Urban League President: 'Our Economy and Society Must Work for Everyone.'

Written By: Stephanie Hightower

President & CEO, Columbus Urban League

From overwhelming appreciation through the Great Resignation, 2021 stands out as a year of contrasts, unfinished business, and, thankfully, tempered hopefulness.

Juxtapose this reality.

Thousands of our neighbors struggled to keep their homes. During fiscal year 2021, Columbus Urban League (Columbus, OH) alone fielded approximately 15,000 thousand calls from people on the edge of eviction or foreclosure.

It’s not over.

We may long for closure, but we can’t yet consign our masks to the sock drawer or circumscribe racism to a finished Wikipedia entry on U.S. history. Omicron is ripping through our ICUs and ERs, filling our hospital beds and exacerbating a health care worker shortage and burnout crisis.

Greater attention to and respect for diversity, equity and inclusion echoed through C-suites and boardrooms more than ever before. But we have yet to transcend the misguided view that diversity equals inferiority.

Thankfully, light does seep through the gaps in our blind spots.

Google reports that more people in 2021 searched for how to start a business than how to find a new job. We’re delighted to witness and support this trend. Columbus Urban League worked with 7,100 Black and women-owned businesses this past year, businesses that not only survived the economic turmoil, but are learning to thrive as well.  

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