KWAME managed construction on the new Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc.’s Community Empowerment Center of Ferguson, a job-training center located on the site of the burned-down QuikTrip convenience store in Ferguson.

The two-story, 13,500-square-foot building houses the Urban League’s “Save Our Sons” workforce program, which will provide job training and placement services for up to 500 African-Americans and other young men in Ferguson and North St. Louis County.

The Urban League set a goal of building the project with the maximum minority workforce and Minority-owned Business Enterprises (MBEs). The construction manager Kwame Building Group, architect Atelier 3 Design, and general contractor Simms Building Group all are minority-owned businesses. As construction manager, KWAME worked to achieve the maximum possible MBE and minority workforce participation.

Other building tenants include Save our Sons (SOS), Salvation Army, Provident Inc., Better Family Life, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and University of Missouri-Extension.

The QuikTrip Corporation donated the property, which had been destroyed during the unrest following Michael Brown Jr.’s shooting death by then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in 2014.