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ST. LOUIS — Protesters gathered outside the entrance to the annual Mayor’s Celebration of Businesses lunch Friday to criticize the St. Louis Development Corporation’s management of a $37 million grant program for north St. Louis.

SLDC hosts the annual ticketed event that St. Louis mayors often use to tout their economic development agendas and accomplishments while mingling with many of the region’s most prominent businesspeople and other area leaders.

But the 20 or so gathered to protest outside the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel downtown, some holding signs saying “audit the city,” showed dissatisfaction was still high among many of the businesses that SLDC initially passed over when picking awardees. Some have argued too much money was given to large institutions such as the Urban League and Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, which each got $2 million, rather than the small businesses the program was initially pitched to help.

“Nothing for small Black businesses, that’s the problem,” said Jeanine Moore, who said her company does home rehabs in north St. Louis and was turned down. “We suffer the most and get the least.”

Controversy around the program has grown since Post-Dispatch reports about awards tied to businesses in vacant buildings or outside the city, the refusal of the agency to release applications detailing how some grants would be spent and awards given to the family of an alderwoman and SLDC board member.

In response, SLDC Executive Director Neal Richardson has pledged an internal investigation, promised a second board vote on final awards and asked the St. Louis City Counselor’s office to look at its conflict-of-interest procedures. He has also emphasized that only a small portion of the grants have actually been paid out while SLDC staff finish verifying grant applications and the viability of their plans.

And the board last month approved reallocating $1.5 million to give out $12,500 awards to unsuccessful applicants.

But even that hasn’t placated all the critics. LeTasha Harry, who runs a nonprofit that offers parenting classes and other social services and was outside the hotel, called it “hush money.”

Tameka Stigers, a vocal critic of SLDC’s grant award process and one of the leaders of the group calling itself the North St. Louis Small Business Coalition, said she was escorted out of the hotel despite purchasing a $125 ticket. Stigers, who helped organize the protest, said she was given a refund.

SLDC spokeswoman Sara Freetly shared the message sent to Stigers refusing to let her protest inside: “Your right to protest is important, but this is not a political event, rather a special moment to recognize local businesses and organizations who positively impact the city of St. Louis. The protest you are planning to stage at this event does not promote a safe environment for elected officials and attendees, therefore your tickets have been refunded and you will be refused entrance into the event.”

In a speech to attendees over lunch, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones used the occasion to tout strong job growth figures in the city during the past year. She also announced new initiatives, including a pledge to support the development of 10,000 housing units over the next five years and the city’s move to use eminent domain to take over the long-vacant Railway Exchange building downtown.

But she also took the time to address the grant program, saying she wanted to “clear up some misinformation” and that the program has not been “compromised from a legal or compliance standpoint.” Jones acknowledged that SLDC may have been too quick to have its board approve grant winners and relied too heavily on a third-party consultant. But she said SLDC was adding additional layers of due diligence as well as issuing a “transparency report” on the program in the coming weeks.

“I want to be clear and I want to be accountable: the buck stops with me and the awarding and the execution of awarding this grant had flaws and it will be corrected,” Jones said. “I will not let a few bumps in the road kill the ultimate goal, which is the moral and economic imperative to invest in areas of our city that have been intentionally and systemically neglected.”