ldunbar@nul.org

NEW YORK, NY, May 30, 2000–The National Urban League announced today thatInternet entrepreneur William J. Stephney, President and CEO of StepSun Music Entertainment Inc., co-creator of the rap group Public Enemy and co-founder of legendary Def Jam Records, will participate in the National Urban League’s NULITES (National Urban League’s Incentives to Excel and Succeed) Youth Summit, July 27 through July 30 at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY.

An Urban League tradition for ten years, the NULITES Youth Summit is a four-day conference that brings together the young members of the National Urban League’s NULITES program to share information that promotes high standards of academic excellence, well-being and character and leadership qualities.

The theme for this year’s NULITES Youth Summit is: Achievement: Don’t Talk About It, Be About It! Each day of the summit will be devoted to exposing youth between the ages of 14 and 19–Generation NeXT–to a variety of resources, avenues of support and tools they can use to attain their life goals.

Stephney will participate in the Thurs., July 27 Generation NeXt Town Hall Meeting. This forum will explore the hip-hop art-form’s past, present and future in the context of the African American social/political/economic experience and its use as a vehicle of expression for the voices of this age group. The session will feature video presentations and discussion among panelists, and will conclude with an audience Q&A session.

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The League is still signing on participants, and expects that the meeting will feature panelists representing the "old school" hip-hop and poetry community; today\'s hottest rappers, producers and poets; some of the industry’s leading business figures and media commentators, and experts and scholars from religious, political and academic arenas.

The National Urban League’s Youth Summit precedes the organization’s 2000 Annual Conference, scheduled for July 29 through August 2 at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The theme for 2000 is The State of Black America: The New Millennium. As in year’s past, the Conference will draw leaders from the government, entertainment, civil rights, business and technology communities.

The NULITES program is a component of the National Urban League’s Campaign for African American Achievement, a movement that seeks to raise achievement levels and strengthen the social skills of African-American and other children of color, through advocacy, hands-on programming and targeted publicity efforts. The Campaign is also a mechanism for holding schools accountable for the quality of education they deliver.

For more information about the NULITES Youth Summit or the National Urban League’s 2000 Annual Conference, call the League at (212)558-5300, or visit the Web site at www.nul.org.

Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is a nonprofit organization whose 114 affiliates in 34 states and the District of Columbia provide direct services and function as advocates to generate policy reforms that empower African-Americans to achieve economic, academic and racial equality. The League’s headquarters is located at 120 Wall Street in New York City.