The smoke from fires set during the Ferguson Uprising had barely cleared when Michael Neidorff, the late CEO of Centene Corp., announced the firm would build a $125 million call center in Ferguson.
In 2016, the building opened and Michael McMillan, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis president and CEO, said Tuesday that, as Neidorff promised, 90% of its staff members were from the nearby community.
When employees began working from home during the pandemic, Centene staff in the building dwindled. Many would not return once the pandemic slowed.
Rather than shutter the structure, Centene donated the building to the Urban Leage and the grand opening of the remodeled facility at 2900 Pershall Road, now called the Centene Connected Community Center, was celebrated on Tuesday.
“The mission and vision that created this building still exists. That vision of Michael Neidorff is now being implemented,” McMillan said.
The cager now houses the Urban League Head Start headquarters and will soon host Head Start kids ages 3 to 5. It is now or will become home to workforce development, education, housing, and re-entry programs. A regional food distribution center and Midwest conference center will also be part of the three-building complex.
The building donation by Centene is the largest item donated to any Urban League [affiliate] in its 114-year history
“Centene said ‘we are not going to run from the fire, we are going to run into the fire,”’ said Centene Corp. CEO Sarah London.
London, who had not joined Centene in St. Louis in 2014 said “like most Americans I watched from afar” during the Ferguson Uprising.
“Michael Neidorff did not believe in watching from afar. He believed in showing up for the community we serve. He believed, and we still believe, that the best way to do that is creating opportunity. This building will still create opportunities,” she said.
Neidorff died at 79 on April 7, 2022. He had served as board chair and a board member of the St. Louis affiliate and was National Urban League board chair in 2014 when St. Louis was as site of the 2017 National Urban League convention.
He moved the company from Milwaukee to St. Louis and led it from a $40-million single healthcare plan to a global healthcare company with revenues of $125 billion.
State Sen. Brian Williams said he lived near the center as a youth, adding the Connected Center “will help people just like myself while growing up.”
“This building will make the community safer and prosperous. It will help meet the real needs of our community,” Williams said.
Shalonda Webb, St. Louis County Council chair, called the center “a phenomenal opportunity in North County and what it brings to this community for our youths and seniors.’
“This building will reduce disparities [and help develop] the hope, aspiration and potential of North County.”
Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones was at the opening of the building in 2016, and immediately began receiving phone calls and inquiries when Centene announced that it was moving from the location.
“I was asked ‘is the building going to be empty?’ Not in my lifetime,” she said.
“Time brings change. The Urban League has been at the forefront of that change. This facility is much needed in North County.”
Enterprise Bank and Trust will have an ATM in the building and offer financial literacy education seminars there as well.
“Our goal is to make sure our community is financially literate. Instead of just writing checks, we have boots on the ground in the community,” said Monica Campbell, vice president of community development.
She added that “checks do help” before presenting the Urban League with a $150,000 donation.
Craig Unruh, AT&T Missouri and Arkansas president, said his firm wanted “to be one of the first to support and offer services at the incredible gift to the community.”
He announced that AT&T had donated $50,000 toward conductivity in the building.