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 2006
Opportunity Compact
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 years 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.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, this year's report focuses on the Black Family.
The State of Black America 2003 : The Black Family reports some good news: a slow but steady increase in the number of black families headed by married couples (47.9% in 2001 v. 46.1% in 1996); more than 2/3 of all black families have "stable working-class to middle-class" incomes, and a significant number of black men and women support equal rights and equal pay. But, in light of the 40 years since the march on the nation's capitol to promote civil rights and economic opportunity for African Americans, the report also calls into question how far African Americans have really come.
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Celebrating 99 Years
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