Urban Male Network CEO & Founder Dr. Marlon Haywood and United Way of Metro Chicago Community Impact Program Manager Noelle Velasco celebrate the grand opening of the Empowerment Center in Englewood.
Once an abandoned building, now transformed into the Empowerment Center at 65th and Carpenter in Englewood
Life is coming full circle for Dr. Marlon Haywood.
Earlier this month, cameras captured the local changemaker cutting a bright red ribbon in front of Urban Male Network’s Empowerment Center. Just blocks away from where Marlon grew up on the South Side of Chicago.
As a child, he would often walk by dilapidated buildings and overgrown empty lots in Englewood. A conversation with an “older gentleman” at a youth scholarship breakfast motivated Marlon to do something about the disinvestment he saw in his neighborhood.
“He said to me, ‘You are the change you’ve been looking for. When you get older, remember to go back to the community you grew up in to give back, to make a difference and make that change,” Marlon said.
He took this advice to heart. After getting advanced degrees in education, Marlon founded Urban Male Initiative to provide academic support to first-generation male students at Malcolm X College. The grassroots program evolved into the nonprofit Urban Male Network, which works with more than 300 teenage male youth at 12 mentoring locations across the Chicago region. The organization is breaking down barriers and guiding the next generation of young men through mentorship, education, and community engagement.
United Way of Metro Chicago has been a key partner in Urban Male Network’s recent growth, supporting the transformative work Marlon and his team are leading on the South Side – and beyond.
“For years, I led Urban Male Network part time. United Way of Metro Chicago’s support provided the opportunity for me to step into doing this role full time,” Marlon said. “Our partnership with United Way is collaborative and mission driven. They have been more than a funder. They are a true ally in advancing equity, uplifting youth and families, and amplifying community voices.”
Urban Male Network was a part of the second cohort of United Way’s Chicago BridgeBuilders Fund (formerly the United Neighborhoods Equity Fund) in 2022. The initiative provides up to $50,000 of unrestricted funding for small, local nonprofits in historically disinvested communities on Chicago’s South and West Sides and in the south suburbs. It aims to reduce barriers for nonprofits and their leaders who might have a hard time accessing traditional grants and funding opportunities – and builds their capacity and expands their networks.
“Urban Male Network has added five locations since we have received funding from United Way of Metro Chicago,” Marlon said. “We are making more partnerships with city, state, and county agencies so we can ultimately make more of an impact with the young men that we are working with.”
The impact is already great – and gaining momentum. In 2023, Urban Male Network bought a long-vacant building at 65th and Carpenter in Englewood from the Cook County Land Bank. Two years later, the run-down space was transformed into the Urban Male Network Empowerment Center – a hub for mentorship, workforce development, youth enrichment, and holistic wellness programs, with a gaming studio, basketball court, and meditation room. “We are creating a safe space where young men and families can thrive,” Marlon said.
Urban Male Network and Marlon are now alumni of United Way’s BridgeBuilders Fund, but the partnership remains – including a United Way summer activation grant supporting the Empowerment Center’s grand opening block party.
“United Way’s partnership has strengthened our capacity as an organization and made the opening of the Empowerment Center possible,” Marlon said. “Their support has allowed Urban Male Network to expand programming, engage more youth, and create a hub for growth, healing, and opportunity in Englewood.”
“This means so much to me because I grew up in Englewood on 62nd and Loomis,” Marlon said “This is something that’s monumental, that I’m able to invest in the same community that I grew up in.”
View more photos from the Empowerment Center ribbon cutting.
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