As we move one step closer to normal there are still a large number of local businesses fighting to survive and ensure they're open on the other side of the pandemic. The Columbus Urban League (Columbus, OH) is stepping up to help. The Urban League is launching a major initiative aimed at providing support.

The past year has been a battle for a number of minority-owned businesses across Central Ohio. From state restrictions to business closures, many have had to use a bit of creativity to remain open. There is now renewed hope and help coming from the Columbus Urban League. 

The Columbus Urban League is kick-starting a major push to lend a hand through the organization's minority business assistance center. 

Wells Fargo today announced the Banking Inclusion Initiative, a 10-year commitment to help unbanked individuals gain access to affordable, mainstream, digitally-enabled transactional accounts

As a result the abridged 2021 Census Count that took place during the Covid pandemic, Georgia will not be allocated additional congressional seats for the first time nearly 40 years, and political power could likely shift in certain counties when the Georgia Legislature begins redistricting and gerrymandering this year.

The Urban League of Greater Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) is hosting a series of Virtual one-hour Town Hall meetings starting promptly at 6 p.m. The cities include Atlanta (May 20th), Savannah (June 10th), Augusta (July 14th), Columbus (August 12th) and Macon (Sept. 9th) to discuss the impact a political power shift could have on our everyday lives and how each citizen can get engaged to influence these processes.

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

"The lie of massive, rampant voter fraud is serving the same function today as it did during the rise of Jim Crow. It stokes fear in a segment of the population that democracy is in peril, and thus provides cover for laws that target Black voters with race-neutral language in the 21st century." -- Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Meet Jimmy Crow.

You may remember Jimmy’s grandfather, Jim Crow. Jim sometimes wore a hood and a robe, and sometimes a sheriff’s badge. He administered incomprehensible “literacy tests” to Black citizens trying to register to vote. He clubbed John Lewis nearly to death on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The n-word flowed freely from Jim’s lips.

NEW YORK (May 12, 2021) -- The National Urban League today announced it is working to promote consumer awareness about the Emergency Broadband Benefit

The Markle Foundation's Rework America Alliance, a unique coalition of civil rights groups, nonprofits, private sector employers, labor unions and educators, today announced the first regions in which it will partner with local community-based organizations to deploy resources to help job seekers connect to good jobs.

The Alliance is opening opportunities for millions of unemployed and low wage workers to move into good jobs, particularly for people of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the current economic crisis, and those who have built capabilities through experience but do not have a bachelor's degree.

The initial regions and organizations that will lead efforts locally are:

More than a decade after he first interned with Mercy Health, Jordan Brown is on track to become a doctor.

Brown, a 2010 graduate of Admiral King High School in Lorain, is the first intern from an Urban League-Mercy Health partnership to receive a medical doctorate degree. He graduated this weekend from Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and is set to start his residency at a hospital in East Liverpool.

None of it would be possible without the Rising Star intern program, he said.

The program, an initiative between the Lorain County Urban League (Elyria, OH) and Mercy Health Lorain invites area high school students to work at the hospital, shadowing doctors and nurses, as well as administrative, food services, finance and marketing staff, said Catherine Woskobnick, director of community health at Mercy Health Lorain.

The Broome County Urban League (Binghamton, NY) has partnered with the NYS Department of Labor to provide a new workforce initiative. This platform will provide job training and apprenticeship opportunities that specifically identify job categories linked to the Southern Tier’s
strategies. 

They include healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, customer service, retail, technology, plumbing, heating, and carpentry. Our trainings allow individuals to achieve the necessary skills to gain
and retain employment.

This program is also working with local attorneys to assist individuals that have past infractions to be sealed or expunged so they can become gainfully employed, support themselves and their families and contribute our community.

To read the full article, click here.