Mission Statement

To contribute to the richness and diversity of our Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area by creating an awareness of and promoting an appreciation for the culture and heritage of the Caribbean. To share these attributes through partnerships and collaboration with other organizations while benefiting our local community and enhancing the quality of life of our fellow citizens in our countries of origin.

Who We Are and What We Do

The Caribbean Association of St. Louis is a 501c.3 non-profit organization originally founded in 1985. Our membership is comprised of Caribbean nationals and other individuals with a sincere interest in Caribbean Culture who live in the wider St. Louis Metropolitan area (including Southern Illinois). Most of the Caribbean countries are represented in our membership. The Caribbean Association of St. Louis welcomes new members, and is open to any one who has a sincere interest in Caribbean culture. We require that new members complete a membership form and pay annual dues, attend general meetings (held monthly, generally on the second Saturday),and participate in the association's activities. Membership dues are waived for full-time students.

The Caribbean Association of St. Louis promotes and maintains Caribbean culture in St. Louis Metropolitan Area, supports and engages in community activities, offer educational scholarships to students of Caribbean descent, and provides assistance to Caribbean countries, especially in times of disaster.

We celebrate our Caribbean culture intensely. Our Christmas celebration and annual picnic are open to the entire community and give us an opportunity to expose the Caribbean culture in an informal atmosphere while celebrating with our families, and developing camaraderie among ourselves and our non-Caribbean friends and neighbors.

In order to promote our culture and heritage, we have visited area schools and colleges and made presentations to their students on our geography and history. Each year, with the involvement of our friends, patrons and supporters, we host a Caribbean Banquet (Slice of the Caribbean) at which we share our art, food, music and dance with St. Louis. We also seek to expose the St. Louis community to our Caribbean cuisine by participating with our food booths in local events like the St. Louis International Food Festival, the International Festival, the Festival of Faiths, and other St. Louis cultural and culinary fairs. We supplement these activities and efforts by regularly organizing group tours to such Caribbean events as Caribana in Toronto, Canada, Labor Day in Brooklyn, the Kansas City Reggae Sun Splash, and the annual celebrations of other Caribbean Associations in Kansas City and Dallas.

Together with other St. Louis-based organizations and in collaboration with the International Institute of St. Louis, the Caribbean Association seeks to promote and sponsor Caribbean flavored musical, literary and artistic events designed to maintain and enhance awareness of the Caribbean culture in this area of the country.

Among our goals for the immediate future, are plans to:

Establish a Caribbean Cultural Center? This will provide us with a central location from which we will be able to develop and offer to the local community programs and activities which are consistent with our goals.

Launch a Caribbean Health Care Initiative-- In light of the deficient health care system in many Caribbean countries, we envision that this plan will eventually contribute to fostering the development of a more viable and efficient health care system throughout the Caribbean.

Expand our scholarship offerings? Success in this effort will allow us to promote the standard of excellence in education for which Americans of Caribbean origin and their descendents are well known. This will redound to the benefit of our community and provide a worthy example for others to follow.