HISTORY · OUR STORY
How One Place Changed So Many
Not a timeline. The evidence — day by day — of what happens when you make room for people's biggest ideas.
We took one neglected city block in Fox Park and made it a place that existed for one reason: to help people build what came next.
In three years, hundreds of businesses were born here. A community found a home. And then, when the world stopped, we closed the doors — and spent six years finding our way back.
This is what happened in between. And what happens next.
— Jim Shelvy, Founder
- 01
NexCore Opens Its Doors
A full city block in Fox Park — vacant, neglected, a mile south of downtown — became the starting point for it all.
The search led here and the doors opened. The first member walked in. The first business began. Everything that follows started on this day.
- 02
BusinessGPS Launches
A system to help people find their way — not just a desk, but a direction.
BusinessGPS gave entrepreneurs the map they’d been missing: how to start, how to build, how to keep going. It became the engine underneath everything NexCore did for its members.
Returning September 2026
BusinessGPS comes back to guide the next wave of businesses.
See the calendar →
- 03
Powering the Community
NexCore became the hub of Fox Park — and only grew from there.
Nonprofits. Schools. Neighborhood associations. Community leaders. NexCore didn’t just host them — it powered them, giving the whole neighborhood a place to build what came next.
We’re doing it again
The same work begins anew — for the South County neighborhood.
- 04
ReVitalize St. Louis
NexCore joined the ReVitalize board — in a big way.
The mission widened beyond the block. Revitalizing St. Louis meant investing in the people and places the city had overlooked — the same belief that started Fox Park, scaled to a whole region.
- 05
Money Talk Mondays
Dr. Lance McCarthy launched it — and a community learned to build wealth together.
Every Monday, real conversations about money, ownership, and independence. It was proof of the NexCore idea: give someone a room and a reason, and they’ll change the people around them.
- 06
The 6th Ward Santa
Cedric Redmond served the children of Fox Park — with NexCore behind him.
Not a program on a brochure. A neighbor who wanted to give the kids of his ward a Christmas, and a place that made room for him to do it. This is what powering the community actually looked like.
The tradition continues
In Cedric’s tradition, the work goes on — launched as the South County Chamber’s SOCO Cares.
Visit the SOCO Chamber →
- 07
Streamathon
When COVID closed doors everywhere, Fox Park did something about it.
Thirty-two hours straight. A livestream to keep local businesses alive — raising real aid, reaching millions, drawing national attention. In the hardest year, the community proved what it was made of.
$100,000 in aid awarded to local business
- 08
Small Business Independence Day
Three days celebrating the businesses that refused to quit.
A weekend built around perseverance — honoring the owners who held on through the hardest stretch anyone could remember, and the community that held on with them.
- 09
Changing of the Guard
NexCore closed its doors — and on the way out, opened one for someone else.
Fox Park went quiet. But before the lights went off, NexCore handed the work forward — opening the door for the Whitfield Foundation to carry the mission on. Not an end. A hand-off.
- 10
ReVitalize Becomes a Social Enterprise
The mission took a durable new form — built to sustain the work, not just fund it.
ReVitalize grew into a social enterprise, carrying the belief that started Fox Park into a lasting structure. And its story isn’t over.
Returning January 2027, ReImagined
ReVitalize comes back — rebuilt for what St. Louis needs next.
See the calendar → - 11
ChangeMakers21
NexCore and ReVitalize spent three days celebrating heroes from around the world.
People who’d changed their corners of the world, gathered in one place. It was the NexCore belief on a global stage: human potential, given room, changes everything.
- 12
What’s Next Takes Shape
NexCore signed a new lease in South County. The comeback began on paper.
Six years after Fox Park, the same idea found a new block: Plaza 21. What had ended wasn’t over — it was getting ready to do it all again.
- 13
ReVitalize Completes Its Work
The 501(c)(3) was formally dissolved — its mission carried forward in new hands.
Every chapter closes so the next can open. Thank you for all the memories.
- 14
The South County Chamber Is Formed
A new institution, built to power what’s next for an entire region.
The South County Chamber brought businesses together under one banner — the same instinct that built Fox Park, now organized to lift a whole community. Its own ribbon cutting comes October 17.
- 15
NexCore Opens Again
South County. Ribbon cut. The doors open once more.
Taylor Miller, our founding Chief Impact Officer, led the ceremony. Six years after Fox Park went quiet, NexCore stood open again — same belief, new block. Not an ending. Another beginning.
We didn’t build offices.
We built opportunity.
The Starting Point For It All.
Help Us Shape the Future. Join Today.