National Urban League Empowerment Center

NYCR-CDE provided $6 million of New Markets Tax Credit financing to help fund the construction of the National Urban League Empowerment Center in Harlem. 

The capital assisted one of Harlem’s most significant economic development projects in decades. Located on 125th Street, the 17-story Empowerment Center brings the National Urban League’s headquarters back to Harlem, the neighborhood where the organization rose to prominence more than a century ago. The new complex includes ground-floor retail anchored by national chains such as Trader Joe’s and Target, as well as 171 units of affordable housing, reserved for families earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. The Empowerment Center also includes office space for minority-owned businesses, non-profits, and community groups including 100 Black Men of New York, Studio Museum in Harlem, Jazzmobile, and the United Negro College Fund. The development will also house the Urban Civil Rights Museum set to open in 2026. This will be New York City’s first museum dedicated to the American civil rights movement.

One of the nation’s preeminent civil rights and social justice organizations, the National Urban League is dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice. Founded in Harlem in 1910 in response to the Great Migration that brought millions of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North, the Urban League collaborates at the national and local levels with community leaders, policymakers, and corporate partners to elevate the standards of living for African Americans and other historically underserved groups. 

“This center represents not just a building but a beacon. It embodies the resilience of Harlem, the strength of our movement, and the promise of economic and social justice for future generations. I am proud to see this dream realized in the very heart of our community.”

– Marc H. Morial, Chief Executive Officer, National Urban League