Greater Stark County Urban League Celebrates 100 years as Community Resource

The Greater Stark County Urban League (Canton, OH) originated 100 years ago as a group seeking to eliminate racial segregation and discrimination and achieve parity for minorities.

"It really doesn't vary much from the mission of today, which is to enable African Americans and other underserved individuals to reach full economic, social and health parity to enrich that individual's life and the lives of the individual's families," President and CEO Diane Robinson said. 

She began leading the organization in 2018 and recently reflected on its history. Although different initiatives have come and gone based on community needs, the five foundational pillars — workforce, housing, health, education and social justice — continue to be top priorities. 

"They are consistently the challenges that we have in the community," Robinson said from the league's office at the Edward "Peel" Coleman Community Center.

The Greater Stark County Urban League began in 1921 as the Canton Urban League, an affiliate of the National Urban League. It changed its name to reflect an expanded coverage area in 2006. 

"The Great Migration north created a need that the people had and that need was to improve health conditions by distribution of literature, health instruction and making known the medical agencies of the city and assisting and preventing the spread of contagious disease," Robinson said, drawing parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We did the same thing."

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