One year ago, Eddie Koen came to Cincinnati to lead the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio (ULGSO). In his first year as President and CEO of the local nonprofit, he’s connected with hundreds of community members and dozens of partners to expand ULGSO’s offerings and impact on the community.
The ULGSO focuses on two primary “buckets” of work: financial empowerment, including workforce development, and community leadership.
“We believe that social justice and financial empowerment go hand-in-hand. It could be an incredible accelerant to social change and policy change,” said Koen. “Economics and building wealth and income—and really a middle-class that has a conscious—is very important to the work we do.”
Expanding workforce development
The ULGSO has always had robust workforce development programs, called Employment Connections, but in the past year, it has significantly expanded its offerings to reach additional members of the community. Many of the ULGSO’s original efforts targeted individuals who were underserved, underemployed or unemployed to provide emergency and basic needs services. While that’s still an important part of its work, ULGSO realized there were opportunities to help those who were gainfully employed, but still need support to move to the next level or to make a career shift, like becoming an entrepreneur.
“We think we need to hit three areas on that continuum. So, that's entrepreneurs and business owners, those in that middle market who are not served, and then those who are trying to stabilize and struggling as well.”
Part of ULGSO’s shift in thinking was the realization that the job market is changing. Due to technology, automation and disruption in all sectors, many jobs that exist today won’t exist several years into the future, and new jobs—requiring new skill sets—are being created every day. According to McKinsey & Company, African Americans have a potential job displacement rate of 23.1% by 2030.
Now, the ULGSO is leveraging new technology and partnerships to employ people in growing job sectors. The ULGSO is a member of Pathways to Careers in Construction and Innovation, a group of workforce development organizations throughout the city focused on job training and placement for current opportunities, such as construction, through future opportunities in technology, innovation and more. Additionally, ULGSO is utilizing a smartphone app called JobStack to connect individuals with immediate job opportunities locally.
ULGSO also continues to partner with organizations throughout the city, including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. ULGSO’s Career Insights program trains community members for specific skills and knowledge required to work at Cincinnati Children’s, and the ULGSO is expanding that program to other hospitals as well. In addition, the ULGSO assists Cincinnati Children’s with STEM recruitment.
Koen is also a member of a new coalition called CEOs for Social Justice with leadership from Talbert House, the Community Action Agency, Cincinnati Works, Easterseals, Home and the YMCA. The organization received funding from Hamilton County to streamline the job searching process.
“How do we make finding work easy for people right now? They're dealing with so much during this pandemic. We’re dealing with people who have kids that are trying to school from home. How do we make navigating this space easier?” said Koen. “That's part of inequity—it's navigating and finding a way to access services. We're essentially creating one focus point where people can come and then we will give them the organizations that they can reach out to.”
Supporting African American-owned businesses
Programs aren’t limited to individual community members—ULGSO is also focusing on supporting African American-owned businesses. The nonprofit partnered with Goldman Sachs to distribute PPP loans for COVID-19 pandemic relief through ULGSO’s Business Development & Entrepreneurship Center, which services 1,600 businesses a year, according to Koen.
In addition, ULGSO partnered with the City of Cincinnati to launch a Resilience Fund for African American-owned businesses hard hit by the ongoing pandemic. The fund should be up and running in October.
“We're really looking to lean into this space, partnering with the good work that the African American Chamber is doing, that MORTAR is doing, that the Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative is doing,” said Koen. “We got a wakeup call around the need for organizations to focus on our businesses during the COID-19 pandemic.”
Investing in Uptown
ULGSO works with communities throughout Greater Cincinnati, but the nonprofit is headquartered in Avondale, so it has extra ties to the Uptown neighborhoods. ULGSO is opening a Center for Social Justice in the Avondale Town Center to address systemic racism through advocacy and policy reform while also providing a hub for community members and organizations.
“Community members will be able to access the space for workforce development and digital literacy, and utilize those skills to find employment, community resources and healthcare options with our equipment. Additionally, we look to partner with Avondale Community Council, Avondale Youth Council and other local groups to really engage the community in addressing neighborhood issues that fall under the banner of social justice, like housing, transportation and safety,” said Koen. “The Center will really be an inspirational gathering place and a civic hub. This project will further the work of ULGSO and Avondale community organizations by offering state-of-the-art technology, collaborative spaces and programs that really gets to the heart of social determinants of health.”
ULGSO is also working with community partners to bring a market offering fresh foods to the Avondale Town Center.
“You have the Avondale Community Council, the Center for Social Justice, which will serve everything from youth to businesses. You have an open market. You have the NAACP across the street and the ULGSO home office right next to it. It can really be a powerfully empowering place in Avondale,” said Koen. “When we look back 10 years from now, I think we will be very proud of what we did, especially with everything that is going on socially in this country and the needs to create spaces that are run and organized by people in the community and by people who look like the community.”
For more information about the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, visit www.ulgso.org.