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The Greater Phoenix Urban League, established in 1945 in Phoenix, Arizona is an affiliate of the National Urban League. The organization engages in advocacy efforts, develops programs & partnerships to address the needs of black, hispanic and underserved communities in the areas of early education, workforce development, entrepreneurship, affordable housing and home ownership. The flagship program of the Greater Phoenix Urban League is its Head Start program, which is the largest in the city of Phoenix, and provides access to early education and childcare for children between the ages of 3-5.

George Dean, has served as the President and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Urban League since 1992.

History
Established in January 1945 as the Phoenix Urban League, the organization was founded in recognition of the need to improve the social and economic condition of the Black and African-American community in Arizona. It was through the encouragement of Eugene Kinckle Jones, the first Executive Director of the National Urban League, that plans to establish an affiliate began to unfold.

In 1945, George Meares became the first Executive Director of the Phoenix Urban League. For a brief period, a reactionary group tried to upend the progress of the organization; however, the efforts of other citizens in the community re-established the PUL in 1951. Harry Rosensweig became the President of the Board and Alton Thomas became the Executive Director in 1952. Together they appealed to the general public through membership drives. Alton Thomas left the Phoenix Urban League in 1960 and was responsible for breaking down discrimination in the areas of Housing, Employment, Health & Welfare and in Education.

The Rev. Charles Harlins followed as Executive Director and continued the work of Alton Thomas had started. In 1962, he resigned from the Phoenix Urban League to take an executive position in the Bay Area Urban League in San Francisco, and was succeeded by Junius Bowman who led the organization from 1962-1992.

The current President & CEO George Dean, had led the organization since 1992. George Dean, who first began his career under the leadership of his predecessor in Junius Bowman, has also led the Urban League of Nebraska and Sacramento Urban League prior to returning to Phoenix.

In 2005, the Greater Phoenix Urban League introduced an auxiliary organization, the Greater Phoenix Urban League Young Professionals, which is comprised of young adults between the ages of 21-40. Also know as Young Professionals or YP, Greater Phoenix Urban League Young Professionals is a chapter member of the National Urban League Young Professionals.

In 2021, Greater Phoenix Urban League filed suit against the State of Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey and the Department of Health and Human Services over the state's social equity program for marijuana dispensary licenses, intended for communities who were disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of marijuana law enforcement.

Reports
State of Black Arizona, Volume I https://stateofblackarizona.org/docs/sbaz_vol_i.pdf

State of Black Arizona, Volume V https://www.stateofblackarizona.org/docs/vol_v/

Supporters & Notable Figures
Current Mayor of Tempe, and the first African-American to hold the position, Corey Woods once served as Chief Operating Officer