Ferguson, Missouri will never be the same. But just how much has truly changed since this time a year ago, when white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, largely depends on who you ask.

Yahoo News reports in Emily Davis' mind, all the so-called improvements in a community desperate for them have been superficial and cosmetic. These changes are simply not aimed at the heart of all the issues that played such pivotal factors in the neighborhood boiling over in protest and conflict after Brown's killing.

"People are still being targeted by police officers," she said. "If you talk to people who live on West Florissant that is still happening. Our city government has not become any more communicative. They have not made any attempt to engage in dialogue - meaningful dialogue - with the citizens, which is not any different than it was a year ago."

That's not what town Mayor James Knowles envisions or claims he sees when he walks the streets of his community.

"For whatever reason in the past - either through lack of communication, lack of outreach - there were segments of the community that really felt like they were disaffected and not really part of the community," said Knowles, who is white. "I think a year later, what you see is a community that's much more engaged, wholly engaged."

Indeed, on the very grounds of a QuikTrip store, near where Brown was first stopped and looting and rioting later broke out, a neighborhood "empowerment" center is now being built that will offer workforce training and employment placement for under-served youth.

Soon after Brown's slaying, the U.S. Justice Department deemed the area so corrosive that a complete overhaul was the only possible way forward. Will any of these changes truly be enough to make a real difference in the community?

The city now has a new police chief, a new city manager and a new municipal judge, all of them blacks who have replaced whites in the largely African-American metropolis. All Ferguson officers now wear body cameras, and the city council now has several new black members. Even the business community, heavily ravaged by all the protests and the looting, is again starting to show signs of life.

"When it comes to the community and law enforcement coming together, we've both dropped the ball," said Adrian Shropshire, a 62-year-old black retired carpenter, who now runs a nonprofit job-training effort. "Most conflicts start with not listening. Everyone's listening now."

Darren Wilson long ago left the Ferguson police department, but the "Black Lives Matter" movement that sprang up on the streets of Missouri in the aftermath of his actions remains a national rallying cry.

In Ferguson, authorities have committed to hiring more minority officers. Sweeping reforms within the police department and municipal courts have led to fewer traffic stops and far fewer fines.

In May, on what would have been Michael Brown's 19th birthday, family and community members cleared out a collection of stuffed animals, candles and other adornments, which had come to line the scene of the Canfield Drive shooting, and moved them to the area around a permanent plaque that has been erected.

Clearly, the city of Ferguson remains a work in progress.