Emerson funding $4.4 million for Ferguson scholarships, job training

[Sherman A1]

Emerson, one of the region’s largest companies, is donating $4.4 million to fund scholarships and youth employment efforts for residents in north St. Louis County and Ferguson, where its headquarters is based.

The funding commitment is one of several investments announced in recent weeks by St. Louis businesses to address economic disparities in Ferguson in the wake of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police Officer Darren Wilson.

Emerson, a Fortune 500 company with $24.7 billion in annual revenue, employs 1,300 people at a campus near the site of protests and looting that followed Brown’s death on Aug. 9. Emerson’s headquarters on West Florissant Avenue is across the street from the temporary location of a police command center during the weeks of unrest.

Through its new “Ferguson Forward” initiative, Emerson will contribute $300,000 a year for five years to the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Opportunity Scholars Program for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students who are minorities or whose parents didn’t attend or graduate college.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/emerson-funding-million-for-ferguson-scholarships-job-training/article_278e8a1f-8167-5129-a395-a8a0f867e187.html