Annual Report on Socio-economic Conditions in Black America
The State of Black America is the annual Urban League report that addresses the issues central to Black America in the current year. The publication is a barometer of the conditions, experiences and opinions of Black America. It examines black progress in education, homeownership, entrepreneurship, health and other areas. The publication forecasts certain social and political trends and proposes solutions to the community's and America's most pressing challenges.
Published since 1976, The State of Black America is released each year during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., at the Legislative Policy Conference.
March 2008
In the Black Woman's Voice
The 2008 edition of the State of Black America report is subtitled "In the Black Woman's Voice." As the subtitle suggests, the report provides the black female perspective of the challenges that currently confront women of color in America.
The 2008 State of Black America also presents the National Urban League's groundbreaking Opportunity Compact, a comprehensive set of principles and policy economic and social mainstream of this nation. The Compact is not only detailed The Opportunity Compact provides the framework for the 2008 edition, with several essays addressing the recommendations set out in the Compact.
"By uplifting black women, especially those struggling hardest to keep their families together and their dreams on track, we lift up every American community. I encourage you to read this year's edition of the State of Black America: In the Black Woman's Voice with special attention to the Opportunity Compact. Our country urgently needs a new vision to close the gaps between black and white Americans. The State of Black America and the Opportunity Compact will help guide the way."
-Marc H. Morial, National Urban League President & CEO
According to the 2007 National Urban League Equality Index, although many black men are doing well, glaring gaps continue to exist between black men and their white counterparts. These gaps are caused and aggravated, in large measure, by the underperformance of a disproportionate number of black men in a variety of areas and for a variety of reasons.
Because of its devastating and far-reaching ramifications, this underperformance of the black male is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today.
The 2007 State of Black America report takes up this challenge with a fresh and in-depth look at the current conditions affecting the black male. Based on this research and analysis by some of America's best minds, the National Urban League presents several targeted and comprehensive recommendations designed to eliminate the equality gaps and empower all black Americans, male and female.
The price of this issue is reduced substantially from $29.95 to $14.95. To order in advance, call Rose Jefferson at 212 558-5316.
This year's report on The State of Black America continues to examine the equality gaps, as researched in the Equality Index, that remain virtually unchanged at 0.73 from last year (2005) between Black and White Americans.
To combat this gap in equality, the National Urban League Opportunity Compact addresses the scourge of poverty and lays the groundwork for economic empowerment of African Americans and others in four areas: homeownership, jobs, economic development and our children.
The State of Black America 2006 report opens with four essays addressing these four components. While each essay stands on its own as an independent policy analysis, together they present a cohesive and systematic approach for closing the nation's equality gaps. Also, included in this year's report are essays on Hurricane Katrina and poverty, race and healthcare disparities, racial disparity and prison boom, and the state of civil rights.
The 2005 edition of the National Urban League's The State of Black America: Prescriptions for Change examines the equality gaps that continue to undermine African Americans' quest for parity in the American mainstream and, equally important, propose specific remedies to help eliminate disparities in particular areas. Once again, the National Urban League Equality Index included in the volume provides a statistical foundation for the wide-ranging discussion that must occur; and the essays, opinion articles, and reports on Urban League programs it contains will underscore the League's goal of stimulating progress for African Americans in its five areas of major effort: economics, education, health, civil rights and social justice, and civic engagement. Thus, the 2005 edition of The State of Black America joins its predecessors in making an important contribution to the campaign for justice and equality in America.
How much closer is America to achieving equality between blacks and whites since the Civil Rights Movement? Not close enough: black progress is precarious at best, according to the finding of The State of Black America 2004.
The 2004 Report also unveils the League's first "Equality Index,' a statistical measurement of the disparities that exist between blacks and whites in economics, housing, education, health, social justice and civic engagement. The report also includes a national survey of the attitudes of blacks, Latinos and Asian-Americans regarding quality of life, education, finances, discrimination and other issues.
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Celebrating 97 Years
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