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Looted Ferguson store to be transformed into training center

Center will give young jobless or underemployed men a month’s training before matching them with area jobs

Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo. — The effort to erect a Ferguson job training center at the site of a former convenience store that was looted and burned after last summer’s fatal police shooting of Michael Brown is getting underway.

Officials on Thursday were to break ground on what will be known as the Urban League Community Empowerment Center. It will feature Urban League programs and various social service partners.

St. Louis area companies have contributed $1.2 million toward the effort, meant to give young jobless or underemployed men a month’s training before matching them with area jobs.

The center will be on the site of a former QuikTrip that rioters set fire to Aug. 10. That was a day after ex-Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who is white, shot and killed Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press