The National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP), is a National Urban League volunteer, member, auxiliary that targets professionals ages 21–40 to empower their communities and change lives through the Urban League Movement. Its current President is Carlos Clanton.
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History
In the late 1980s, 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, between the ages of 20-40, were invited to participate in and take an active leadership role in their local Affiliate Urban League programs and activities.
These auxiliary groups actively supported the Urban League movement by educating other young professionals about the movement, recruiting new members, volunteering, sponsoring educational initiatives like youth mentoring and tutoring programs, coordinating fundraisers for scholarships, and delivering personal and professional development and networking opportunities to young professionals in their local communities.
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. 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 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. Under the direction of Annelle Lewis, Senior Vice President of Affiliate Development and Programs, the working group again convened in New York in September 1998.
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. The leadership team met on regularly to refine the structure of the organization as well as to develop its first draft of by-laws. Soon thereafter, a special election was held to fill the open positions on the newly established NULYP executive board.
Current status
Today, there are over 62 chapters and 5,500 members supporting Urban League affiliate offices located in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
In October 2014, the National Urban League Young Professionals announced a partnership with the Alabama Power Foundation to present the “LEAD [YP]” Conference, January 15–18, 2015 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center in Birmingham, Alabama. It was designed to equip today’s diverse Millennials and Gen-Xers from across the nation with training and tools to be leaders in their communities.
Presidents
The Presidents of the National Urban League Young Professionals have been: