The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga hopes to cut costs this year by having an Equal Opportunity Day Breakfast instead of a dinner.

“We are trying to be more cost conscious,” President Warren Logan said. “We’re sensitive to the time, and we’re trying to do as much as we can to work with the people coming through our doors.”

The Equal Opportunity Day Breakfast is scheduled from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Chattanooga Convention and Trade Center. The event is expected to draw about 800 people compared to more than 1,000 who have come for entertainment and dinner in years past. However, the breakfast will allow the Urban League to keep more money, officials said.

“This year it was important for us to return as much of the proceeds back to the Urban League as possible,” said Ron Loving, an Urban League board member and co-chairman of the breakfast. “We’re having a higher demand for all of our programs across the board because of the economy.”

Mike Beamish, executive vice president of human resources at Volkswagen and a member of the management board for Volkswagen Group of America, will be the speaker.

“Hearing from Volkswagen will be important because of their expressions of inclusiveness and diversity,” Mr. Loving said.

For 25 years, the Urban League has hosted an annual dinner that included a nationally known speaker and entertainment. However, the number of clients served by the Urban League has more than doubled in the past five years, from about 2,000 people to more than 5,000, league officials said. More money is needed to make sure that the people are served, Mr. Logan said.

The goal is to net at least $50,000 from the breakfast, he said.

“We need to put money back into programs to service all the people who are coming through the door for help,” he said.

The Urban League is a nonprofit organization that assists economically and socially disadvantaged people by offering anti-obesity and exercise classes, helping them find jobs, providing after-school programs and offering educational financial services.

Mattie Lee Billingsley is one of 20 students who enrolled this year in the Urban League’s 13-week financial peace class, which is so popular there’s a waiting list, officials said.

“Before I started going, I had nothing,” Ms. Billingsley said. “For the first time, I have money in the bank. I’ve paid off $400 in debt, retrieved my car title and cut up two credit cards.”

Ms. Billingsley’s goal is to become debt free and open her own cleaning business, she said.