The Ferguson Community Empowerment Center opens on the ashes of the burned-down QuikTrip in Ferguson

On the three-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death, the center opens its doors to the public.

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Today marks three years since former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Amid the ensuing community upheaval in Ferguson, a QuikTrip was burned to the ground.

Today, the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center stands in its place, and it's opening to the public for the first time.

Created from a partnership between the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Salvation Army, the 13,000-square-foot facility will house the Urban League affiliate's Save Our Sons program, an employment and workforce development program that helps African-American men find jobs. It's an initiative that was created in the wake of the Ferguson unrest, after the league's staff asked protestors, "How can we help make things better?" The No. 1 response: jobs. Since Save Our Sons was launched in January 2015, the four-week training program has helped place nearly 400 men in jobs.

The center also houses the Salvation Army's Pathway of Hope program, which helps families out of poverty, as well as its Spark Academy, an after-school care program. In addition, the center offers an entrepreneurial program from the University of Missouri Extension that helps small-business owners get their businesses off the ground, as well as a youth literacy program from the Lutheran Hope Center. 

The idea for the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center came on the night that the QuikTrip burned to the ground. Urban League president/CEO Michael McMillan was on the phone with QuikTrip officials the next day. "He knew it was such a place of hopelessness, and he wanted to turn it into a place of opportunity," says Urban League spokeswoman Angelia Bills.

Though positive changes have been made in the community, including the opening of the empowerment center and a more diverse city council, Bills says the league sees room for improvement: "There's still people who feel disenfranchised in that area. There's still more work to be done."

Located at 9420 W. Florissant, the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center is open Monday–Friday from 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

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