Applying for a job or for school, doing homework or making sure you’re counted in the upcoming census is difficult, if not impossible, with no internet access.

And in low-income neighborhoods, only 40% of residents have reliable internet access.

“The black and brown communities, low-income communities, have historically not been able to enjoy the internet and all the opportunities it provides,” said Henry M. Thomas III, President and CEO of the Urban League Springfield (Springfield, MA). 

The Urban League hosted a ceremonial ribbon cutting Tuesday for its Digital Learning Lab, which features 28 computers, a podcast studio and a smartboard-equipped classroom. It’s in the Springfield Technology Park at the corner of State and Federal streets. The $95,000 center is in the same building as the Urban League’s offices.

Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio or ULGSO (Cincinnati, OH) is hosting its 71st luncheon, where it will pay tribute to the community changemakers in Cincinnati.

ULGSO calls them lions.

in Anderson, Rev. Donald Jones, Susan Noonan and Kathy Wade are the 2020 honorees.

Newly hired ULGSO President and CEO Eddie Koen said giving well-deserved recognition to community change agents and working to provide new training and programming is important.

"It is special because years ago we started to honor lions in our community, folks who have gone out of their way to advocate and to make Cincinnati a better place," Koen said. "It's always important to honor people before they are gone, you know, we praise folks when they leave this Earth, but we really want to make sure that we're saying thank you and that we appreciate them while they are still here."

Koen said ULGSO is getting ready to step into a new era.

The Louisville Urban League (Louisville, KY) is working to address a shortage of drivers for Tarc's para-transit service.

Tarc-3 is a service for riders with physical and intellectual disabilities. MV transportation took over its operations at the beginning of the month, but some drivers went on strike over changes in how they are paid.

Due to the strike some people could not get rides.

The hiring fair took place on Friday (Feb. 7th) at the Urban League's office on West Broadway. Applicants must be 21-years-old, complete a physical and pass a criminal background check.

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Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League
 

On January 8, 2011, I was performing my favorite duty as a Congresswoman—meeting with my constituents—when it happened. In a matter of seconds, a gunman shot and killed six people, injured 12 others, and shot me in the head outside a Safeway in Tucson, Arizona. I keep the memories of those we lost that day—nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, Gabe Zimmerman, and Judge John Roll—close to my heart. And I will be forever bonded to my fellow survivors who will spend the rest of their lives dealing with injuries and trauma. – Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

Sometimes, Cleopatra Pendleton walks to her closet and runs her hands through a sequined yellow dress. It was the dress her daughter Hadiya wore to her eighth-grade graduation luncheon.

We gather today in the year of the 155th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, the 100th anniversary of women suffer age and the 65th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. It’s also a moment where contempt for those victories permeates the body politic in too many corners of this very powerful city.

In August of 2016, Donald Trump stood before an overwhelmingly white crowd at a campaign rally in suburban Michigan and implored Black voters to support him, asking “What the hell do you have to lose?”

Shortly after his inauguration, he wasted no time in showing us what we had lost.

Voters struggling to get to the polls can look to Lyft.

On Friday, the ride share service announced that it would be expanding its free and discounted ride program throughout the primary calendar and general election. Part of the company's LyftUp initiative — a charitable effort that helps in-need riders of all kinds — the Voting Access Program will start with the Iowa caucus on Monday. 

MIT has selected four nonprofits that serve survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation to receive gifts totaling $850,000. This is the amount that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein donated to the Institute between 2002 and 2017, as determined by a recently completed review.