National leader to speak at dinner

The event marks the expansion of the local Urban League.
LIBERTY -- Marc H. Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, will be the featured speaker at the Greater Warren-Youngstown Urban League's annual dinner at 6 p.m. Friday at the MetroPlex Center, 1620 Motor Inn Drive.
The dinner also marks the transition from the Warren-Trumbull Urban League to the expanded organization, which will serve both Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
Morial, who has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Georgetown University, was selected to head the Urban League -- the nation's oldest and largest civil-rights and direct service organization -- in May 2003.
Former mayor
Morial was mayor of New Orleans from 1994-2002, having served a term as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. While he was mayor of that city, crime fell 60 percent; the police department underwent major reform; 15,000 new homes, 200 miles of new streets and a new sports arena were built; and the NBA's Hornets came to New Orleans. Before becoming mayor there, he was a Louisiana state senator for two years.
At the Urban League, Morial established an empowerment agenda and an equality index that measures educational, economic, health, civic and civil-rights achievement in the league's annual "State of Black America" report. He also established a Black Male Commission and an Urban Entrepreneurial Partnership program.
Dinner tickets are $40 each. For more information, call the league at (330) 394-4316.