Such conversations continued in the 1980s as the ULSC focused upon the twin goals of promoting equality and helping people overcome racism. Gil Rozier, the League's executive director, first articulated these dual objectives in 1979, and the ULSC responded to his clarion call to action by sponsoring a series of ongoing dialogues about racial and economic equality throughout the following decade
The last ten years of the twentieth century witnessed continued activism by the Urban League of Southern Connecticut. In 1990, the League sponsored an affordable housing conference in Greenwich, Connecticut; later that year, it convened a group of community organizations that were working to address Fairfield County's drastic housing shortage. In the middle of the decade, the League undertook burgeoning initiatives to promote economic empowerment through workforce development. Operating under the direction of Dr. Curtis Porter, the ULSC launched several programs that provided African Americans and other individuals with opportunities to develop their employment-related skills. In addition, the League forged new and innovative training partnerships to help meet the needs of our corporate and business partners.
The twenty-first century began with a bang as Charles Shepherd, the ULSC's President and CEO, launched the League's local campaigns for youth achievement in 2000. These initiatives provided young men and women with employment training programs, mentoring, and after-school enrichment programs. The ULSC also organized grassroots gatherings and a community forum to discuss the dismal education "achievement gap" that continues to threaten all of us today.
As the newest President and CEO of the Urban League of Southern Connecticut, I am committed to following in my predecessors' footsteps and addressing the problematic social and economic issues that promote inequity; under my direction, the ULSC will seek to empower individuals of all races and ethnicities who reside throughout Southern Connecticut. At the Urban League's National Convention in July, Mark Morial-the President and CEO of the National Urban League-said (and I paraphrase), "In the 1960s, the struggle was to secure the right for us [African-Americans] to sit at the lunch counter. In the 1970s and 80s, the fight was to be able to afford what was being served at the lunch counter, and in the 90s the struggle was to be afforded the opportunity to manage the lunch counter. Today we need to focus on how to ensure that minorities have the ability to buy the lunch counter."
Significant civil-rights victories have been won in Connecticut over the last forty years, but we have not been able to provide enough opportunities for minorities to own businesses or homes. Therefore, under my tutelage, the number one priority of the Urban League of Southern Connecticut will be to increase the net worth of minorities in our community through home ownership and entrepreneurship. We must create business opportunities for minority entrepreneurs and then help them access capital. In addition, we must offer minority business owners ongoing support, so that their enterprises will flourish. The ULSC will partner with some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs in its efforts to launch successful, meaningful business-ownership initiatives. We plan to make our presence known in all of the communities that are undergoing economic redevelopment-from the South End of Stamford to the Steel Point area of Bridgeport and beyond.
While promoting entrepreneurship, the League also will encourage home ownership. Over the next few years, we will work with private developers to create additional affordable housing stock and retail space. We plan to create our own down-payment assistance pools and to provide budding entrepreneurs with seed grants; collectively, these two initiatives will enable more minority families to achieve the American dream of ownership and thereby ensure economic security for generations to come.
As you can well imagine, the comprehensive plans that I have outlined will demand intense contributions of time, talent, and treasure. I ask that you join us in efforts to lead the fight for universal economic empowerment.
Join and support the Urban League today!
Contribute your Time, your Talent, and your Treasure.
Valarie
