WELLSTON, Mo. (AP) - Gov. Jay Nixon's decision to not immediately visit Ferguson after an initial wave of violent protests that followed Michael Brown's shooting death made him a target of critics, who called Nixon "silent Jay" and toted an oversized cardboard cutout of the two-term Democrat's face to demonstrations.
Now, north St. Louis County regularly appears on the governor's planner, with Nixon rolling out a succession of economic, educational and political initiatives aimed at the racial and social divides laid bare when Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. The unarmed 18-year-old was black; the officer is white.
Nixon appeared at a job training center Thursday to tout a program meant to provide jobs to as many as 2,000 low-income youths next summer in greater St. Louis.
"We're building a foundation for the future here," he said. "This is another brick in that foundation."
The jobs program will be led by former state Sen. Maida Coleman, a St. Louis Democrat tapped in September by Nixon to head a new state Office of Community Engagement to better connect state government with low-income and minority Missouri residents.
The program will tap $5.9 million of existing federal block grants under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and other federal workforce training efforts.