The National Urban League’s annual conference in Downtown Cleveland this week has more than 12,000 attendees, local organizers said.
Cleveland won the bid two years ago to host the national conference for the nonpartisan civil rights organization. The city last hosted in 2003.
“People are now recognizing Cleveland for a very specific reason, and that is that we have always been at the forefront of civil rights issues,” said Kevin Clayton, the board of trustees chair for the Urban League of Greater Cleveland. “One of the things we’ve been able to do is to really drive home the ‘three D’ strategy out of this conference, which is demand diversity, defeat poverty and defend democracy.”
The league released its 2025 State of Black America report during the conference, which said the country is in a “state of emergency,” citing attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion practices and civil rights policies…