James H. Buford, longtime President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, has been named 2012 St. Louis Citizen of the Year.
The award for civic leadership is sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Citizen of the Year Committee, a group of past honorees who select the new recipients.
“I am truly honored,” Buford told The American. “When you look at the caliber of people who have received this award, to fit into that category is a little unbelievable.”
Among past awardees he is honored to be grouped with and recognized by, he mentioned St. Louis American Publisher Donald M. Suggs, civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman, Jack and Andy Taylor of Enterprise, Washington University Chancellor Emeritus Dr. William Danforth and U.S. Senator Jack Danforth.
“I go to all of these awards events, so I know this is one of the highest honors you can receive,” Buford said. “It validates a good portion of the work I have done in this community.”
Buford, 68, has led his agency for 27 years and turned it into the nation’s flagship Urban League affiliate. Last year he announced he will retire in May 2013. Buford grew the local affiliate from a $2.5 million annual budget to an agency with an annual budget of more than $20 million.
Fundraising for the agency is the “portion” of his work that has been recognized with this award, he said.
“I have raised a lot of money from people in high places to support the Urban League,” Buford said. “I have worked with these people for a lot of years and received a lot of their support. This award validates that portion of my work and tells me, ‘Job well done.’”
For a social service agency, money is only a means to service.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the scope,” Buford told The American when he announced his retirement last year. “We serve 40,000 people. You can’t do that without funding for programs and facilities.”
In 2004, St. Louis was the first local affiliate to be designated a Five-Star Affiliate, a ranking it has maintained ever since.
“Those Five Stars we got from national says that we have a quality operation, and the proof is in the funding we got,” Buford said. The St. Louis affiliate recently was the recipient of two massive waves of federal funding – from the stimulus act and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
“The stimulus and LIHEAP funding was brought to us, we did not get it on bid,” Buford said. “It was brought to us because of efficacy and no games being played.”
Buford has served in leadership roles for an extraordinary number of other community organizations. He is currently chairman of the Board of St. Louis Connectcare, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Sewer District and a board member of the St. Louis Zoo Commission. He also has been a member of the St. Louis Board of Education and the St. Louis County Board of Elections.
Other organizations he has served include Grand Center, the Boy Scouts of America, Fair St. Louis, the UMSL Chancellor’s Council, Jobs for America’s Graduates, Heat Up St. Louis, the Downtown Partnership Foundation and the Missouri State University Foundation.
“Jim has been and continues to be an extraordinary leader, not just of the Urban League, but on a wide range of issues in the St. Louis region,” said Debra Denham, vice president of community affairs at BJC HealthCare and chair of the local Urban League board.
“The broader community has greatly benefited from his wisdom as an eloquent voice for understanding among all racial and ethnic groups and from his leadership on a wide array of issues.”
The previous African-American honorees as Citizen of the Year are Freeman, Suggs and baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. Since Freeman was recognized last year, this marks the first time an African American received the award in successive years.
