The Exchange at the Indianapolis Urban League

2024 was a great year and we’re looking forward to what 2025 will bring! In this new year, The Exchange will continue creating safe spaces and curating meaningful meetings for our members and attendees. So, cheers to new beginnings, fresh starts, and the endless possibilities ahead. Here’s to making every moment count—let’s step into 2025 with purpose! 🥂

Habari gani?! What’s the news? 🟥⬛️🟩 Today kicks off Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration leading up to the new year. Kwanzaa is a holiday week celebration which 7 principles that correlate with each day. These principles are reminders for us about what is needed in our community for us to thrive! The 7 principles: Umoja (unity) Kujichagulia (self-determination) Ujima (collective work and responsibility) Ujamaa (cooperative economics) Nia (purpose) Kuumba (creativity) Imani (faith) Happy Kwanzaa!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas filled with love, joy, and warmth. May this festive season bring you peace and happiness, surrounded by those you care about. From our family at The Exchange to yours! 🎄

Seasons greetings and happy holidays from our family at The Exchange at the Indianapolis Urban League to yours! 🎅🏾🎁 This year The Exchange and the Indianapolis Urban League were able to adopt even more families and make sure we checked off their Christmas wishlists. Giving back to our community is one of the pillars for us and we were so lucky to be able to be part of these families’ holidays celebration! 🎄☃️

We want to wish our Marketing Co-Chair Dorian McCarroll a very happy birthday! Thank you for your dedication to fulfilling such an important role with our Marketing team! Today we celebrate YOU, with love from your family at the Exchange. 🥳

We also want to wish our programs co-chair Paris Walton a very happy birthday! Thank you for your dedication to providing important and relevant programming that our members can benefit from!

With all that's going on in the world today, let's take a moment to press pause on life and live in the moment and be thankful! Happy Thanksgiving from the Exchange. #OneBandOneSound

Introducing your new executive team for The Exchange!! President Kelly Doucet (she/her) won her bid for re-election and will be back for another term to continue the work she’s started in 2023. Exchange Treasurer, India Rhodes has won the office of chapter Vice President and is excited to step into this new role. Current programs co-chair Ashley Clay-Long has been elected to the Secretary position and is ready to hit the ground running in this office seat in 2025. Congratulations to the new administrations! We look forward to seeing the work you’ll do in this upcoming term! We know that each of you will continue to show the same dedication to the Exchange and to Indianapolis that’s we’ve seen from you so far. **A special shoutout to Duane Ingram for serving as our Elections Chair during this process! We appreciate your help with moving the voting process along!

The Exchange Black business holiday gift guide day 5 wraps up with four businesses that would be great establishments to support this holiday shopping season! Shopping from local small businesses not only supports our neighbors who own them but it also gives us more ideas of what our awesome city has to offer!

Day 4 of the Exchange Black business holiday gift guide is for the coffee shop connoisseur, street wear aficionado, and bookstore bookworm! These staples in the community will be gifts that keep on giving! Check them and the rest of our amazing organizations in the gift guide out this season ❄️