as many organizations as possible, but there are a few to which we are especially tightly connected.

The Greater St. Mark’s Family Church is best known for opening its doors to protestors and organizers during the Mike Brown uprising of 2014. As Rev. Hollis is Outreach Minister at GSMFC and the UP office and market is housed within the church complex, UP maintains a close relationship with the Pastors and congregation. The head pastor is Rev. Tommie Pierson.

City Greens Market is a healthy food co-op in south city St. Louis that is (was) the model for our own market and therefore our sister organization. City Greens started as the collaboration of the Midtown Mamas, a local women's’ group that grew into a full fledged market. While our market was open, they supplied us with most of our items as well as a card reader, an old freezer, etc. Dylan Naylor is the director/manager of City Greens and a close friend of UP.

MRCC (Missouri Rural Crisis Center) is a coalition of family-owned farms in rural Missouri, through which our market sourced most of our meat products. We are currently working with them to deliver on a large buy-local campaign funded by the FDA.

The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) and the Franciscan Sisters Ministry are currently our largest funders and as such we maintain relationships with both the Franciscan Sisters and a variety of ELCA congregations and ministers.