The Chicago Urban League has opened what's being called an "Empowerment Center" in a former Walmart training facility in the Chatham neighborhood, which will focus on job training and entrepreneurship.
The 15,000 square foot building at 83rd and Stewart "was a symbol of disinvestment," like the closed Walmart Supercenter on the same property, said State Senator Elgie Sims said.
Now, it will be a place where people can get a leg up.
"We are getting ready to create black millionaires in this room," Sims said, "We are getting ready to create generational wealth coming out of this building."
Urban League President and CEO Karen Freeman-Wilson said she's excited about the mission of the center.
"This represents an opportunity not to just expand the Urban League's footprint," she said, "but to provide an opportunity for the community to grow and build wealth, creating sustainable careers, sustainable businesses that you can pass on from generation to generation. That's how we build wealth."
The director of the center, Andrew Wells, said "what makes the Empowerment Center so unique is that it allows us to advance the work that we're doing in workforce development and entrepreneurship, leveraging A-I tools in both career skills training and also business development."
Dr. Suzet McKinney, the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Urban League, said the center will allow the organization to help others to succeed.
"We were founded back in 1916 with a mission to ensure that black Chicagoans have equitable opportunities top find good paying jobs, to provide quality education for their children, to own homes in a thriving community and to build generational wealth, McKinney said, "This facility represents a new chapter in that mission."
The building was donated to the Urban League by Walmart.
It's the largest donation the organization has ever received.