The Indianapolis Urban League offers services and programs under the five pillars of empowerment strategy.
Established in 1910, the Urban League is the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African-Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. Today, the National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the non-partisan efforts of 90 affiliates in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Combined, the National Urban League and its affiliates provide direct services to more than two million people around the country through programs, advocacy and research.
The Indianapolis Urban League (IUL) was founded in 1965 as a non-profit, non-partisan, interracial community-based social service/civil rights organization. From its earliest beginnings, the Indianapolis Urban League has provided job counseling, referrals and advocacy for equal employment opportunities for minorities, information and referrals to other social services, housing counseling, and dissemination of information regarding the special concerns of our community. IUL has been a leading “Bridge Builder” for improved race relations.
The Mission
The Indianapolis Urban League’s mission is to assist African-Americans, other minorities and disadvantaged individuals to achieve social and economic empowerment. The Indianapolis Urban League offers services and programs under the National Urban League’s five pillars of empowerment strategy tailored to local needs to implement the mission of our movement. These pillars are Education and Youth Empowerment, Economic Empowerment, Health and Quality of Life Empowerment, Civic Engagement and Leadership Empowerment.
Annually, we serve more than 15,000 individuals living in greater Indianapolis and the surrounding counties through our signature programs of Project Ready and Project Ready Mentor, as well as Project Ready STEM (Education); Workforce Development programs serving individuals ages 18 to 65-plus (Economic Empowerment); Health, awareness, education and testing (Health); voter registration, advocacy and serving as a convening body on pressing local issues (Civic Engagement); and development of young professionals to serve and lead in local nonprofits (Leadership Empowerment).
What Would You Do with $5,000 and a Day of Service
The IUL will support A Day of Service for literacy awareness offing a mobile extension of our Read & Rise program. Parent(s) receive knowledge to take control of their child’s early development in literacy and education. Also, children receive books and take part in story time as volunteers read and select stories to share.