Ahead of the ribbon cutting, Eyewitness News sat down with CEO Marc Morial to talk about the organization's legacy, its impact on the community and why staying rooted in Harlem is so essential.
"This is the neighborhood we exist for, the people of Harlem, but not only this Harlem, across the country," Morial said. "We exist for the people that live, work and call this home."
Morial is seeing his vision come to life.
He has led the National Urban League's campaign for civil rights for over two decades.
The organization was founded in New York City and is marking a new chapter with their new Empowerment Center that towers over the historic Harlem neighborhood.
"It means we have returned home, we return to where we were founded, the place that animated and energized the founding of the National Urban League," Morial said.
The 17-story structure houses their new headquarters as they organize with 93 affiliates across the country.
But it's hard to take a step forward without reflecting on the past so there are rooms that pay tribute to icons and walls that are covered with historic moments.
Still, the advocacy group is laser-focused on bridging the gap for underserved Americans.
"Many people said how are you going to build 100 units of affordable housing in the same facility as a civil rights museum, in the same facility with first-class retail, in the same facility with your headquarters will be located, and we said stand back and watch," Morial said.
The mix-use building provides opportunity from affordable housing to space for local nonprofits.
And next summer it will be home to an Urban Civil Rights Museum that will tell a complex story of oppression and progress.
"There has not been in the history of New York, a civil rights museum, can you imagine that," Morial said. "We want to tell the story as well as the incredible New York story, of the great migration, the Harlem renaissance period -- and we're going to do it in a spectacular way."
The museum is set to open next June.
The Empowerment Center will open on Wednesday after a ribbon cutting ceremony in the morning.
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