In a direct response to a wave of local youth violence and the opioid epidemic, a coalition of St. Louis pastors and the Urban League are launching an initiative to distribute hundreds of free gun locks and Narcan kits directly through congregations.

Organizers say the effort—spearheaded by the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis (St. Louis, MO) and a growing coalition of forty neighborhood churches—is a direct rejection of traditional, high-level political approaches to public safety.

“This does not self-regulate. What we see taking place does not fix itself,” said James Clark of the Urban League Division of Public Safety. “It’s not going to end behind the badge. It’s not gonna end at the ballot box, but it can end at the front door of the neighborhood church.”

Written By:

Samina Radia | Affiliate Services Summer Advisor

The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, yet our $5.3 trillion (about $16,000 per person in the US) healthcare expenditures do not guarantee Americans universal healthcare due to systemic underlying issues. According to the National Health Expenditure Accounts, domestic healthcare cost 18% of our nation’s total economic output in 2024 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], 2026). But these trillions do not buy wellness for our communities; they buy bureaucracy. This quantitative data only reveals our grim reality: our healthcare system has been weaponized against the very people it is meant to serve. To Defend Democracy, Defeat Poverty, and Demand Diversity, we must dismantle the insidious corporate strategy that dictates modern insurance: Delay, Deny, Defend. 

Nearly 40 Los Angeles students, ages 13 to 18, took the stage on Friday, July 10, to pitch original business plans as part of BizCamp 2026, a free youth entrepreneurship program hosted by the Los Angeles Urban League (Los Angeles, CA) in partnership with NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship).

Over three weeks, participants worked through the fundamentals of entrepreneurship — from market research and pricing to financial literacy and public pitching — building original business concepts that reflect their own interests and communities. This year’s ventures include a website design studio, a youth volleyball coaching service, an AI-powered sticker tracking app, a seafood food truck, a custom phone case line, and an original technology product, among others.

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: CONFIRMATION OF BLANCHE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL “WOULD UNDERMINE THE VERY IDEA” OF EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW

NEW YORK (July 15, 2026) – Civil rights, voting rights, and police oversight have been neglected while Acting Attorney General  pursues the president’s personal priorities and ignores orders from the judiciary, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said, urging Senate leaders to reject his nomination.

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

“The 1976 celebration was a more vital and happy one because of a broad belief that two years earlier the system had worked, and we were celebrating a system that had cleansed itself. We were in a period of renewal and relief, and today we’re in a period of fear and loathing. We don’t have any reason to celebrate our founding documents, because we’re living in an authoritarian state that is quite different from the one that the founders created.” -- Jonathan Alter

In a proclamation declaring 1976 The Bicentennial Year, President Ford called upon “every man, woman, and child to celebrate the diversity of tradition, culture and heritage that reflects our people and our patrimony.”

A half century later, President Trump used the occasion of the nation’s 250th anniversary to celebrate Trump.