2025 State of Black America:
State of Emergency - Democracy,
Civil Rights & Progress Under Attack
The National Urban League's annual publication, now in its 48th edition, is the highly anticipated source for thought leaders focusing on racial equality in America. The 2024 State of Black America report examines the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, marking the first significant effort by the U.S. to address the racial caste system. Sixty years later, the publication highlights that the struggle for equality persists, emphasizing the ongoing challenges and progress made in the pursuit of a more just and equitable future.
How does the New York Urban League work to improve racial equality for black New Yorkers?
We are ensuring that racial equality is integrated into local, city and statewide policies to foster healthy and thriving communities and livelihood for Black New Yorkers across all five boroughs by making racial equality data available.
Economics
Poverty is still too pervasive in African American communities
According to Robin Hood and Columbia University’s Poverty Tracker, 59% of Black New Yorkers have lived in poverty for at least one of the past four years, and 35% of adult New Yorkers who exit poverty fall back into poverty the following year.
Nearly ONE IN FOUR Black adults in New York City lived in poverty compared to roughly ONE IN EIGHT white adults.
50% of job growth since 2010 has been in industries with average annual wages under $40,000.
Education
College remains a buttress against poverty and Black students are not being prepared for college, work or life.
Significant Black-white achievement gaps still exist across New York City schools. Whites’ proficiency in math and reading is 2x that of black students.
In 2018, Black students made up the smallest percentage of public-school students who passed one or more AP exams, by ethnicity, at 26 percent. In 2013, 29 percent of Black students passed their advanced placement exams.
The SAT is used as a key indicator of college readiness; Black students in NYC are scoring 17% lower on the SAT than white students on reading and math.
Digital Divide
COVID laid bare the fact that the Digital Divide is widening, limiting the ability of communities of color to access education, career training resources, and social services
In NYC, 40% of residents lack either mobile or home internet services, and 18% lack both. For many Black (23%) and Hispanic (25%) families, they can ONLY access the internet via smartphones.
Only 54% of households with less than $20K in income have internet in the home.
African Americans make up 7% of the technology workforce across the country and only 3% of the total Silicon Valley workforce.
Civic Engagement
The right to vote for African Americans was under attack and African Americans answered the call. The challenge now is to manage engagement
Black turnout dropped 5 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election after trending up since 1996.
There are 2.5 million eligible white voters and 1.4 million Blacks in New York City. 52% of whites voted and 48% of Blacks.
SOCIAL (CRIMINAL) JUSTICE
Black people are still overrepresented in jails and prisons due to decades of over-policing and racial bias
By 1992, Black people and Latinos made up 92% of the NYS prison population and less than 17% of the population of the state.
Black youths make up 63% of the detention admission for the justice system.
Black youth are three times more likely to be arrested for something after suspected than a white person and to have a juvenile felony or misdemeanor (40%) when compared to white peers (15%).
Health
Underlying health issues and disparities in treatment and access leave Black New Yorkers at risk of sickness and death
In 2018, 1 in 4 Black adults in New York City faced a health problem (Poverty Tracker, 2020).
Today, Black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than white people and currently make up 28% of Covid-19 deaths despite making up only 22% of the city’s population.
56% of Blacks die before the age of 75 versus 33% of Whites.
More than 40% of Blacks have high blood pressure.
HELP US FIGHT INEQUALITY
For the past 100 years, we have inspired, influenced, and ignited over one million black people to achieve their highest potential. We are committed to elevating the circumstances that create inequalities in the lives of Black New York by headlining the issues and inspiring actions to eradicate them. At our core we believe that INEQUALITY IS UNACCEPTABLE. This guiding principle drives steadfast work of enabling African Americans and other underserved communities to secure equity. Through direct service delivery, advocacy, referrals, community capacity building, information dissemination and technical assistance, the League accomplishes its mission to empower communities and change lives.
