As Dr. Lance McCarthy sat behind his desk at the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League recounting his childhood, it was obvious that despite having come from a family of modest means, his life had been one of complete exposure to the best of both worlds. Born on the threshold of a new era, McCarthy remembers being among the first to experience magnet classes, one of the first fruits of integration in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

Lance was a bright and likable young boy. Since his mother was a domestic worker for two of the wealthiest families in the city (owner of a bank and a state senator), he had an opportunity to get a peek into the corporate world during his early years. In addition, he was exposed to culture that most urban kids don't get a chance to experience at a young age. He loved the arts--plays, painting, music, etc. As a result, his entrepreneurial skills and interests coupled with his love for the arts made an interesting and rewarding combination.

At the age of 17, McCarthy was employed by a large corporation and was told that he could be vice president by the time he was 30. While impressed by the vote of confidence, he decided that if he could do that, then he could have his own company; subsequently, he decided to make that happen. After finishing college, McCarthy's first position was at a small finance-consulting firm. That first year, he learned, "If you keep it real, you learn to realize how much you don't know," he said. After one year of working in finance consulting, he began to delve in office design. With that came the opportunity to call on CEOs of corporations. His creative background, his eye for aesthetics, and his scientific perspective enabled him to analyze office space environment and create an atmosphere for productivity. He was good at it. McCarthy continued to broaden his horizons by spending six years working for three major pharmaceutical companies where he was involved in everything from research to becoming district and regional manager. That's when he decided it was time to form his own business. So in the early 1990s, he teamed with two partners to open a luxury car dealership. After three years of that, he opened a high-end men's clothing store.

Eventually, McCarthy fell into the art gallery business. At that time, his idea of a creative environment was to have a loft. After five years, he found the perfect location. It was an 1800 square foot facility, which stole his heart and subsequently became known as Utopia Loft Gallery. During the next two years, he expanded to a total of 4,000 square feet. That was enough space for 70 chairs--the perfect venue for plays, exhibits and music. It was the second largest gallery in St. Louis.

During that time, McCarthy wrote a piece of poetry every day. After three months, he had written 300 pieces. He took 30 of the poems and put them into a book around which he built an art show.

Before moving ahead to explore new grounds, McCarthy became quite eccentric, "Leaning heavily onto his creative side," he said and then laughingly added, "so much so that my friends started to wonder, is he smoking or something? What's going on with that boy?" But the truth of the matter was that he was ready for the next level.

Under the advice of a mentor, he moved on to recommence research and the non-profit sector. He was advised that research and the non profits push public policy, the public policy passes laws, and that is the way one truly makes change in an infrastructure--that is how this country is run.

As a result of his involvement with research, McCarthy was appointed to the St. Louis Economic Conversion Project. Forty thousand jobs had been lost, and the city needed to restructure its economy. So off he went to Washington University with a desk, a computer, and funding from a Catholic church. His first title was Director of Industrial Policy Research.

In June 1993, McCarthy was asked to present a paper of his research in Chicago. At this convention, he emphasized capital--institutional funding: Wall Street, pension funds and insurance companies. His focus was on how to funnel those high institutional dollars down to the community. His presentation made such an impact that his name began to circulate. As a result, he was asked to bring his paper to Washington, D.C. Subsequently, in October 1993, he sat on the Financial Congressional Committee to testify to the Congress on how to levy capital for technology development. It was then that he was appointed to President Clinton's Economic Conversion Task Force where he sat with the top minds in the country.

McCarthy wrote over 40 research topics dealing with technology, capital formation, urban technology, etc. Said he, "Research is the best thing in the world, I was being paid to learn." He spoke to audiences at venus ranging from peace activist conferences to pension fund conferences. "My creative side and my business side had come together, I found my niche," he said. He was able to begin his process of the social entrepreneurial concept. Through that process, he was consultant to the cities of St. Louis and Wilston, Missouri regarding economic development.

In 1995, McCarthy did a report: The State of Black America, which was a proposal to secure Financial Interactive Technology (FIT) economic empowerment of the African American church. His objective was to show the faith-based how to access capital. "We could rebuild this country," he said, "sixty five thousand Black churches, 25 million members, doing $50 million every Sunday, two billion annually, controlling 300 billion in purchasing power, yet we own very little. The Black church needs to understand business development."

Deciding to move into development to help the African-American churches, he was contracted by a Philadelphia law firm to be their economist and investment buyer to actually go out and help churches to go to Wall Street. (That was during the time of all the church burnings), so he was moved to Jackson, Mississippi to handle two of the largest church projects in the state. One was a 92,000 square foot facility. (The thing that made it so special was that it was his father's hometown.) For three years, he went around helping churches to find financing.

McCarthy finally relocated to Los Angeles as Vice President of the Black Sports Agents Association. Now involved with this four billion dollar industry, it was like living the life of Riley, the life of the rich and famous. His responsibility was to find equity dollars.

Equity dollars are found among the "new rich" -- sports and entertainment. The NBA and NFL do about two billion dollars in annual salaries; however, this is a 400 billion dollar industry. So even in the "new rich", the variance of ownership is such that even if it gets to the point of higher wages, Blacks are still not building wealth, because Blacks do not own part of the entity and infrastructure. Therefore, according to McCarthy, one should look at models of how athletes can buy franchises, look at the vendors of the sports arenas, and look at purchasing teams. Thirteen years of his career was spent in researching these sectors, and now he brings that knowledge and experience to Orlando.

Since coming to Orlando in July 2004 as CEO of the Metropolitan Urban, McCarthy states that he could not be more peaceful at this moment--knowing that he is helping to revitalize the city. Says he, "Out of the 1.8 or three billion people that you look at based in Central Florida proper, you have an additional 50 million who come through annually." Tourism is a major force of the economy; however, when 40% of the people make $10 an hour or below, it becomes very difficult. "I'm looking at every sector of the economy. You know, to own something as simple as a home can be difficult. The average home is $211,000 and you're making $10 an hour. That becomes very difficult."

African Americans are almost dead last in health and education (there is a shortage of Ph.Ds). According to some statistics, Orlando is second behind Atlanta in attracting people into the area; therefore, a lot of talent is coming in. "If we tie in training and education, it becomes opportunity. There are many opportunities in technology," said McCarthy, "I look at this as almost the next Silicone Valley--look at UCF. Technology is listed in the top 10 all the time. The national average over the next 20 years is expected to be 40% growth. In Orlando, it is expected to be 130%."

McCarthy stated that at the Urban League, the objective is to be a value added to everyone. Despite being educated and working for a corporation, African-Americans still have issues--racism, sexism, promotions, or getting a new job somewhere else, or at the same place. The Urban League is a conduit. They have a system where the corporations post jobs on their site, the person's resume is there and, "We connect them for a fee," said McCarthy. In addition, the Urban League has opened a second satellite office at the SBA Center--the second Urban League in the country to do that. One hundred twenty-seven million dollars nationwide have been made available to help small businesses in capital formation.

Says McCarthy, "We have created a national study on diversity that was funded by Enterprise Leasing. It says that companies that have a true diverse program are 18% more profitable." As a result of his findings, he has contracted with national consultants to do diversity training and go into the corporations for a fee. He is also putting together a task force for every sector: law, health, finance--they tell us the issue with each sector and the Urban League helps to make the transactions. "That's value added," said McCarthy. "I've been all around the country and have seen a lot of things. This is a very, very unique market. We know that there's still the old network, but I know how to penetrate that network. If this is to be a true 21st Century city, with new talent coming in, we ought to be reflective of that."

During his first year, McCarthy has doubled the Urban League's revenue, from one million to two million dollars, something rarely done in any affiliate. In August, he led the Urban League in initiating a Faith and Finance Series in Orlando to help churches know how to find funding. In one year's time, he has been appointed to sit on seven local boards. This helps him do a much better than average job. He is now planning to publish a Black Central Florida Report. Under that report, people will be able to look at the indicators under each sector, see where they are, and determine where they need to go.

Recognizing art as important to ones culture, McCarthy has added it to his agenda. He has been doing a floating art show, which has already been to Winter Park, City Hall, and the South Orlando Mercedes Dealership. He plans to open an art gallery in Eatonville with Odell being the first artist to be commissioned. His piece has been deemed to be able to sell at the National Urban League booth at the National as the 95th commemorative piece. In addition to that, He has been responsible for putting on an excellent concert, Three Mo Tenors, who recently performed in Orlando.

Significantly, the National Conference of the Urban League is expected to be held in Orlando in 2008, and hosted in a hotel that will bear part African-American ownership.

Says McCarthy about his position and outlook in Orlando, " I have a great staff--some inherited, some new. I am happy where I am spiritually and physically; however, there is much more that I want to do here."