The civil rights struggle is a never ending one. As one of the leading civil rights organizations in the United States, the NAACP’s purpose and struggle will always be relevant. While the organization spends a majority of its time fighting for change, the NAACP has time to break bread with the community.
On March 10, 2013 the NAACP held its community dinner at the Soul Kitchen Restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey. The event was a success and it was a time to inaugurate new members. The greater Red Bank branch and its membership is growing, but the challenge, is how to recruit more younger members into this aging activist organization.
At its core, the NAACP is a professional organization with an aging membership. If this civil rights organization wants to grow its audience, it is important to develop its youth branch. The Red Bank chapter, as any other chapter of this civil rights organization, is trying to overcome this hurdle. For anyone who wants to hear about the mission of this chapter, then the Red Bank chapter convenes a town meeting on the fourth Thursday of each month.
The meetings are open to the public and topical issue come up in the meetings. On the fourth Thursday, members discuss housing and civil rights violations in the Monmouth County area. Do young adults care for such matters, is still a figurative guess. What it takes to make civil rights attractive to young people can depend on numerous things.
The NAACP might need a better social media strategy to reach young people; however, the organization still relies on community outreach to find new followers. In the latter case, young people seem to shy away from such things. The red bank branch has created partnerships with schools and churches. This approach is a transitioning strategy to help young people learn how the NAACP operates.
If young people can volunteer and participate in NAACP activities, it might encourage them to become full-time members in the activist community. Only time will tell if this process will prove a success. At the community dinner, about eight of the fifteen new members were young people. Things seem positive for the greater Red Bank branch of the NAACP.
© 2013 Roger Brooks
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