It’s a celebration! Kick off Women’s History Month with us on Monday for a special announcement honoring women of power. | Congress has no excuse. The current culture of law enforcement MUST be altered. Here’s why it’s imperative to hold officers accountable. | We need relief NOW. Black families + businesses need paycheck protection, $1400 stimulus checks + much more. Here ’s what you can do to help. | We are Black history! Marc Morial sits down with former National Urban League President, Hugh Price. Tune in. | Black businesses, this one is for you! We have partnered with Vice Media Group to launch an initiative dedicated to supporting YOU. Learn more.

Despite daunting statistics and decades upon decades of struggles, Teddy McDaniel sees cause for optimism in his nonprofit’s continuing campaign for economic empowerment for Black people and other underserved minority groups.

McDaniel is President and CEO of the Urban League of Central Carolinas (Charlotte, NC). The local organization is one of 90 affiliates of the National Urban League, headquartered in New York. Charlotte’s branch opened in 1978.

As for those statistics: Unemployment remains significantly higher across the board for Black and Hispanic people, before and during the pandemic. According to federal labor statistics, in 2020 unemployment among white residents in North Carolina was 6.4%. It was 8.6% for Hispanic residents and 9.6% among Black residents.

Candy Johnson grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Clarksville, Tennessee, where she thought she would always live and one day become mayor.

By age 25, Johnson was elected to the Clarksville City Council in 2008 as the youngest council member ever elected in the city after working as a City Hall intern while at Austin Peay State University and defending her hometown neighborhood from attempts to take over what the city deemed a "blighted neighborhood" by eminent domain.

"I learned a lot about advocacy, activism and the fight to preserve neighborhoods that were gentrified and how you could grow together," she said.

Those traits remain with Candy Johnson in her new role as President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN).