Summit Credit Union Makes $50,000 Challenge Grant to Urban League?s 1,500 Jobs, 1,500 Families Campaign
Summit Credit Union CEO/President Kim Sponem has announced that the company is matching dollar-for-dollar any donation made to the Urban League of up to $1,500. The match for first-time donations will be 2:1. The company will continue to match donations up to $50,000! Donate today and double or triple the impact of your gift!!
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MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT
Summit Credit Union
Emily Decorah
[email protected]
608-243-5000
Urban League of Greater Madison
Ruben L. Anthony, Jr., PhD
[email protected]
Office: 608.729.1208
Madison, WI ? Summit Credit Union announces a $50,000 Challenge Gift to Urban League’s 1,500 Jobs, 1,500 Families Initiative. The donation will support the Urban League?s efforts to help train, place, and retain 1,500 low?income job seekers into career pathway employment by 2020. Summit Credit Union has agreed to match dollar?for?dollar any donation made to the Urban League up to a total of $50,000. For first?time donors to the Urban League, the company will match each dollar two?to?one.
?Providing people in our community with the skills they need for the workforce, and connecting jobs to those skills, is much needed work the Urban League is doing in our community,” said Summit Credit Union CEO & President, Kim Sponem. ?The Urban League has a proven track record in this initiative that has a ripple effect for generations to come. Summit Credit Union is matching up to $50,000 of donations for a $100,000 impact for job readiness in honor of the League?s 50th anniversary. I hope you will join us,? said Sponem. The pledge is part of a $2,000,000 campaign to raise the funds needed for this project. The funds raised will go directly into job training, job placement, and job coaching services for 1,500 individuals over the next three years. The League is focused on serving individuals with barriers to employment such as limited educational credentials, inconsistent job histories, single parenthood, or criminal histories.
?Summit Credit Union has been a great supporter of the Urban League for many years? said Urban League CEO Ruben L. Anthony, Jr. Over the years Summit Credit Union has provided financial literacy education to youth in ULGM?s afterschool programs, hired trainees from ULGM adult employment programs, hosted youth interns from ULGM summer programs, provided financing to first?time homeowners in the ULGM housing program, and so much more. ?We want to make sure the community knows that that every dollar counts,? said Anthony. ?For example, a $50 donation will buy a one?month bus pass allowing an unemployed job seeker to get to and from job interviews or $500 will provide nationally certified job readiness training for an unemployed parent, and now, thanks to Summit Credit Union, that donation will double to serve TWO job seekers.?
Donations can be made online at www.ulgm.org/SummitChallenge or by calling the Urban League at 608.729.1211.
About Summit Credit Union:
Established in 1935, Summit Credit Union is a member-owned financial cooperative. Summit holds $3 billion in assets and has more than 175,000 members and 564 employees across 35 locations throughout south-central and southeastern Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.summitcreditunion.com or call 608-243-5000 or 800-236-5560. For additional media information, visit https://www.summitcreditunion.com/about-summit/pressroom or follow Summit on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Urban League
The Urban League of Greater Madison’s mission is to ensure that African Americans and other community members are educated, employed and empowered to live well, advance professionally and contribute to the common good in the 21st Century. We are committed to transforming Greater Madison into the Best [place] in the Midwest for everyone to live, learn, and work. We are working to make this vision a reality through a comprehensive strategic empowerment agenda that includes programs & services, advocacy, and partnerships & coalition building. www.ulgm.org
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Next 50 Forward
Oceans of Opportunity
Coming Home
Click here to read a message from our 50th anniversary campaign leadership
Dear Urban League Friends and Family,
Since 1968 the Urban League of Greater Madison has been vital part of the Dane County community. As we celebrate 50 years of service to the Greater Madison community, we want to reflect on our past, but also re-commit ourselves to the future.
It was 1962 when the Friends of the Urban League was formed and had the vision for an Urban League in Madison. By
1964, the group had grown to 40 official members and an additional 50 volunteers. Considering the U.S. Census reported
1,489 Black Madisonians at that time, this group of Urban League advocates represented a sizeable share of the population.
Unfortunately, their first attempt to obtain funding was denied. The reason, as reported in the Capital Times Newspaper, was that ?discrimination as it exists in other communities does not exist in Madison.?
The group persisted however, and on February 20, 1968 the National Urban League approved the application of the Friends of the Madison Urban League, and so was born the movement for justice and opportunity in our city. Under the Board of Directors Leadership of Hilton E. Hanna, our first Executive Director, Nelson L. Cummings shared with attendees at the first annual meeting that ?the Madison Urban League is going to turn Madison around, and won?t be satisfied with anything less.?
Over five decades, the Urban League of Greater Madison has not wavered from that commitment. While some of the issues
have evolved and the strategies changed, we remain steadfast in eliminating opportunity gaps. One thing that the Urban League has always been about is action, not talk. We are about finding common ground, rolling up our sleeves, and empowering communities and changing lives.
Today, as we honor 50 years of tireless work by thousands of supporters, we are also committing ourselves to the next phase
of this work. This begins with fulfilling a pledge made two years ago to double our impact, and help at least 1,500 families on
the path to self-sufficiency by 2020. We have made great strides, doubling the number of people placed into jobs over the last two years from roughly 150 annually to 300 annually. To fulfill our 1,500 jobs, 1,500 families pledge by 2020, we must raise $2,000,000 by the end of this year. Doing so will allow us to expand our offering of training academies, increase accessibility through a second location in Southwest Madison, serve more youth and young adults, launch our next housing and home ownership venture, and more.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS...
TODAY
- Single location. The Urban League?s Center for Economic Development & Workforce Training opened in South Madison in 2010 and instantly became a vibrant hub of activity hosting career readiness programming for youth and adults, community meetings, etc.
- 768 Jobs. During the five-year period from 2010 to 2014, the Urban League placed 768 low-income adults into new or better employment.
- 120 Youth Jobs. During the five-year period from 2010 to 2014, the Urban League placed 120 low-income youth into their first work experience through our career awareness internship program.
- In 1996, Urban League and others setup a unique, award-winning lease-to-own housing program.
TOMORROW
- Greater Access. The Urban League has committed to a partnership with the City of Madison to establish an Employment & Training Center in the troubled Southwest Madison area. Like our Park Street location, it will host not only Urban League programs, but become a space for the entire community to utilize.
- 1,500 Jobs. We will double our impact and place at least 1,500 low-income adults into new or better jobs over the next five year period.
- 250 Youth Jobs. We will double our impact and place at least 250 low-income youth into jobs by expanding our career awareness internship program, and by launching new youth employment initiatives.
- By 2020, 50 families will have completed our homeownership program and earned $5 million in equity and the Urban League will have established a new program to help meet the urgent need in Greater Madison for more affordable housing options.
HOW YOUR GIFT MAKES AN IMPACT...
- Provides work gloves for a trainee preparing for a construction job.
- Provides a monthly bus pass for a job seeker to get to and from job interviews.
- Provides nationally certified job readiness training for an unemployed parent.
- Provides job skills training, career mentoring, and a first-time job experience for a 14 or 15 year old youth.
