National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial praised the St. Louis chapter for its response to the May 2025 tornado and urged greater investment in communities during a visit Tuesday to the organization’s regional headquarters.
Speaking to staff, supporters and public officials, Morial pointed to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ work following the disaster as an example of the Urban League’s mission in action.
“Always impressed with the work the Metropolitan St. Louis Urban League is doing. This is the Urban League’s strongest and best affiliate in the country,” Morial said. “You can see why. The breadth of things that they’re able to do is just amazing.”
The event included recognition of Roosevelt Price Jr., a graduate of the Urban League’s Save Our Sons program whose family received assistance through the organization’s tornado relief efforts.
Price said he was struck by the Urban League’s response after the storm, even as the organization’s own headquarters sustained significant damage.
“I was surprised to see how destroyed the Urban League building was,” Price said. “But to see them out in the community right after the disaster. They didn’t have electricity. They were pretty much suffering the way we were suffering.”
Price said the Urban League helped his family secure housing, food and clothing after the tornado. Local Urban League President and CEO Michael McMillan said Price and his family were among the first households to receive assistance through the organization’s relief efforts.
McMillan thanked staff members for continuing their work despite the damage caused by the tornado and other challenges facing the region.
Morial’s remarks extended beyond St. Louis to broader national concerns. He argued that the nation’s challenges stem less from a lack of resources than from how those resources are prioritized.
“We have been on an escalating slide to a great extent,” Morial said. “We have spent, as a nation, nearly $20 trillion on war and machinery and the mechanisms of destruction. We have shifted our fiscal plan.”
He called for greater investment in education, infrastructure and economic opportunity, citing programs such as the GI Bill and other public investments that helped expand the middle class during the 20th century.
Looking ahead to the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, Morial said the milestone should serve as an opportunity to confront persistent challenges, including poverty and inequality, while recommitting to the country’s founding ideals.
“It’s always a blessing to host our national president and CEO Marc Morial and hear his perspective on America, the National Urban League movement and his vision for the future,” McMillan said.
Morial also announced that a civil rights museum will open later this year at the National Urban League’s new headquarters in New York, which he said will be the first museum of its kind in the city’s history.