Urban League of Greater Madison President/CEO
Scott Gray and economic empowerment
Monetary policies

By Jonathan Gramling

Part 2 of 2

It didn’t take Scott Gray, president/ceo of the Urban League of Greater Madison, very long to see what the lay of the land was here in Madison. Gray took
the reins of the Urban League in 2005 and it didn’t take him long to see the disparities. While poverty and the ills that affect the African American
community might be invisible to many Madisonians, through his work at the League, the problems are plainly visible on a daily basis.
Gray takes a soft-spoken business approach to analyzing the African American’s problems and forging solutions that lead to long-term economic growth
and empowerment in the community. For the past 2-3 years, Gray has been positioning the Urban League into a “value added” mode where everything the
Urban League does contributes to the economic well-being of the African American community.
Some of that investment has a short-term payoff, but for others it takes a while before the “value added” is realized. For instance, back in 1993, the Urban
League entered into a partnership with U.S. Bank and the Wisconsin Affordable Housing Program to create the Single Family Rent-to-Own Program, which
purchased five homes, refurbished them and rented to income-qualified families that would take ownership of the homes after a 15 year period.
“We’re happy that in 2009, we’ll have eight families going into homeownership,” Gray said during an interview at the Urban League offices at 151 E.
Gorham Street. “Those are eight families that will have equity at no less than $80,000 worth of equity. We’ve done five homes per year for the last 12-13
years. We have over 50 houses in service. But we could probably do about 10-15 homes per year, easily, if we had the resources to do it. Looking at the
State of Black Madison report, two out of 10 African Americans own their homes. That is a really big issue here. With the way home prices are now, at
about a $245,000 median home price, it makes it pretty difficult for an African American family that is only making roughly $31,000 a year to purchase a
home. You have to earn a lot more than that to be able to afford a home here in Madison. So we have a lot of work to do in that area. Hopefully in the
next year or two, we’ll look at ways to expand our lease to own program, but also create other short-term homeownership options that will afford families an
opportunity at homeownership.”
The Urban League has been headquartered at its Gorham Street building since the late 1970s. As the League’s middle school initiatives have expanded
citywide, it has outgrown its building and will be relocating to a new space that the Urban League will be developing on a part of the site of the Village
Mall that abuts S. Park Street. The Urban League expects to break ground on the $3.4 million project, which it will, in essence, co-own the building with
the South Madison Library, in August. It is also in the midst of raising a little over $1 million for a program endowment fund. Of the $3.2 million raised to
date, the major contributors have been the city of Madison with $1 million, the Evjue Foundation at $350,000, the Madison Community Foundation at
$150,000 and CUNA Mutual at $100,000.
Gray is excited about the move to South Madison, what he considers a homecoming of sorts. “This campaign is not just about bricks and mortar,” Gray
emphasized. “It’s about the growth of the Urban League. I think we’re coming home to South Madison. I’m not sure how we ended up here on 151 E.
Gorham Street. But I think the type of services that we provide and the access that we want to provide to folks, South Madison couldn’t be a better place
for us. Second is this campaign has been about growth for the Urban League. The Urban League is in an interesting position where we will be the
developer for the project. We have never been there and done that. As we talk about moving into economic development and entrepreneurism, the Urban
League is taking a step here to really start showing the way. If the Urban League can do it, then there are others in this community who can do it. We want
to show folks of color that we’re not just talking about building the road to economic success, we’re doing it ourselves. And this, I think, is the start of that.
Hopefully from closing out this capital campaign and building our new building, we’ll be able to venture into all kinds of things like social
entrepreneurship to really get this community prepared and get this Urban League to be one of the best in the country in providing folks an opportunity to
go to work and become self-sufficient in this community.”
One of the most alarming statistics that Gray bantered about during the interview was the lack of a strong African American-owned business sector in the
community. While African Americans comprise nearly six percent of Dane County’s population, less than one percent of the businesses are owned by
African Americans.
As the Urban League’s contribution to the growth of African American owned businesses, Gray has been exploring the idea of the Urban League
establishing a for-profit subsidiary in their new building — the 12,000 sq. feet of space could accommodate a business — that would not only generate
needed revenues for Urban League programming, but would also serve as a source of entry-level jobs for people with few job skills.
“There are models that have really taken off out there such as the Delancy Street model out in San Francisco that started a social entrepreneurship back
almost 30 years ago,” Gray said. “They have about 15-20 businesses that they run, from a moving company to a café. They take the toughest to serve
individuals in that community and they’ve been able to build their own facility to house folks and they have just a really successful model that is now
being replicated across the country. And you look at organizations like Goodwill Industries. Goodwill in Milwaukee is a $245 million organization. About
80 percent of its income comes from social entrepreneurial ventures. And they again train folks whom we would call tough to serve, the disabled, and
found a way to accomplish both missions, to get folks to work and to generate income for the non-profits. We don’t want to create an incubator. We want to
work in a niche kind of opportunity, going back to those emerging areas. Those are where the opportunities are in this community.”
While Gray doesn’t want to break with the history of the Urban League — “The Urban League wouldn’t be in the place it sits now in this community if it
weren’t for dedicated folks who have really moved the agenda forward for African Americans in this community” — he is clearly setting a new direction
where everything the Urban League does is seen as making an economic — value added — contribution to the community. He wants the Urban League to
be an economic player not only in the African American community, but also in the community at large and the dynamic new sectors of information
technology and biotechnology.
“How does this organization become an economic driver, and not continuing down the track of social service because our role in this community is
helping make folks independent,” Gray asked. “And the way to do that is we need to have the programs that help make that happen. And if we’re not real
time, then we’re going to continue to be behind the eight ball on this. And the State of Black Madison report is showing that. But again, this community is
in a lot better shape than other communities that I have been in. And I’m talking Milwaukee and Chicago. You can put your hands around it here. And I
think you could do a lot of things. And this Urban League has always been at the cusp of it, but has never really pushed all the way through. We have to be
able to push through whatever it is going to take us to make folks know that we are a player in this community and we want to bring value added service to
the community. That’s this new Urban League’s charge. And are we there yet? No! I think we are starting to see signs that we are getting there. But we
could be doing so much more if we were part of these growing emerging areas here in Madison. If we could get on those tracks, the same tracks that when
a CEO sits down at his table with his executive team around it and figuring out how they are going to grow their business, that’s the same way this Urban
League wants to be in this community. We want to be at the table. We want our people to be at the table.”
In this its 40th year, the Urban League of Greater Madison — and the city of Madison — stands at a crossroads that can lead to meaningful economic
development. And while Gray talks in business terms, it is people who are at the bottom line. “We want folks to succeed around here,” Gray emphasized.
“We want this community to be a great community too. But the lens we look through right now is the lens that the State of Black Madison is saying what
this community looks like. And of course, we see the opportunity. But opportunity is opportunity when it isn’t realized. And we have to start figuring out ways
to realize this dream here in Madison.”
On July 25, the Urban League of Greater Madison will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. For more information about the 40th anniversary or how you
can contribute to the Urban League’s capital campaign, call Erin Broome at 251-8550, ext. 42.
Urban League of Greater Madison President/CEO
Scott Gray