Leaders from prominent civil rights organizations and labor unions gathered with L.A. community members to discuss the economic and political issues being faced by Black and Latino communities in the U.S. — many of whom remain overworked, underpaid and under-protected.

The main speakers at the event were Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the Latino civil rights advocacy group UnidosUS; Marc H. Morial, former New Orleans mayor and current president and CEO of the Black civil rights organization National Urban League; and David Huerta, the president of the California service workers unions SEIU-USWW and SEIU California.

Inside the St. Louis Marriott Grand on Thursday, April 30, the applause rose like a long, overdue exhale. It was the kind of release that comes from a room full of people who have lived through something together. Nearly a year has passed since May 16, 2025, when an EF3 tornado tore through North St. Louis. And on this night, at the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ (St. Louis, MO) 108th Annual Dinner, the community gathered to honor what was lost, what was rebuilt, and what still lies ahead.

For thousands of families, the storm’s path was more than physical. It cut through routines, stability, and the illusion that tomorrow would look like today.

It is with extreme regret and sorrow that we announce the passing of a Giant in the Urban League Movement, Porter G. Peeples, Sr., President and CEO, Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County (KY), on Tuesday afternoon, April 28, 2026, while in his office, “doing the work that he loved.”  “I’ve never had a job. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life I get to go and do what I love doing to help others”, by his own admission. At the time of his passing, he was the sitting Affiliate CEO with the longest tenure as CEO, having just two years ago been recognized for his more than 50 years of service, and of course was an advocate for members of the Quarter Century Club, of which he was a member.

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

“For it is not enough just to give men rights. They must be able to use those rights in their personal pursuit of happiness. The wounds and the weaknesses, the outward walls and the inward scars which diminish achievement are the work of American society. We must all now help to end them--help to end them through expanding programs already devised and through new ones to search out and forever end the special handicaps of those who are black in a Nation that happens to be mostly white.” – President Lyndon B. Johnson, on signing the Voting Rights Act

This week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais should be called exactly what it is: a power grab that silences Black voters and weakens American democracy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. [April 23, 2026] — The National Urban League today applauded the introduction of the Improving Access to Financial Coaching Act of 2026, a timely and crucial bill that would provide resources to expand access to free, high-quality financial coaching for working families and underserved communities across the nation to assist them in climbing the economic ladder.

The bill would establish a federal grant program within the U.S. Department of the Treasury to support nonprofit, financial institutions, and community-based organizations in delivering trusted, one-on-one financial guidance, similar to the Housing Counseling program offered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.