Knoxville Area Urban League CEO Reflects on Tenure

KNOXVILLE – As Phyllis Nichols, the retiring President and CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League (Knoxville, TN) thinks back on her years at the Urban League, she is reluctant to speak about herself.

In a recent interview, Nichols was asked how she felt about her legacy at the Urban League, which is a term she doesn’t much like to think about.

“I don’t think about legacy,” she said.

An advocate for equity in schools, Nichols was passionate about the ways to better close the academic achievement gap.

“We have to look at reasons or causes, or maybe we have to look at some root causes as to why we keep struggling with our historically underserved or why we’re not able to move the needle in some of our schools. I think that Knox County hgas to recognize why we’re the third-largest public school district in the state of Tennessee, and we struggle with accepting that we need to have an equity policy.”

Even though she is retiring, she still holds a passion and a belief in the work of the Urban League.

“(I hope) the next visionary leader can keep moving higher with the Urban League and make additional partnerships when needed and that people will continue to invest in the work of their Urban League because they can see the impact of what we do.”

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