November 2007

Message from the President & CEO………..

Welcome to the new website of the Knoxville Area Urban League.

As you browse through these pages, we have tried to provide you with an overview of who we are, what we do, who is impacted by our work, and how you can join us.

Marc Morial, President & CEO of the National Urban League stated, “Hurricane Katrina underscored the critical need for this nation to focus its attention on the persistent issues of race, poverty and economic gap between Americans.  Economic empowerment must be the civil rights agenda for the 21st century and the National Urban League Movement’s programs, advocacy and research will lead the way.”

The Economic Empowerment agenda reaches out to people of all ages and financial levels, helping them better their current situation and build for the future. While personal goals can often seem out of reach - whether it's getting a good job, buying a house, starting a business or being financially secure – the Urban League can lay out the steps to help make these goals a reality.

In 2007, The Knoxville Area Urban League will more closely align our program strategies with the NUL’s Economic Empowerment Agenda which focuses in the main areas of Jobs and Job Training, Home Ownership and Affordable Housing, Financial Literacy, Technology Training, and Entrepreneurial Growth and Opportunity.

KAUL’s programs and services will help our constituents prepare for and find jobs, develop financial skills and launch and grow businesses.  We will increase homeownership, work to improve the education system and the academic performance of our children.

KAUL works to improve educational opportunity for African-American students through scholarships, academic achievement initiatives, early childhood literacy programs, mentoring opportunities and youth leadership development.  Our goal is to equip our children for competition with the best and the brightest in the nation and the world. It is also to close the persistent achievement gap that continues to separate African-American and Latino students from Asian and white students.

So at the Urban League, we will focus on income and equality and poverty.  We will focus anew on trying to close the wealth gap. We will focus on economic empowerment, economic justice, economic bridge building, and economic opportunity.

As we begin our 39th year of service, our greatest accomplishments have yet to be realized.   It is not about the things we have done, but about the tremendous opportunities that lie before us as an organization, a board of directors, a group of gifted, dedicated employees, and you – the community, working together to “Empower all of this community and change lives.”    Won’t you join us?

Sincerely,

Phyllis Y. Nichols

President & CEO

Spring 2007

Summer 2007