This year's State of Black America 2006: The Opportunity Compact includes the "Equality Index", a statistical measurement of disparities or "equality gaps" between blacks and whites across five different areas, reveals that the economic status of African Americans is 56 percent that of white Americans, one percent worse than in 2005. Comparing factors such as income, unemployment, home ownership, business ownership, median net worth, poverty rates, African Americans, despite a rebounding economy, are not progressing economically as anticipated. The one bright spot economically was the growth of black owned businesses which reveals the difference of 2.5 to 1 rather than 3 to 1 just a few years ago.

The four other areas measured by the "Equality Index" include education, health and quality of life, social justice and civic engagement. In 2006, the overall lEquality Index remains virtually unchanged from last year, as Black Americans continue to hover at 0.73 of the status of White Americans. The fact that this number has not changed year after year is a story in itself.

"I wish that the Urban League could tell you that the State of Black America in 2006 was improving. We can't. We are here to tell it to you straight. The State of Black America is in trouble," said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League. "We can't close the great divides in this country in a day just like we can't end poverty in a night. But we're going to start by speaking truth to power. America is not America when millions of our citizens are still viewed as a fraction of a person."

Still the largest disparity, the black economic equality gap is more than 20 percent wider than any other category. The median net worth of the average African American family is ten times less at $6,166 versus the average white family at $67,000, due largely to the difference in home ownership and income. Blacks own nearly 50 percent of their homes, while whites own over 70 percent.

The State of Black America 2006: The Opportunity Compact was compiled and analyzed against the backdrop of one of the most catastrophic events to ever befall our nation. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the tragically slow government response exposed, in the starkest and most depressing terms imaginable, the race and class gaps that our previous reports and Equality Indexes had highlighted.

Sadly, these numbers were illustrated in sharp relief last summer when America was forced to see the gaping chasm between White and Black America, the haves and the have-nots. Hurricane Katrina was a wakeup call for the nation to lift many from the depths of poverty. Unfortunately, the initial flurry of concern and attention to poverty and injustice has given way to the status quo of neglect, domestic budget cuts, insensitivity and short-sighted policy priorities.

This year's report on The State of Black America moves these issues to the front burner. But more than simply describing the problems, the report offers concrete solutions for moving Americans from poverty to self-sufficiency to prosperity through the Opportunity Compact, the public policy foundation of the National Urban League's five-point empowerment agenda for closing the gaps in employment, education, health and quality of life, civil rights and civic engagement.

The Opportunity Compact is a prescription for addressing 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 publication 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.

The thought provoking essays written in this year's report include: Black Homeownership A Dream No Longer Deferred? by Lance Freeman, The Racial Composition of American Jobs by Darrick Hamilton, Escaping the "Ghetto" of Subcontracting, by Mark D. Turner, The State of Our Children by Marian Wright Edelman, Hurricane Katrina Exposed the Face of Poverty, by Maya Wiley, Race, Poverty, and Health Disparities by Brian D. Smedley, The State of Civil Rights by The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones, Racial Disparities Drive Prison Boom, by George E. Curry, as well as an update of the National Urban League Policy Institute's Sunday Morning Apartheid: A Diversity Study of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows by Stephanie J. Jones.

In addition, The State of Black America 2006:The Opportunity Compact includes a special section on Katrina and beyond with essay's by New Orleans' natives, the former Mayor of New Orleans and current President of the National Urban Marc Morial and political strategist and commentator, Donna L. Brazile.

"We urge our public officials, policy makers, scholars and others committed to addressing the problems of race, poverty and justice to carefully study The State of Black America 2006 report and use it as a blueprint for finally and fully attacking the problems we all live with," said Morial. "Poverty, the racial divide and social injustice do not impact only those who suffer most visibly; they tear apart the fabric of our nation in ways that damage and diminish us all. Alleviating poverty and injustice is a responsibility we must never forget or abandon."

The National Urban League is committed to filling the equality gaps through measures such as job training, business development, and educational assistance. For a copy of The State of Black America 2006, visit www.nul.org.