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Urban League to build new center on site of burned QuikTrip

The QuikTrip on West Florissant Ave. was looted and burned on Aug. 10, the day after Michael Brown's death.
Jason Rosenbaum|St. Louis Public Radio
The QuikTrip on West Florissant Ave. was looted and burned on Aug. 10, the day after Michael Brown's death.

The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis will build a new center on the site of a burned-out QuikTrip in Ferguson.

A spokeswoman for the non-profit confirmed the plan Friday afternoon, but officials would not comment further until a press conference scheduled for Monday at 3 p.m.

The QuikTrip was looted and burned on Aug. 10, the day after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer. A chain-link fence has surrounded the property since late August.

The Urban League’s center will house its "Save Our Sons" program, which was launched in January. The program offers a one-month job training program to young African-American men and matches them with a local company.

At January’s announcement Urban League CEO Michael McMillan said the goal is to train 500 unemployed and underemployed men from Ferguson and other north county communities in the next two years.

McMillan said the program was a direct result of the conversations with young people following Mike Brown’s death.

"We went out onto the street and we went to young people and all of them to a one said we need jobs in this community," McMillan said at the time.

When it launched in January, the program had received more than $1.2 million in corporate donations.

Follow Maria on Twitter: @radioaltman

Maria is the newscast, business and education editor for St. Louis Public Radio.