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[[images - four black & white photographs of National Urban League conference]]

THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE is primarily a story of tremendous local effort, carried out in communities across the country by 101 UL Affiliates. These efforts are supported and coordinated by the National Headquarters Office in New York City, by 5 Regional Offices, Government Affairs Department and a Research Department.

But the real action lies out there in the streets and in the neighborhoods, where dedicated professionals and enthusiastic community volunteers put UL programs into practice to bring hope and opportunity to those trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty and despair.

SOME OF THE PROBLEMS:

■ about 40% of the nation's 22 million blacks earn less than $5,000 a year per family.

■ in 44 major cities, unemployment among blacks is as high as 33.8%.

■ out of 522,000 elective offices in the U.S., only 1,800 are held by blacks, less than .4%

■ in 1971 the mortality rate for black infants under the age of one year was 29.3 per 1,000 live births as compared to 16.3 for whites.

■ the average black American must expect to die 7 years earlier than his white counterpart.

■ in 1971 the high school dropout rate for black males nineteen years of age was 29.3% and 24.6% for black females. Comparable figures for whites are 15.9% and 14.0%.

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