Primary tabs
The National Urban League Wire
Published: Wed. Dec 31, 1969 at 7:00 pm | Updated: Sat. Mar 15, 2014 at 5:18 pm | Comments: 0
Working with partners like Allstate, the National Urban League helps young people at risk enter and succeed in the workforce.
Life was a daily struggle for Owen Williams, 24, a high school dropout who lost his job at Wal-Mart two years ago. The single father from West Palm Beach, Fla., urgently needed to find a way to support his two boys, now three and four.He got a chance at a fresh start after spotting a newspaper ad from the National Urban League (NUL) for its Urban Youth Empowerment Program, which helps at-risk young people enter the workforce. Once he signed up, the Urban League of Palm Beach County helped him prepare for and pass the General Educational Development (GED) tests that enabled him to get a high-school equivalency certificate. In January, Williams started culinary school to become a chef. “I’m trying to turn my life around,” he says.
As the nation marks the 50th anniversaries of the War on Poverty and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of1964—which bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origins—the NUL’s 2013 State of Black America report points to many signs of progress. Among them, black graduation rates from high school and college have climbed, while the rate of African Americans living in poverty has declined. Creating Jobs and Fighting Unemployment.
