Photos: Facebook
On Wednesday, November 12, leaders from across the nation will gather in Harlem for the grand opening and dedication of the Urban League Empowerment Center, a $242 million, 414,000-square-foot model for equitable development and community self-determination.
What began as a vision of National Urban League President and CEO, Marc H. Morial, the Empowerment Center is not just a building; it is a manifestation of resistance and an act of preservation against cultural amnesia and economic exclusion. It demonstrates what can happen when communities invest in themselves, when allies stand firm, and when legacy meets modern purpose.
The Center reclaims Harlem’s historic heart for the people who built it, bringing together the new National Urban League headquarters, the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem, 171 affordable housing units, a conference center, and mission-aligned nonprofit and retail space to protect and reinvest in a neighborhood long threatened by displacement and gentrification.
This project, more than a decade in the making, represents a defiant answer to cultural erasure and economic exclusion. Where others have divested from justice, the National Urban League has invested in permanence.
