This weekend, 35 black professionals -- including educators, ministers, policymakers and business leaders -- will convene in Houston for the 2006 State of the Black Union' conference, a day-long forum where panelists will offer practical advice for uplifting America’s black communities.

Saturday’s symposium at St. Agnes Church will focus largely on black economic empowerment to help black Americans formulate their own plan for economic security.

The conference is hosted by radio personalities Tom Joyner and Tavis Smiley. Participants include entertainer Harry Belafonte, author Walter Mosley, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), National Urban League President Marc Morial, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, SCLC co-founder Rev. Joseph Lowery and Alphonso Jackson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The goal of the event, according to Smiley, is to establish a "national plan of action" based on insights from panelists about how black American families and businesses can grow their wealth, purchase a home and take advantage of tax breaks and investment opportunities.

Michelle Singletary, a columnist with The Washington Post, said she will also participate in the forum. In her column Sunday, Singletary said blacks must have a long-range plan for saving and investing their money and cited several statistics on black spending.

According to Target News, which tracks black marketing and consumer behavior, blacks spend more per capita than whites for food, entertainment and clothing. The survey said blacks spend about $22 billion of their income on products and services and almost $29 billion on cars. Black households had $679 billion in earned income in 2004, an increase of 3.5 percent over the $656 billion earned in 2003.

But the annual median income of blacks in 2004 was only $30,134, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While blacks spend $110 billion on housing, only 48 percent of blacks own their own homes compared with 75.7 percent of whites.

"If fact, African-American homeownership declined one percentage point from the fourth quarter of 2004," Singletary wrote in Sunday’s Post. "That number should be going up, not down."

Singletary said that after five straight years in the percentage of blacks who own stocks, only 61 percent of blacks surveyed had money in the stock market in 2004, down from 74 percent. White stock of ownership, she wrote, remained unchanged over the past six years at 79 percent.

"I have the opportunity to communicate with hundreds of consumers of all ages, race and economic backgrounds, and America – not just black America – is a nation of conspicuous consumers," Singletary added. "I hope we frame the Houston discussion with that in mind."

Saturdays’ symposium comes as more blacks are questioning the role of today’s black leadership mega-meetings and whether such grand-scale conventions resonate with blacks who are struggling to make ends meet.

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Last week, a black mother from Detroit appeared on author Michael Eric Dyson’s national radio show and wondered how conferences will actually improve her quality of life.

She expressed doubt that forums alone can adequately address the black community’s tremendous needs and said unemployment  and "babies having babies" are tearing her neighborhood  apart. 

"We need solutions," she said.

Tara Wall, a senior advisor for the Republican National Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com the nation’s economic outlook is strong and that more jobs are being created under President George W. Bush’s leadership, which will also benefit black Americans. Today, according to economic figures, the black unemployment rate remains twice as high as the rate of whites.

Craig Kirby, director of the office of the vice chairs for the Democratic National Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that gatherings like Saturday’s event are "a great reunion" for black leaders but rarely offer a more managable strategy for blacks America's growth.

"I think we’re better served," Kirby said, "by going back to basics with neighborhood block meetings."

On Smiley’s website, he’s promoting a new book called The Covenant, a document made up of 10 chapters on the issues identified by the public after the 2005 State of the Black Union in Atlanta. They include economic disparity, health, education and environmental justice.

"As we witnessed in the 2004 presidential election, Americans are deeply divided between race, class, gender, political ideology and moral values," Smiley wrote on his website. "It is imperative that we take this opportunity to consider the issues of particular interest to African Americans and to establish a national plan of action to address them."

Meanwhile, Singletary shared a simple piece of advice. 

"My answer to how blacks can achieve prosperity is to follow the advice of my grandmother, Big Mama," Singletary wrote.

"She always told me that it doesn’t matter how much you make but how you make do with what you have," she said. "This is from a woman who retired with more savings and financial strength than folks I know -- black, white, Hispanic and Asian -- who make more in a few months than she made in an entire year."