By 1994 it was apparent that the City of Ferguson was experiencing demographic changes that were leading to white flight. In response, the City made a conscious effort to ease the transition to greater racial diversity. Community leaders hosted the Oak Park Exchange Congress at Florissant Valley Community College to consider proposals for stabilizing the city. The meeting took place in October of 1994.
Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, had hosted 17 conferences prior to the Ferguson event. The conferences shared strategies for integration that the City of Oak Park had found to be successful. Representatives of Oak Park presented their findings at the Ferguson event.
PROUD (People Reaching Out for Unity and Diversity), a volunteer not-for-profit organization, was established as a direct result of the conference. PROUD’s purpose is to continue the goals presented at the Oak Park Conference by working to improve relationships among members of the Ferguson community.
