The Formative Years
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, several Urban League affiliates recognized the need to prepare a new generation of young leaders to take the mantle of leadership of the civil rights movement. Young African American men and women in their 20’s and 30’s were invited to participate in and take an active leadership role in their local Affiliate Urban League programs and activities.
These new professional auxiliary groups began to operate as programs of affiliates in:
- Detroit, MI (“The Blue Monday Network”)
- Chicago, IL (“The Metropolitan Board”)
- Philadelphia, PA (“Philadelphia Urban League Young Professionals”)
- Washington, DC (“The Thursday Network”).
These auxiliary groups actively supported the Urban League movement by educating other young professionals about the movement, recruiting new members, furnishing young volunteers, sponsoring educational initiatives like youth mentoring and tutoring programs, coordinating fund-raisers for scholarships and for the financial support of the affiliate, and networking opportunities to young professionals in their local communities.
The “Meeting”
As these auxiliaries began to grow, the Affiliate leadership took note of their success and began to ponder the power of a national movement of young professionals across the country. Simultaneously, Hugh Price, then President and CEO of the National Urban League, realized the need to make this potential national movement into a reality. He held a historic “Young Professionals Dialog Session” with over 200 young professionals in the New York area in April of 1998. This dialog session, in addition to a white paper submitted by Marcus Mitchell, ignited the spark that led to the formation of a working group, tasked with establishing the framework and foundation for the National Urban League Young Professionals.
They met on several occasions throughout the year to develop the foundation and structure for the implementation of the organization.
The Announcement-NULYP
The National Urban League Young Professionals(NULYP) was unveiled at the 1999 National Urban League Annual Conference in Houston, TX. Marcus Mitchell assumed the role of President and under his leadership the organization began to define itself and to carve out its role in the National Urban League movement.