The State of the Fort Wayne Urban League: The Interim CEO

Written by William Bryant Rozier

The first in a two-part series about the local Urban League, as they reassess their programs and purpose.

“We are not going anywhere and we are not leaving this building,” said Fort Wayne Urban League Interim CEO Quinton Dixie, when asked for a final thought. Said building is at 2135 Hanna St. “We’re approaching our 100th anniversary and we want the Urban League to be here for a hundred more years, but it has to be functional.

“If you look nationwide…we have fewer Urban League branches than we’ve had in years past, so I don’t think it’s just us that had to reassess.

The F.W. Urban League has been without a CEO since May 2019 when the nonprofit fired Cosette Grant-Overton. Board Secretary Renetta Williams served as the interim directly afterwards. Dixie took the volunteer interim position on January 1, 2020. He’s technically still on the board of directors; he’s been a member since December 2019, his second go-around on the board.

Dixie wasn’t initially interested in the interim position; he has a full-time job as an associate professor of history and religious studies at Purdue Fort Wayne. Conversations with other board members helped changed his mind and since taking the role, the nonprofit has been inundated with requests from volunteers to help. More board members have come on board. (Their phone number is 260.745.3100.)

Again…they’re not going anywhere. “Unlike some other places, we can’t afford to close, and we need whatever support the community gives.”

Dixie’s responsibilities are to get the Urban League “in shape for the next person,” he said about the nonprofit’s “loose ends.”

“We’ve had three CEOs in the past two years, whether interim or full-time.” He’s taking the time, until the end of May 2020 when his interim ends, to spearhead the board’s effort to define and refine what the Fort Wayne Urban League does well.

“Historically, [that included] providing data,” Dixie said. “The National State of Black America report has been the go-to document for folks to get accurate info to what’s going on with black folks.” For years, the local Urban League has produced the State of Black Fort Wayne. “The earliest reports we have on Black Americans here came out of the Phillis Wheatley Center, which was a forerunner of the Urban League in the 1940s,” he explained.

Another area the Fort Wayne Urban League has historically excelled in, according to Dixie, has been jobs and employment, but it’s the 21st century and the market is crowded with other vendors. Dixie mentioned Indeed.com for job placement, but that’s just one of numerous online job-finding companies. To fight all of that competition, “what we were thinking of doing is shifting our focus to think more about employment as it ties to entrepreneurship,” Dixie said. “The stats show that all the [economic] growth in the company comes from smaller business.” So possibly, the local branch will start to push entrepreneurship.

It’s all about what the community needs, and that means transformation and minding the details, like with their approach to youth services. What can the Fort Wayne Urban League do for youth…that isn’t already being done by others? “Frankly there has been some organizations that has picked up some of the Urban League programming and actually doing it better than [us],” Dixie said. “Do we continue to compete? Do we try to support organizations that are doing what I think we should be doing but are doing it better?”

Dixie mentioned the other groups who’re kind of killing it already. “Can we beat the Boys and Girls Clubs at what they do…absolutely not. But there’s still some room within youth services for a finer niche.”

Applications are being accepted for the new CEO, but, again, that’s not what currently compelling the board. First and foremost, “I think we really have to think hard about making sure we understand who we are, then find the