for over a century the greater Milwaukee Urban League has been making a positive impact in the community by offering education employment advocacy and Civic engagement programs and services on November 2nd they're hosting the organization's 39th Annual black and white ball featuring shant Moore joining us to talk about the beautiful things going on at the Urban League is the CEO Dr Eve Hall Dr Hall thanks for joining us from black newo thank you glad to be here great so the Urban League has a rich 105y year history can you talk about some of the changes you've been uh doing over the past couple of years well we really have been sticking to our core of our 1005 years which has been as you mentioned earlier education employment um housing entrepreneurship advocacy and Civic engagement and how does that look is basically really providing more access and opportunities for our our people to get a better quality of life and what does that look like we provide computer literacy now so individuals can get certified in Microsoft Word Excel and PowerPoint which as you know those are basic skills that you need in careers we provide laptops and scholarship Awards we now provide drivers permit classes for adults and youth which as you know transportation is critical to having options when you're looking for jobs and and moving around in the city um you know in education mentoring um giving students community service opportunities so we're working directly with students in middle school and in high school which also includes students experiencing our National Youth Summit which is in major cities across the country how do you go about connecting the job Seeker to the employer so we have employment coaches who actually sit down with individuals who are looking for different opportunities assess really their skills and their talents and their interest and then we have employers that we work with so it's really um a match game that we play for um those individuals that are coming to seek jobs very basic and so that's why our Partnerships with different employers is so important we often hear about Milwaukee being one of the worst places to raise a black child in a lot of negative statistics how does our Urban League address those issues through its work well we're always focused on the Gap so just really going back to a couple of things that I named um drivers permit we know that we have a lot of individuals who do not have permits or driver's licenses and because driver's education is now limited um so many individuals who are looking for drivers permit classes the cost if you're not in the public school system or you're not work doing it through our organization as an example private lessons can be $500 that is so costly and so that can be a barrier for many of our students when we think about the digital divide that is one of the reasons that we provide laptops to students you would be surprised at the number of students who just having a laptop at their side when they're going on to a two or four year institution not having to rely on a computer lab can make a difference in the success of their education so you know those are a couple of ways that we're trying to address those barriers I believe while yes the statistics say that we're one of the worst we're still experiencing similar issues as other urban communities but I believe that even as as bad as it may seem often times there is still opportunities for us to be even more collective in our efforts to address the gaps are there any out- of-pocket costs for the person seeking um services from you depends so when it comes to drivers permit $35 is really the maximum and there are some requirements in terms of those that would qualify for it um most of our services have no charge so when we're working with our students in the schools and providing experiences for them there's no charge we raise our money um you know through private grants through through corporate grants through our major events so that we can in fact provide the programs and services with no charge and you also have the black and white ball talk a little bit about that exactly so black and white ball coming up November 2nd 39 years and it was actually started James as a way to bring the community together um at that time the black and the white Community were not always conversing or really collaborating and so the Urban League saw this as an opportunity to Galvanize the community one evening a year to have fun to be in a relaxed atmosphere where we get to know each other a little bit differently but to still take some moments during that event to speak to the issues of this city and the importance of everyone working together to improve the lives of everyone because we're interdependent so we can't have one group winning and another group losing and think that our city can really grow and sustain itself this year you have Shante Moore we do how how did you go about bringing her in well we have a committee that really looks at different Talent um we try to be very mindful though of costs because as you may know entertainment is very very expensive but we do have an organization that we work with that has worked with Urban leagues across this country for years and helps to provide reasonable costs for entertainment so you know shant more um she's somewhat of you know a cross for many individuals there are a lot of individuals of course that don't know of her but once they hear her music I think that they will enjoy her well fantastic thanks a lot [Music]