Harriet Richardson Michel is President and Chief Executive Office of the New York Urban League and is the first woman to head the New York Urban League since it was founded in 1919. Before founding the Women Against Crime Foundation at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 1981, Ms. Michel served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. From 1977 to 1979, Ms. Michel served as director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Community Youth Employment Program/CETA in Washington, DC. Ms. Michel served as executive director of the New York Foundation from 1972-1977, the first Black woman to head a major foundation and is founding member of the Association of Black Foundation Executives.