Welcome to the latest edition of The Quarterly!

The second quarter of 2025 has been monumental. Since our premier issue of this bulletin back in April, we have celebrated a legacy of excellence at our annual Awards & Celebration, motivated a new generation of changemakers at our Los Angeles Black High School Graduation and are dropping the news here first about a major grant. We are eager to share the impact we’ve made with you.

In this issue we are promoting our anticipated Celebrity Golf Tournament and important State of Black Los Angeles event, as a delegation of LA Urban Leaguers are preparing to head for Cleveland. We also spotlight programs open for registration. Let’s look back and a step forward, together.

No matter how you measure it our 50^th Whitney M Young Jr. Awards and Celebration will be remembered as an epic success. A pre-event reception with attendees mingling with other guests, sponsors, partners,  honorees and a red-carpet parade of dignitaries along with some outstanding cuisine! Then, the main event got underway. One headliner after another.

Most importantly, it was all for a great cause, to support our mission of helping underserved communities in Los Angeles. 700 attendees filled the Guerin Pavillion at the Skirball Cultural Center, as we honored four distinguished Angelenos with our highest awards. George Fatheree took home the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award. Nicole Harper Rawlins was honored with the Trailblazer Award, Norm Nixon received the John Mack Legacy Award and Jenifer Lewis was presented with the Visionary Award.

“When the Los Angeles Urban League called I did not hesitate to answer, because I knew I’d be in the presence of warriors tonight!” the esteemed actress Lewis told the audience in a gracious acceptance speech, which brought the crowd to its feet numerous times.

Musical performances from BeBe Winans, October London and Doug E. Fresh entertained the audience throughout the evening, interspersed between the award presentations, remarks from L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial and the keynote address from Los Angeles Urban League President and CEO Cynthia Mitchell-Heard.

“Our pursuit of excellence is not just about achieving goals. It’s about setting a new standard for what is possible when we work together,” Mitchell-Heard told the audience.

Billed as, “A Night of Unity, Justice, and Healing,” the June 11^th event has since been featured in People Magazine, OK Magazine, TooFab.com and a host of local media outlets. Hundreds of attendees took to social media platforms afterwards to celebrate the event. “Thank You LA Urban League, for The Event of the Year!” one follower added on Instagram.

We thank all our sponsors for making this night so memorable. To relive the magic of our milestone event and see more news coverage and pics click here.

So as we wind down from our big June event, we are ramping up for annual Celebrity Golf Tournament this month, held again at the picturesque Calabasas Country Club. A full day of fun July 28^th. 

Cedric the Entertainer, actor/comedian Anthony Anderson, Lakers great Byron Scott will all be on hand as usual, as will many more, swinging into action for our cause helping Angelenos from all backgrounds in underrepresented communities achieve social parity. Foursomes and individual golfers are welcome.

Sponsorship Opportunities Are Still Available
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or call 323.621.5306

Your sponsorship of events like the above, fuels our purpose within our PROGRAMS action pillars of Advocacy, Education, Entrepreneurship, Workforce Development and Recovery & Rebuild. Here’s a short list of achievements and accomplishments over the last 90 days.

• In April, the overall work of our PROGRAMS team was recognized amongst greater Los Angeles nonprofits and is now featured in a Public Service Announcement airing on KTLA TV.                                                                                           

• In May we teamed up with Tiffany Haddish and her She Ready Foundation in a landmark partnership to benefit Los Angeles County’s foster youth. Haddish, who spent time as a young girl in foster care, personally sought out the Los Angeles Urban League’s assistance, saying, “Together I know we can personally make a difference.”

• In June we held our 6th annual Black Graduation High School Celebration. In handing out ten $1000 scholarships to outstanding students headed to college and higher education, we honored the stellar achievements and future goals of Black and Brown high school graduates across L.A.

• June brought about the quarterly in-person meetup with our Intuit IDEAS L.A. cohort. During this “Sustainability Workshop,” executive coaches from Zella Life and Intuit tech suite product pros, provided expert advice and mentoring to cohort members. This session focused on innovation, technological integration and accelerated growth for the business owners who comprise the cohort. The collaboration with Intuit, part of our Entrepreneurship Center programming, helps strengthen business operational ownership skills in accounting, marketing and accessing capital.

• We wrapped the Winter-Spring Biz Institute 2025 session in May and have since launched Summer Cohorts 1 and 2. The program finishes at the end of July.

• Biz Camp 2025 cohort 1 commenced mid-June finishing July 3. Then we launched Biz Camp cohort #2 shortly afterward which will finish at the end of July.

• Our Backstage Careers program started last Friday July 11th, and it will continue for about seven weeks, preparing participants for careers in music production, video production and editing.

• Advocacy at Work: At the height of the ICE Raids and Immigration protests in Los Angeles, we issued a joint statement in conjunction with the National Urban League. The statement outlined our policy positions—standing with peaceful protestors yet condemning violence and “overreach” in quelling the protest. Read the full statement here issued by the National and Los Angeles Urban League last month.

Needless to say, we’ve been quite occupied over here at 4401 Crenshaw. Numerous more initiatives were carried out in other facets of our Programming. Read all about it here at our PROGRAMS page.

Just last week we received phenomenal news from the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity. We are the recipient of a major grant—part of the county’s High Road Training Partnerships (HRTP) program. We were one of just 19 organizations countywide to receive an HRTP grant. We will utilize the funding to train and prepare individuals for careers in technology, film, digital media, childcare and hospitality. The grant will also fund our efforts to dismantle barriers across these industries, creating equitable participation.

(FROM L-R:) BOARD MEMBERS ELLIOT HINDS, MONIQUE EARL, CHAIR KEITH DRAKE, NOEL MASSIE, LAUL CEO & PRES. CYNTHIA MITCHELL-HEARD, BOARD MEMBERS RAPHAEL HENDERSON AND DAVID FORD. PHOTO TAKEN JUNE 18TH IN LOS ANGELES.

Please join us in welcoming Keith Drake to his new role as chairman for the Los Angeles Urban League Board of Directors, succeeding outgoing chair Elliot Hinds. Drake had served as Vice Chair to Hinds for several years, who we thank for his outstanding service, as he stays on the board. Janene Drafs, KTLA VP and General Manager has been appointed as the board’s new Vice Chair. Welcome Janene!

We also welcome four new board members who’ve been installed; Monique Earl from Accenture, David Ford with Southern California Edison, Lenny McNeil of U.S. Bank and Greg Plummer at Concord Collective. The new board appointments were ratified at our June Board of Directors meeting.

Applications are now closed and we are currently in the committee approval phase. If you applied for one of these grants you will receive a direct response regarding the status of your application. For anyone not awarded in this initial round, please know that your application will remain under active consideration for future disbursements.

National Urban League Annual Conference 2025 Coming Up in Cleveland

Our annual conference is just around the corner, getting underway on July 16th.

Four full days of workshops, advocacy and strategizing as the nation’s most impactful civil rights organization addresses critical issues and advances initiatives impacting our country. Leaders from the Urban League’s network of 92 affiliates will convene in Cleveland this year. This year’s conference promises to be the largest and most influential gathering in the nation of policymakers and visionaries focused on civil rights and urban advocacy.

Your Los Angeles Urban League team will be well represented in Cleveland. Several staff, board, Guild members, Young Professionals and a select group of LA area students will be there, as we galvanize our mission, and exchange ideas with the top business, government, and social advocacy leaders. More than 10,000 people are expected to converge on Cleveland for this pivotal platform of civil rights leaders and the ongoing pursuit of justice.

Mark your calendars now for October 16^th.  Our annual one-day symposium of insightful panel discussions, reports, advocacy and promising solutions. Open to the public, it’ll be a gathering of our area’s most respected leaders, regarding housing, health access, economic autonomy and immigration. The University of Southern California, in the Town and Gown Ballroom on campus, will host our event. We hope you can make it. Until then everyone, enjoy your summer.

July 28, 2025

Los Angeles Urban League Celebrity Golf Classic at Calabasas Country Club
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October 16, 2025
State of Black Los Angeles 2025 at USC Town and Gown Ballroom