in 1920 a group of Fort Wayne African-American leaders realized that a growing number of their peers were migrating north to escape the Jim Crow South for better economic and social opportunities.

These new immigrants would need help to cope with their assimilation into northeast Indiana from acquiring homes, attaining jobs to entering academic institutions.

And this realization was the impetus behind the creation of the Fort Wayne Community Association.

The president Fort Wayne Urban League continues this work to enable urban residents and others to close education and economic gaps.

>> And on today's prime time we'll learn more about the ways Fort Wayne Urban League carries out its mission to empower African-Americans and others to thrive in our region.

Good evening.

I'm Bruce Haines and with us today is Fort Wayne , Urban League president and CEO Iizuka Arrington and we invite you to join our conversation.

Just call the number that you see on the screen as we show you all of us here present there is iizuka.

>> Thank you so much for being here.

>> Don't thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure.

You know, I have to also note too that for the sake of math and realizing 1920 when Fort Wayne is coming together with the association, they are only lagging the National Urban League's coming together by only ten years.

I mean that's that's quite groundbreaking to have both efforts going on simultaneously .

>> Yes.

Yes.

Well and you know, all the urban links really began around that same time.

So you know, we call the Great Migration, you know, when black people were fleeing the south because of those Jim Crow rules, the harshest of them lynching.

>> And so when you have a great number of people moving from the south to the north, especially black people there needed to be services put in place to help those folks get jobs and housing and pursue opportunities and Fort Wayne is quite fortunate in that regard because I believe in Indiana there are three Urban League's we have one up in Gary and Indianapolis I think yep.

>> Indy and Gary.

Those are our two closest urban links to Fort Wayne and so it is one where you are the Fort Wayne Urban League but I'm assuming the reach then ripples out to the contiguous counties and that kind of .

>> Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

>> Absolutely.

And with the affiliate relationship like that and being then connected with the National League since about nineteen help was at forty four years you're seventy fifth anniversary so so we'll we'll have to do the math backwards to get to that part but it's all an amazing story to tell and a very unique service as well to be able to see now that your service expansion is underserved populations.

>> It's all persons quite frankly and how did that evolution occur?

It started out it seems with no African-American focus and now we have a whole host of persons who are coming to town with the same common concerns.

>> Well, I mean I think it's important to note that the Fort Wayne Urban League most of our services are directed towards black and brown people in our community.

But in our mission statement we say that we serve black people and others and so that means we don't exclude anyone from our programing.

>> But the purposes is to really to close some of those disparities, the gaps that still exist in our community when it comes to black people.

And so if we look at the state of Black America report that the National Urban League releases every year the 23 report says that the equality index has improved by two point seven percent over the last 20 years.

But if we continue at that pace it will be a hundred and eighty years before black people are actually equal to white people in this country.

>> And so there's a huge disparity there and that's why the Fort Wayne Urban League is still needed unfortunately because we need one hundred and eighty years.

>> I won't be here.

You won't be here.

That's too long of a wait for justice for the people that we serve in the community.

>> Right.

So the how does one even begin to think of closing these these gaps where there's no wrong place to start?

Perhaps but but how do you get those those projects and initiatives in order so that there can be a future where empowerment knows no bounds?

>> Well, you know what to be an affiliate of the National Urban League we have a perfect blueprint of what that advocacy should look like.

>> It's advocacy that has gone on in this community for 140 years and so all we're doing is continuing in many of those initiatives.

One of them is education and we know that if kids are reading and on grade level they have less of a chance of going to jail or prison or being shot and killed.

And so education's always going to be an important pillar of the Urban League movement.

So as you know economics you know, getting people into good paying jobs and making sure that they can compete at a professional level for some of those jobs, employment's always going to be part of the Urban League movement as well as social advocacy.

You know, it's been something that we've always done and it's still needed.

>> You know, we were all reminded of the need of that during George Floyd.

You know, of course.

>> But it's something that stays with the movement because as long as we still have racism and discrimination that plays a part in how black and brown people are treated in this country, we have to make sure that we have some social advocacy efforts going on always these are the outlines to what is described as your four pillars and around these are a variety of powerful programs that span age ranges that's been across the city starting perhaps on that education piece.

Lots going on there because with that proper credential the world is in fact a happier place.

>> How do you make those classroom connections?

>> Well, the program that we have at the Fort Wayne Urban League is really a one on one tutoring program and what research really says is that after school programing alone isn't going to get our kids on grade level and so it's really intentional of meeting that child where they are sitting with them face to face and working on some of those things that they need to work on whether it be reading or math or science, but giving them a foundation that they can they can grow from so you know, tutoring that one on one tutoring program is something that's very important with our programing and then this summer we're having a justice forward steam camp for our kids and I'm really looking forward to that.

That kicks off July eight .

We're partnering with Civic Theater to provide some acting .

We're partnering with Allen County Soil Preservation.

We're going to plant a sunflower garden and then dedicate that garden to families who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

We're going to have some hard conversations reading the book that you give by Angie Stone but really just kind of open up ways that are youth can get involved with making the community a fair and just place for everyone and this is Stiehm this is STEM Education with the arts.

>> Yes.

And it is absolutely and clearly a very complimentary experience to what had often been STEM camps.

>> Yes.

Yes the league would offer absolutely.

And also thinking in a future forward way when you're talking about mentoring and one on one there are also entrepreneurhip programs and apprenticeship job programs through the work you do talk about those we've always tried to provide some type of training to get folks into jobs and so that's always been part of it right now we do not have any trade programs going on but those are things that we are looking at.

We just wrapped up a partnership with the NEC Northeast Indiana Innovation Center where we gave people education on opening their own business.

So whether they wanted to start a business or just become knowledgeable of everything that they would need to do to be successful as an entrepreneur, those classes were offered at the Fort Wayne Urban League and those were really great classes for people to just educate themselves about what entrepreneurship really looks like.

And so we were grateful to partner with Nick to to provide that.

>> Yeah, the neighborhood piece is is also one where it could be applicable to any of us within the sound of our voices, particularly the idea of the Federation of Block Clubs.

>> It sounds like like a great society.

How do I sign up?

Yes.

Well it's it's just an opportunity for neighbors to really work together on issues that concern them.

So we did kick off our beautification projects which is a part of the block club movement.

We're giving funding to our neighbors that live on the southeast side two hundred and fifty dollars where they can beautify their porch, their lawn work together with other neighbors who also can receive funding just to beautify their their block.

And really that funding is to help with some of the stigma of living on the southeast side .

There's pride there.

There's roots there and we want people to have an opportunity to really beautify their neighborhood in a way that they feel proud and they do that by working together with other neighbors.

I think it's important in this day and age to know who our neighbors are.

The Black community was always very strong in knowing who we lived by and working together.

That's the only way we were able to make it through some of the things that we had to make it through.

And so we want to get back to some of that.

We've lost our way just a little bit but we want to make sure that we're supporting our neighbors, that we're understanding what their needs are and that we're working together to create a safe, healthy community.

>> You know the idea of improving a community neighborhood by neighborhood and then having community dialog within that neighborhood or across the city, you've taken on something in twenty twenty four which has been perhaps familiar to some as they hear about this notion of the Race Card Project.

>> But this this has been a winning hand.

>> It seems to engender conversation.

Why don't we start at the beginning what is the Race Card Project?

>> The Race Card Project is an initiative that journalist Michelle Norris began in 2010.

Many may remember her because she used to work for all Things Considered with NPR.

>> She was on that segment but in 2010 she printed off 200 postcards and left them around town with the question Give me your race or identity story in six words she didn't know what she would get back and postcards started coming back where people were giving a six word essay of what they felt about race or identity.

And so it's been over a decade now that this has been going on this past winter Fort Wayne Urban League reached out to journalists Michelle Norris and her team asking hey ,could we partner possibly for the month of February during Black History Month and open up this conversation and right here in Fort Wayne and we were thrilled when they allowed that partnership to happen and we're seeing a very slow roll.

>> Some of the cards here on the screen that that that were completed.

>> What hopes did you have for the project as you were setting it up and how have those hopes been realized now that you can look back and you know, I really just wanted to open up honest dialog and sometimes it can be difficult to have difficult conversations face to face.

But I felt that maybe people would feel more comfortable giving their story or providing their story in a written format.

Right.

And so I really didn't know what to expect.

I did read Michelle Norris's new book Our Hidden Conversations that just came out in January.

That book had a lot of six word essays on it on her website you can read some of the submissions that she's received over the decade.

So my mind was just wide open with what will Fort Wayne say?

What will our residents say about race and identity?

>> And I have to tell you it was a learning experience.

It really was.

>> I understand it was several hundred responses in north of 300 more we received a little over 400 but we were only able to use 300 submissions because just about 100 of them did have some kind of violence in nature and so we weren't able to use those as part of the project.

>> But 300 of them we were and some of them I would like to put a couple of these up and have you talk about them.

>> They are the six word response but then there's some additional narrative that that goes with it.

>> Let's let's share one of those.

For example, this one about recognizing fear of the unknown.

>> So it's beyond the six word phrase but it allows apparently the the contributor to provide some context.

>> Sure.

There were a couple of different ways that people could actually submit their six word essays.

Some of them were at our physical sites with our partners, the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne and the Allen County Public Library allowed us to have physical race card tables in Fort Wayne so people could go pick up a card.

Right.

Those six words drop it in a box and then we'd pick it up.

But then we offered a way that folks could submit their submissions online and if they chose to do it online there was also a way for them to give a little backdrop of how they maybe came up with their six word essay.

>> And so that's where you're getting some of the stories from.& And as we're going through with those, we can share a couple more as the opportunity presents itself because the sea starting with the story line thirteen if you if you would like to go there being able to bring that forward because you have folks who are able to Ipgut they're saying and I'm guessing his goes to this it goeo this question have these cards engendered the kinds of conversations you wanted to hear?

>> Some of them, yes.

I mean obviously the violent ones were not easy to read for this day and age for people to be using words like lynching or rape or and you know or using guns to threaten.

That wasn't easy to read myself personally.

I almost took down my personal social media pages because there were people and attacks coming with some of those violent messages.

>> I ended up not doing that but there were some hard nights of I was telling myself don't read the comments which we're always told but those were very hurtful.

>> But there were other six word essays that obviously lended an idea of hope and idea of moving forward, an idea of working together.

And so all of those were, you know, inspiration and context.

And I think really the most important thing that I learned maybe from the Race Card Project is that people do want to be liked.

They want to be loved, they want to be cared for .

But most importantly most people want to be understood.

>> And so what the Race Card Project allowed is for someone to be vulnerable and share their personal story about what race and identity meant to them .

And in that vulnerability then the reader could receive someone in a way that maybe they wouldn't be able to receive had it be, you know, a verbal conversation.

>> Mm hmm.

Yeah.

And having the chance to be able to express something that is often seen as either hidden bias or unconscious bias and being able to do a little self inventory and put it into a six word phrase and be able to carry it forward can be very powerful as an expression.

>> How you channel the powerful expressions now into something that perhaps carries the spirit of this of this initiative forward?

>> Well, you know, one of the initiatives that Fort Wayne Urban League is working on is supporting the Crown Act.

For those who don't know, the Crown Act is an initiative to really bring awareness and protect black and brown people to be able to wear their hair in a natural state, in school and in the workplace.

OK, and so some of the cards that we got phrased what some people were feeling about natural hair and there were comments like no, you may not touch my hair so any one of color who's ever had braids or curls and had people come up touching their hair totally understands that six word essay but it lended us an opportunity to have a talk about hair, to have a discussion about the Crown Act and why it's important for Fort Wayne to to have that conversation to educate on some of our employers and the school system about why hair is so important.

And just a few months back Fort Wayne Urban League received a call from a parent whose child got accepted into a private school.

>> I won't say what private school the student wore dreads the student was all ready to go had been, you know, accepted into the school and right before football season that student was told that he needed to cut the dreads or he wouldn't be able to play football and none of that was discussed before he accepted that admittance into that school.

>> And so some people may never know that those kinds of things are going on here in the community.

And so obviously that card opened up a whole important conversation about hair and what that means in the community and why Fort Wayne Urban League should be advocating against some of those things happening right before we came on air.

>> You are also sharing that it looks like there's an opportunity to go back through the cards to try to do some analytics maybe or two to do a little little you know, chin scratching about some of it.

>> Well, you know, like you said so we have over 300 cards that we're using that we were able to use in the project.

And so we're fortunate that foliar foundation has partnered with us working with a research team and an intern that's going to be able to put data to these cards so we'll be able to share maybe what the climate of race and identity is here in Fort Wayne and maybe have a little bit of dialog about that.

One of the cards referenced Vernon Jordan being almost assassinated here in the city.

It was downtown Hilton for those who don't know Vernon Jordan was the National Urban League's president and CEO at the time and he was walking out of that hotel and was shot he was rushed down to St. Joe Hospital and luckily his life was saved.

That happened in nineteen eighty one and that's just a little historical story that came out of the race cards that someone felt the need to write that down and share it and we have up on the screen and you can see how it complements or works with the other card that you're reviewing now it gives us context.

>> Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And we should share again that if you would like to look at more of the race cards that were part of the project, you can go to the fort Wayne Urban League's Web site.->> There is e it is for that and a whole lot more with some of the other programs we've been sharing.

But right next door to that image is one that shows the Race Card Project specifically as a you URL and you can go to the race card wall.

>> This has been as you say in motion for about 14 years and it's a wonderful way forward and as folks have been completing cards, there's still time I understand perhaps to paint rocks.

>> Absolutely.

I'm glad you brought that project.

Our late Mayor Henry honored Fort Wayne Urban League with a Ruby Bridges day November 14th the exact day that Ruby Bridges integrated an all white school in New Orleans.

And so we celebrated Ruby Bridges Day last year and after his passing we had some thoughts of what else could we do with Ruby Bridges and so we're having a painted rock trail a trail of hope and courage honoring Ruby Bridges.

We've received painted rocks from all over the city Ivy Tech, Allen County Public Library, the Wilson Center, MLK Montessori School, Girl Scout so many have partnered with us and painted rocks and they've been dropping them off at the Fort Wayne Urban and we're going to make a trail around the campus fun really?

Yes.

There a couple of images I recall seeing with what I think was one the Journal Gazette shared in a story on the project with Winnie the Pooh.

Yes.

Yes.

Sometimes you're looking for inspiration and such.

These are the ways you know we can find it and so there's there's still a chance if you have the weekend.

>> Yes.

Grab your acrylics and see where and see where things want to go when things carry forward.

And as that happens, we have a family of people who live in northeast Indiana.

We have families within the city of Fort Wayne.

We have within the family conversations that need to happen.

>> I saw a reference to quarterly happy family engagement activities and other aspects for for helping to hold families together.

>> Spend a moment on that.

You know, I think that's just a core for any type of program is you're working with people and people have stories and people need ways to connect and so family engagement opportunities are just ways for families to come together and work with one another and it's also a way for Fort Wayne Urban League to tell a different story there.

>> There's a story that black dads are involved in their children's lives and that's absolutely not true when you look at data black fathers outworked any other father of any race in the country when it came to hands on care, changing diapers, running kids to day care, picking them up from school, going to field trips and we need to be talking about that.

And so family engagement opportunities just allow us to have some of those conversations and empower families to continue the work of working together and working as a unit and being strong together and within that reach time enough to perhaps touch on something that deserves more time.

The youth empowerment Program for those fourteen to twenty four looking to to move through that is an important group around which to be sure there's a spotlight.

>> Yeah absolutely.

And what we're trying to do with our youth in that age frame is just really to empower them to live the life that they want to live.

A part of that is going to be our Steinkamp this summer having some of those hard conversations about what justice looks like in our community but really giving our youth some initiatives to work on like the Ruby Bridges a rock trail and why it's important to keep that story out in the community.

They're working along with us with our band book campaign that will kick off again in June.

Why is that so important?

Because there's so many black authors in black stories that are in those books that are being banned and our youth needs to be educated on the history of some of those authors and the stories that are being banned that way so that they can be empowered with making great decisions for their own life .

There's just so many opportunities for our youth to really lead us sometimes and so leaning in and giving them an opportunity to really tell us about what they're feeling and how they want to work on some of the issues that they see in the community I think is really important.

>> It is all part of the work and service of the Fort Wayne Urban League.

Again, you can find out more about them online F.W.

ULDA or Djay and when you go there you'll say I remember you Cherington because I saw her on PBS Fort Wayne you really did.

>> She is the president and CEO and thank you again.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure and for all of us with prime time I'm Bruce Haines.

Take care.

We'll see you next week.

Goodbye