Certified as a National Urban League affiliate in 1978, the Pinellas County Urban League (PCUL) works across Pinellas County in four areas: job training and entrepreneurship, housing and community development, education, and health and quality of life. In its own words, PCUL’s mission is “to enable and empower African Americans and others who are underserved in our communities to achieve their highest human potential and secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights.”
Pinellas Community Foundation (PCF) began supporting that work in 1989 with a $2,500 general operating grant. More than three decades and 34 grants later, that support totals $334,034.68, from yearly operating support to summer learning, meals for children, and the technology that helps PCUL’s staff serve Pinellas County residents faster.
Steady Support and Summer Learning
The partnership started with the basics. Nearly every year from 1989 through 2017, PCF provided general operating support, growing from $2,500 to $10,000 a year. That kind of steady, flexible funding helps an organization keep its doors open and its programs running while it focuses on the people it serves.
From 2019 through 2021, PCF operating grants supported Operation SMART (Student Motivational And Readiness Training), PCUL’s summer program that keeps students learning so they’re ready for school in the fall. In 2019, students took tests at the start and end of the eight-week program. They showed an 11% increase in math and a 35% increase in reading.
The program kept going through the pandemic. In 2020, CDC guidelines limited class space and indoor activities, and PCUL adapted. Its lesson learned: “Always have a Plan-B as it relates to location, size and number of students to be served.” In 2021, Operation SMART paired its academic support with summer recreation at the Clearwater Community Center, including arts and field trips.
For Maya†, a rising seventh grader who had been coming to Operation SMART for five years, the program was something to look forward to: “My math teacher loves math, and makes learning very fun for everyone in my class. My favorite is the computer classes. I want to be a computer programmer when I grow up… I hope I can go to the program next summer, so I can help work with the younger kids.”
Showing Up in 2020
In 2020, a $2,400 Childhood Hunger grant helped PCUL provide meals to 500 children in the Jordan Park community at an event dedicated to the memory of Congressman John Lewis. Children received masks along with their lunches.
Once word got out, others joined in. The Rotary Clubs of Gulf Beach and Midtown donated books for elementary through high school students. Spectrum donated 225 Safe & Healthy Home kits for parents, and Simply Healthcare donated five frozen meals per household.
Later in 2020, a $19,677 Capital Improvement & Equipment grant helped PCUL upgrade its phone system and computer lab.
When Demand Outpaced the Tools
The pandemic brought a surge in demand for PCUL’s services. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of clients served by PCUL’s Career Connection Center, which helps people who are unemployed or underemployed find work, grew by 41%. PCUL moved its resources to meet that need, which left few resources to purchase new equipment.
The strain showed in PCUL’s housing programs. Before the pandemic, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) completed payment assistance in 7 to 10 days. With the surge in applications, that grew to 15 to 30 days. The Weatherization Assistance Program, which lowers heating and cooling costs for families by making their homes more energy efficient, went from 3 months to 6 months.
A Computer Refresh, Supported by Federal Recovery Funds
In 2023, PCUL received $75,335 in federal recovery funds* through PCF, the largest grant in the partnership. The “PCUL Computer Refresh” bought 36 small form factor computers, 62 monitors, professional IT installation, and new FASTRACK software to track client applications.
Each of PCUL’s 25 employees received a new desktop computer with dual monitors. Eight more computers went to a new client computer lab, the new Urban Alliance Cafe, and two community sites: the Campbell Park Resource Center and the Enoch Davis Center. New computers were also placed in every conference room.
Faster Help for Pinellas County Families
The biggest change came in housing and community development. Weatherization processing time dropped by 50%, from 6 months back to 3 months. With staff now working together through Microsoft Teams, PCUL reports that response time on urgent issues “has decreased dramatically.” The new computers also “enabled 4 new Seniors to join our front office team to expedite communications and client processing,” according to PCUL’s report.
The refresh opened new doors in job training and entrepreneurship, too. With the new equipment, PCUL added the Metrix Learning tool from CareerSource Pinellas, which offers real-time workforce readiness training that PCUL had not offered before.
Consistency, Then Momentum
For most of this partnership, the story was consistency. PCF’s $10,000 operating grant came back nearly every year from 2002 through 2017, steady support PCUL could plan around. When the pandemic pushed demand past what PCUL’s tools could handle, that long relationship made room for something different: help with meals in 2020 and, in 2023, the equipment that let PCUL’s staff move Pinellas County families through the system faster.
That work continues across Pinellas County through PCUL’s Vision 2030 plan, a strategic framework focused on expanding access to opportunity, resources, and equity for African Americans and others across Pinellas County.
Inspired by what is possible in Pinellas County? Learn how to establish a fund at Pinellas Community Foundation and put your giving to work: pinellascf.org.
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* Federal recovery funds refers to the ARPA Nonprofit Capital Project Fund.
† Names have been changed to protect the privacy of program participants.
