By Timothy Pratt

Mon, Oct 4, 2004 (9:23 a.m.)

A new nonprofit organization aimed at helping blacks scale the economic ladder will be setting up shop in the Las Vegas Valley in the coming months, its board chairman said last week.

The organization -- a local affiliate of the 94-year-old national group, the Urban League -- was chartered in May. It has an initial budget of about $1.8 million and is set to hold its first board meeting in mid-October, said Jacqulyn Shropshire, board chairman.

Shropshire said the Urban League's Las Vegas affiliate will focus on helping the population living around its office at 1058 W. Owens Ave.

A survey the group did of that area shows a need for health care, job training, education, substance abuse, and other programs aimed at young people, she said.

The board members will be chosen from a committee that has been setting up the local affiliate during the past two years, plus other community members interested in serving.

There will also be boards to monitor finances and to represent the community, Shropshire said -- to guarantee oversight of the organization's expenditures and programs.

Additionally, the national Urban League will conduct annual reviews of the local affiliate.

Come January, a national search for an executive director of the organization will be launched, Shropshire said.

Meanwhile, the new organization is setting up a program to help young people obtain high school diplomas and job training using funds from private and public sources, she said.