Urban League ends 20-year hiatus in state

Aid organization to have LR base, Springdale arm

Sherman Tate, board chairman for the Urban League of Arkansas, speaks at the Willie L. Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center in Little Rock at a ceremony Friday to mark the renewal of the organization. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is at center.
Sherman Tate, board chairman for the Urban League of Arkansas, speaks at the Willie L. Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center in Little Rock at a ceremony Friday to mark the renewal of the organization. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is at center.

The Urban League of Arkansas ended its 20-year absence in the state Friday morning with the snip of a gold-and-white ribbon by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Closed by the National Urban League in June 1995 because of a lack of funding, the statewide league was reinstated during a ceremony at the Willie L. Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center in Little Rock.

The league will be based at the center but also will operate a satellite office in Springdale. The league will cover all of Arkansas.

The state league’s mission is obtaining and advancing equal opportunities for underserved residents, with a primary focus on health and wellness, education, economic development and housing, said Sherman Tate, chairman of the league’s board of directors.

“Arkansas, from a socioeconomic standpoint, continues to be a state that has an increasing number of underserved people — black, white and Hispanic,” Tate said. “We don’t live in a microcosm, and social issues are not just limited to any one particular demographic. We try to address human needs. That’s what the league has always been about. We are nonpartisan. We work both sides of the aisle.”

The Urban League of Arkansas began in 1937 as the Urban League of Greater Little Rock.

Before the 1995 closure of the local chapter, a series of Arkansas Democrat articles in the late 1980s focused on allegations of mismanaged funds in some of the league’s programs. After more than a year of investigations by the U.S. attorney’s office, federal officials said in August 1989 that they found no evidence of criminal intent.

On Friday, Hutchinson welcomed the Urban League of Arkansas “back home,” before wielding oversized scissors borrowed from the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The governor said the league’s voice is needed as the state focuses on initiatives such as job creation, job-skill training, prison crowding and education challenges.

“The historic voice of the Urban League nationally for equal opportunity, for justice, for affordable housing — these are voices that need to be heard in the governor’s office,” he said. “These are voices that need to be heard in the Legislature.

“We want to make sure your voice is in the mix; your voice is heard.”

While Friday’s ceremony marked the official return of the Urban League of Arkansas, the league doesn’t have an executive director or staff members.

Tate said the 15-member board of the state chapter is putting together a list of candidates for the executive director position. He envisions a staff of three or four in Little Rock, with two more staff members working in the Springdale office.

The rebirth of the state league began more than four years ago, Tate said.

Fundraising for the league continues, but Tate said the organization has started a dialogue with other organizations to assist underserved Arkansas residents.

“We don’t do anything with the notion that we have all of the answers,” Tate said. “We will — as we always have — speak to and speak with community leaders, both formal and informal. We want to know what the community thinks and what the community has identified as its primary needs.”

Partnering with a coalition of physicians and dentists to offer regional health fairs is an example Tate used when discussing possible collaborative efforts.

Working with superintendents, school districts and other organizations to improve educational opportunities is another area of focus for the league, Tate said.

“This cooperative opportunity will help us to move closer to that more perfect union that we started a long time ago,” civic activist Annie Abrams said.

The National Urban League was founded in 1910 and oversees 95 affiliates serving 300 communities in 35 states and in Washington, D.C.

Tate called the National Urban League a “vehicle of service.”

“The Urban League of Arkansas will continue that tradition,” he said.

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