Arva R. Rice is a passionate community leader who has dedicated herself to creating pathways to success for young people with a focus on girls and women. She has more than 20 years of experience in the non-profit arena, ranging from working with New York City entrepreneurs in a micro lending program to working with young people as a counselor, mentor and tutor.  Arva currently serves as President and CEO of the New York Urban League (NYUL), an organization that has a rich history and long legacy of service to New Yorkers.  The New York Urban League is leading the way underserved African Americans are educated, employed and empowered across the five boroughs of New York City.  For the past 100 years, we’ve inspired, influenced and ignited over one million Black people to achieve their highest aspirations.

Prior to joining the New York Urban League, she served as the Executive Director of Project Enterprise, an organization that provides business loans, technical assistance and peer support to New York City entrepreneurs who lack adequate access to business financing.    Project Enterprise is based on the Nobel Prize winning Grameen Bank model developed in Bangladesh. During her tenure, the agency doubled board giving, developed an individual giving campaign, added high impact funders such as the Robin Hood, Tiger and eBay foundations, and doubled its revolving loan fund. 

Previously she served as the founding Executive Director of Public Allies New York, a young adult leadership program dedicated to helping develop the next generation of non-profit leaders. Arva developed the agency’s first signature fundraiser, MOSAIC, and built a diverse base of foundation, government and individual support for the program.

Prior to Public Allies, Arva was Program Director of the Economic Literacy Initiative at Girls Incorporated.  Girls Incorporated is a national non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring girls to become strong, smart and bold. While at Girls Incorporated, Arva developed a strategic alliance with American Express, which enabled her to publish Money Matters: An Economic Literacy Action Kit for Girls.

Arva also worked at the Fund for the City of New York, an operating foundation dedicated to helping improve the lives of New Yorkers, especially New York City youth.  As Director of Technical Assistance, Arva assisted in program development, fundraising, communication, and collaborative efforts of the Beacons Initiative.  Beacons are school-based community centers operated by community-based organizations that provided comprehensive services to youth and families in communities throughout the five boroughs.

 Arva worked at The Valley Youth Program where she was responsible for fundraising and special events including the Circle of Sistahs Women's Conferences that over 500 young women attended.  Arva has also worked as a fundraising consultant to numerous youth agencies, including the New York City Department of Youth Services.  Arva has extensive staff training and facilitation experience. She has also served as a guest speaker, panelist and keynote speaker for both non-profit and for-profit organizations.  Most recently, Arva provided training for NGOs in Uruguay as part of the State Department’s Speaker’s Bureau.

Arva is a Commissioner for the NYC Equal Employment Practices Commission.  She is also a member of the Women’s Forum and the Greater New York Chapter of The Links Incorporated. Arva also served as Chair of the North Star Fund Board of Directors, a grant-making non-profit.  She is a recipient of The Network Journal’s “Forty Under 40” Black Achiever’s Award Winners, a Community Award from NV Magazine, the 25 Most Influential Women in Business Award from The Network Journal and an alum award from Northwestern University.

Arva was selected by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national foundation that develops solutions to build a brighter future for children, as one of 16 leaders from across the country for its 2013-2014 Children and Family Fellows. 

Arva graduated from the Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.  She currently lives in Harlem.