SPRINGDALE -- The Urban League of Arkansas plans to open an office in Springdale early next year.
Urban League leaders held an event Friday to introduce the community to the organization. They officially kicked off their statewide presence last month in Little Rock, the group's state headquarters. They plan to eventually open four satellite offices.
"This is not the Urban League of Arkansas just for Little Rock. This is the Urban League for the entire state," said D'Andre Jones, a member of the group's executive board of directors and Northwest Arkansas liaison.
The Springdale office will be at The Center for Nonprofits. The center is a Jones Trust property and is a main reason the first satellite office is opening in Northwest Arkansas, said Sherman Tate, the Urban League of Arkansas' board chairman.
"They were interested enough in having us get going, they gave us a good deal on our office space. We have a lot of strong partners here," he said, pointing to corporate leaders such as Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart. Bentonville-based Wal-Mart presented the Urban League with a check for $70,000 Friday.
The Urban League will be opened to any community member who is under-served or marginalized, regardless of race or ethnicity, Jones said.
"We are about empowering all people," he said. "When we empower one group, often times other minority groups need the same form of empowerment. What works for one group works for others, and we realized we need to reach beyond the African-American community."
Tate said a white woman and a black man started the Urban League in 1910 to address the needs of the under-served.
Mike Malone, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, said it's important for the state and Northwest Arkansas to be welcoming to all people. He said 26 percent of the Northwest Arkansas population is nonwhite, compared with about 3 percent in 1990.
"We've become much more diverse, and we need to make sure people are connected to the right resources," Malone said.
The Urban League is the most recent organization to open operations that address the needs of under-served, minority and immigrant groups.
Mireya Reith, executive director of the Arkansas United Community Coalition, heads immigrant-resource centers across the state. The first center opened last month in Springdale, and offices in Little Rock, McGehee and Fort Smith opened within the past week. De Queen's center will open in early October, and Reith said the coalition hopes to open a center in Jonesboro by the end of the year.
"We are excited to have another organization to work with as we develop an avenue of civil integration," she said. "We all have a goal of helping the community as a whole reach its potential."
Arkansas is the organization's 95th affiliation, but it isn't the first time the Urban League has had a presence in the state. A Little Rock office closed in 1995 because of a lack of money, Tate said.
"We are in the process of raising money now," Tate said, adding the group's leaders are taking their time and being very pointed in their organizational effort. He said the process of opening an Arkansas affiliation began four years ago with a sponsoring committee.
"It's a labor of love," he said.
The board is in the process of identifying executive director candidates, and that person will be responsible for filling other positions, including two in Springdale.
Jones said the Urban League is outlining priorities around three pillars: justice, jobs and education. Services could range from tutoring students to connecting people with jobs or food banks, he said.
"We are looking at collaborating with other organizations, the University of Arkansas, public schools, corporations," he said.
Students from the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business will provide technical research for the Urban League, Tate said.
"They will help with our needs assessment and help us determine where to start," he said.
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said these types of resources are important, especially in a growing area.
"Helping connect people to the right resources will help our entire community have a better quality of life," Sprouse said.
Metro on 09/21/2015