Donate

Urban League Convenes Special 2-Day Summit on the Future Rebuild of Altadena

Feb 21, 2025

National Urban League President & CEO Marc Morial, alongside Cynthia Mitchell-Heard, LA Urban League President & CEO, speaks to reporters in Altadena on Feb 21, 2025

[Los Angeles, February 21, 2025: URBAN LEAGUE NEWSWIRE]–“My purpose in being here is to learn so we can leverage how the Urban League movement can be a constructive force to the rebuilding that will take place.”

And with that opening remark from National Urban League CEO & President Mark Morial seated alongside Cynthia Mitchell-Heard, who carries the same title at Morial’s top affiliate in Los Angeles, the Urban League kicked off a whirlwind series of meetings and an on-site survey of the Altadena/Pasadena burned areas, to discuss what happens next. The Los Angeles Urban League has invested a considerable amount of its work since January 7th, in ensuring equitable and timely relief assistance comes to the historically Black communities in Altadena and the surrounding communities. The efforts have shifted now from an immediate RESPONSE mode–to the future REBUILD, which given Morial’s mission and experience, brought him to Southern California

Over the past two days, February 20-21, the Urban League has convened with elected officials, emergency assistance organizations, responders, business leaders, banking institutions and clergy. National, state and local officials were all part of the hand-picked delegation Morial and Mitchell-Heard met with, including a private meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass, all over the course of last 48 hours.

“We are committed to the long-term future of this area and what we learn in the next 48 hours will help us properly advocate for this community,” said Cynthia Mitchell-Heard, LAUL CEO & President.

Morial, a former New Orleans Mayor, has been the Urban League’s top man since 2003. Two years after taking helm of the League, Hurricane Katrina ripped through his hometown New Orleans, killing more than 1400 people and destroying 200,000 homes of his former constituents. Furthermore, he’s surveyed global disasters, so he’s no stranger to devastation.

A two-hour bus tour through the ruins of Altadena, seated alongside survivors of the Eaton fire, helped put it all into perspective for Morial, who saw first-hand the unforgiving assault of a California wildfire.

“Unbelievable, just unbelievable,” Morial said as he peered through the bus window shaking his head.

After the bus tour completed Morial, Mitchell-Heard along with other Urban League staff and board members, shuttled to the Pasadena Westin Hotel. There they met with top brass from JP Morgan Chase, Torrey Pines Bank, City National Bank, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, Comerica Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America and Lendistry.

“I’m here because it’s incumbent upon all of us to channel our resources in the best interests of the rebuild to this area,” said Keith Drake, Senior Vice President at Torrey Pines Bank. Drake is also Vice Chair of the LAUL Board of Directors, who personally lost a home in the Eaton Fire.

The Urban League will take everything it learned, combined with other reports and surveys, to formulate a long-term operational plan for rebuilding Altadena better than it once was. Morial expressed optimism at the completion of his visit that the ‘Dena will come back to life becoming economically viable again, returning to the bustling communities they once were.

Here below is a roundup of some of the additional press coverage generated by our 2-day special summit on the future of Altadena.