Michael McMillan
Legislative Policy Conference
Michael McMillan
Michael P. McMillan is the President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc.
President McMillan has grown the affiliate from a $17 million annual budget in 2013 to $35 million in 2021 with 20 locations, 55 programs, and 350 staff. President McMillan in 2020, completed the acquisition of a historic former Sears department store in the heart of the African-American community and has begun a $20 million restoration project creating a new Regional Headquarters. The new facility will serve as a hub for critical services to the 125,000 clients served annually and will also include a regional cultural arts center, medical and legal clinics, a hydroponic farm, and a food pantry.
President McMillan mobilized a record number of volunteers and public and private partners to execute the largest and most efficient COVID-19 emergency relief effort in the state raising $4.5 million and providing PPE to more than 150,000 families in 31 large-scale relief operations.
Following the turbulence in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Mike Brown in 2014, President McMillan envisioned and stewarded the building of the Urban League Community Empowerment Center of Ferguson on the site of a former Quick Trip convenience store that was burned down during the crisis. The Center opened in 2017 and houses the Save Our Sons program and critical social service partners. President McMillan created the Save Our Sons program in St. Louis County to help African-American men find jobs and lead empowered lives.
President McMillan previously had a distinguished career as an elected official in the City of St. Louis. He was the youngest person elected as a member of the Board of Aldermen and as License Collector in the city’s history. During his tenure as Alderman, President McMillan nurtured and led public-private partnerships resulting in $1.25 billion of development in his district.
President McMillan was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame as its youngest member and was named one of the Ebony Power 100 Most Influential African Americans in the United States. He is the recipient of the 2013 International Trumpet Award for Community Service, and the Whitney M. Young, and the John Mack Leadership Awards from the National Urban League. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Xernona Clayton Foundation.