A time for nonprofits: focus on Atlanta’s Urban League

Wearing a Santa Claus hat, a judge stood erect in a metro Atlanta courtroom filled to capacity with defendants of color. “I’m not a bad guy because I may evict you from your home before Christmas," he said. "It’s neither my fault nor your landlady’s who is not in the business of running a charity. You have no excuse for not paying rent just because your baby got sick, you got fired, or your husband ran out on you.

“Most of you couldn’t afford an apartment in the first place but signed a lease for $700 instead of renting a room for $300 a month. Unless there’s an accounting error, you’ll have to move out.” With that, the judge called the 2008 court to order, a judicial vista mocking the poor and making a case for nonprofit organizations.

Atlanta Urban League across from Hurt Park
Fast forward to Summer 2010. Soulful, tenor sounds emanate from Hurt Park. The temperature is 95 degrees, and there is little shade. Wilson Pickett’s “In the midnight hour” is sung by a 60 year old, Vietnam-era, combat vet who calls himself Richard the Guitar Man, just evicted from his home last week.

“I get a small check which is not enough to make ends meet, so I let my house go,” said Richard who escapes being arrested for panhandling in “Hotlanta”, once described as a city too busy to hate. “I’m here trying to pick up change for cigarettes.

“Folks lock their car doors when they see me asking for help. Most of us are harmless and just need a place to stay until dark. We need more than an occasional free sandwich and God talk,” Richard said.

“Elderly women with two plastic bags filled with all their worldly possessions fear being taken in on vagrancy charges,” Richard exclaimed. Drifters sway to the beat of Richard’s melody which floats across the pavement to the portal of 100 Edgewood Avenue, the United Way Building, which houses the Atlanta Urban League on the 6th floor.

Asked about seeking help from the League, Richard responded, “They’re only helping people that really don’t need the help they’re offering. They don’t give a damn about us,” Richard said.

Nancy Flake-Johnson, President and CEO of the Atlanta Urban League, believes it’s the Age for nonprofits. She earns $140k annually. “There’s a lot of work to do, and we’re in the right business at the right time,” Flake-Johnson said.

Eliminating racial discrimination and enhancing economic opportunities for African-Americans spur Urban League programs. Founded in 1910, the national headquarters in New York City focuses on parity, power, and civil rights and publishes papers on issues facing African-Americans.

Flake-Johnson’s positive energy is like an effervescent drug. During our interview, Flake-Johnson was told about Richard’s comments. She responded by going to the park to see how she could help. By the time she crossed the street, Richard had moved to another venue.

“In this tough economy, people come to us because they are out of work or in jeopardy of losing their homes, much like the gentleman you met in the park today,” Flake-Johnson said. Flake-Johnson distributed her card to remnants lingering there. “We have plenty of customers, but not enough funds to support all our programs,” said her assistant who deals with former prisoners seeking work.

Is the Urban League able to meet this challenge? How does what the UL accomplished in the 1950s differ from what it’s doing now?

“I can’t say …so much has changed,” said Dr. Touré Reed, associate History professor at Illinois State and author of “Not Alms but Opportunity: The Urban League and the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950”.

“To my thinking, all civil rights groups should lobby Congress for work relief programs and good jobs that pay well. Supplying job training to the unemployed and helping high school students get GEDs are not sufficient,” Reed said.

According to the Georgia State Ethics Commission, the Atlanta Urban League is not a registered lobbyist. Neither are Georgia chapters of the NAACP or SCLC.

Reed said the Urban League faces more than a bad economy but also a resurgence of the Eugenics Movement. “The economic problems Americans face cannot be solved by volunteerism or the outsourcing of social services,” Reed concluded.

The League must also battle against its bourgeoisie, assimilation image and refrain from making it appear blacks are financially frivolous, uneducated consumers who must be retrained to get jobs.

“If it takes years of job training to become marketable, that’s disastrous for individuals and families,” Reed said. “The deck is so stacked and stakes are so high, and there’s not enough money, so some kind of triage has to be implemented,” Reed said.

In his 1971 book “Blaming the Victim”, William Ryan wrote, “The primary cause of social problems is powerlessness. The cure for powerlessness is power. Power must be redistributed. That redistribution will then permit the redistribution of income.”

“It’s about getting people more engaged and realizing they have the power within to take control of their destinies,” Flake-Johnson concluded. She’s focused on the future and will be using technology to help clients, including online webinars and virtual resumes.

“My vision is that our city, our whole community, our nation – we’re all going to live a better quality of life if the opportunities for a quality life are open to all. Society pays the price when individuals don’t perceive they have options. It’s all in our vested interests, and education is the key.”

Follow the Urban League of Greater Atlanta on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Urban-League-of-Northwest-Indiana-INC/113211388700415#!/group.php?gid=68614914840

These interviews were conducted in August 2010. ©2011 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.