Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts

Founded 1919 In 1917, a group of citizens—including Robert Treat Paine Jr., a great-great-grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Robert Treat Paine—gathered to support the growing number of Black migrants arriving in Boston during the Great Migration, who sought employment, education, and housing opportunities. Under National Urban League Secretary Eugene Kinkle Jones, the group incorporated in 1919 as the Boston Urban League—an affiliate of the National Urban League. Renamed the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (ULEM) in 1973, ULEM expanded programs in workforce development, entrepreneurship, youth education, advocacy, and community engagement for residents from diverse backgrounds. In 1989 under the leadership of President & CEO Joan Wallace-Benjamin, PhD and with the generosity of Board Chair Emeritus George A. Russell Jr., this site became the permanent home of ULEM in Roxbury. From here, ULEM advanced economic opportunity, civic engagement, and community development across Massachusetts.