Posted on August 17, 2005

African Americans/Blacks

Lagging progress in achieving equality for the African-American community in the Los Angeles region is the focus of a new report from the Los Angeles Urban League and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Examining the region's key socioeconomic indices by race and ethnic grouping, The State of Black Los Angeles (28 pages, PDF) finds striking disparities in many categories for African Americans compared with Asians, Latinos, and whites. The report — which was funded in part by the James Irvine Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, and the California Endowment — also places economic, housing, health, education, criminal justice, and civic engagement factors in a cultural and historical context, and argues that recognizing the interrelatedness of each factor is crucial to ensuring full civic participation and equal access to resources for the region's African Americans.