Urban League Says MOU Should be Honored

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga has drawn attention to a Memorandum of Understanding that they signed with the Hamilton County government regarding funding that had been promised to them.

They sent us the documents from July and August 2022.

These show an agreement between the Urban League and the County for ARPA fund appropriations of $500,000, and $50,000 respectively.

They drew attention as well to a performance review document created by the county in June of this year that indicated that both the Urban League and Sanofka’s project of $600,000 were still going through.

They say the recent decision on November 15th to remove this funding was done without notice by the commission and violates the Tennessee Sunshine Law.

The Senior Director of Policy and Administration for the Urban League, Sarah Concepcion, said, “We all were operating based off of the signed and approved MOU we had with the county. Which says that those funds either need to be spent, or be in a plan for spending by December of 2024.”

They have given the Commission until Friday to rescind the resolution to remove their funding.

If they do not restore the funding, the Urban League says they are discussing potential responses with the National Urban League.