This paper explores how recent economic, demographic, and social changes have created the conditions that are presently constricting the opportunities and future expectations of today's urban young men. While research indicates that all disadvantaged youth in urban areas are facing impediments to their success, the paper focuses on the realities of disadvantaged young men in their mid-teens to early twenties. The following factors and influences are examined: (1) economic trends; (2) demographic trends; (3) urban poverty; (4) family formation; (5) educational achievement; (6) drugs and violence; (7) incarceration; and (8) lack of supports. The paper asserts that a growing number of youth and families need assistance if they are to overcome the forces of poverty, joblessness, and racism that place them at risk of not realizing their potential as self-sufficient and productive citizens. Today's disadvantaged young men in urban areas desperately need supervision during nonschool and summer hours while their parents are at work, which should incorporate the following elements: (1) consistent adult relationships; (2) supplemental education; (3) health care and counseling; (4) recreational activities; (5) safe and clean facilities; (6) skills development; and (7) improvements in self-esteem. Efforts to help these young men must comprehend the reality of urban life in the 1990s. A bibliography listing 68 references is appended. (AF)