Walmart donates academy building in Chatham to Chicago Urban League

Walmart is donating its former training facility in Chatham — part of the retailer's Supercenter campus that closed in April 2023 — to the Chicago Urban League, helping the organization boost its programming on the South Side.

The more than 15,000-square-foot Walmart Academy building will become the Urban League's Empowerment Center and allow the expansion of its Workforce Development Center and Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Chicago Urban League’s main building is on Michigan Avenue in Bronzeville.

The new building, according to the Urban League, is one of the most significant donations in its history.

“While most folks will see and interpret this as a gift to the league, it is really a gift to the community,” Chicago Urban League President and CEO Karen Freeman-Wilson said Monday. “We understand our commitment to the community and the importance of both workforce development and entrepreneurship in our community.”

The Chicago Urban League Empowerment Center will open once Walmart’s donation is finalized.

As part of that process, the building at 8331 S. Stewart Ave. will be separated from a larger parcel. The former Walmart Supercenter and Walmart Health center are nearby at 8431 S. Stewart Ave.

Walmart led a “competitive and thorough” selection process for the donation, said Walmart regional Vice President Adonis Clark.

The Urban League was chosen for its commitment to promoting economic freedom and furthering Black entrepreneurship.

“The Chicago Urban League has been a proven leader in program development and advocacy, consistently working to improve the lives of underserved communities in the Chicagoland area,” Clark said. “The programs launched here will create a pipeline for prepared, well-qualified workforce-ready individuals to secure employment in the region's high-growth and emerging industries.”

Walmart’s donation includes the classroom and meeting facility, plus administrative furniture and training equipment, including HVAC and dental equipment.

The donation will launch workforce training in new areas, including dental hygiene, artificial intelligence, electric vehicle infrastructure and electrification technology.

Meeting spaces will be available for small-business owners and also can be used by nonprofits in the area.

The Urban League served more than 6,300 job seekers and business owners in 2023 through its workforce and entrepreneurship programs, it said. In Chatham, more than 600 residents have used the Urban League’s services over the last five years, and the organization said it expects to help even more people now that it has a physical presence in the neighborhood.

“This building is essential to us writing a new narrative about Black wealth,” Freeman-Wilson said. “That's why we are grateful to Walmart for not only this gift but for their continued partnership.”

The organization's 2023 "State of Black Chicago” report, released in June, highlighted several disparities between Black and white residents in the city. For example, white residents’ median household income is more than double that of Black residents on average.

The Chatham Supercenter was one of four Chicago locations that Walmart shuttered. The retailer said last year that the four stores “have not been profitable” since they opened in the city.

At the time, the closures were the latest in a string of grocery stores on the South and West sides that had announced their closures, drawing criticism from residents and city leaders.

Twenty-first Ward Ald. Ronnie Mosley thanked the Chicago Urban League for stepping up and being a “beacon of light” to Chatham after Walmart made the decision to close.

“With this partnership with the Urban League, we are expanding out, making sure that folks have a place to work here,” Mosley said. “There's so much innovation that is here in this ward.”

Walmart operates 177 retail locations throughout Illinois and employs more than 58,000 people. In April, the retail giant opened a high-tech consolidation center in Minooka — its third one in the country — that will speed up product deliveries and employ 700 people.