Center called ‘powerful first step’ as Ferguson still mends
FERGUSON, Mo. — The National Urban League president helped christen a new job training and education centre in Ferguson on Wednesday, calling the site a “powerful first step” in helping the St. Louis suburb that’s still mending from unrest over the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown nearly three years ago.
On the same day the Urban League kicked off its national conference in St. Louis, Marc Morial said much work remains even with the arrival of the $3 million centre, built on the property where a QuikTrip convenience store was burned during rioting after a white officer killed the 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed, in August 2014.
Oklahoma-based QuikTrip demolished the building and donated the property to the Urban League, which announced plans for the centre in July 2015. Several companies and organizations donated money to build it, including the Salvation Army, which contributed $1.4 million. Morial said the centre is already paid for.
The centerpiece of the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center is the Urban League’s Save Our Sons job training and placement service. It also will house offices for the Salvation Army, Lutheran Hope Center and the University of Missouri Extension Service.