We of the San Diego Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (San Diego NAACP) hosted our annual Freedom Fund Dinner on Friday, October 6, 2017 at the Kona Kai Resort & Spa located at 1551 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego, California. The theme for this dinner was “Moving Forward Together For Justice and Equality.” We appreciate the financial support this important event provided to help us carry out the mission of the NAACP to “ensure, the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.” Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest, largest and most effective civil rights organization. We need your help to respond to assaults on human and civil rights that we face at this time including, but not limited to, police brutality, voter suppression tactics, inadequate health care and educational inequities.

The San Diego NAACP is committed to working with youth in the San Diego community to promote educational excellence and to provide access to STEM subject matter. The San Diego NAACP is very proud of its career mentorship program at Bell Middle School called Students With Academic Goals (SWAG). Started in 2011, the SWAG program now mentors more than 50 boys and girls of color each school year, introducing them to career professionals and providing them with educational support services.

We are also building our Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACTSO)program. ACT-SO is ayearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate, and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. ACT-SO includes 32 competitions in STEM, humanities, business, and performing, visual and culinary arts.  For more information on ACT-SO, please visit the San Diego NAACP ACT-SO website

Below are some of the other activities of the San Diego Branch:

• Conduct voter registration;
• Organize community forums with candidates for public office;
• Host our weekly radio program Today’s NAACP on KBLKradio.com providing information on civil rights;
• Advocate for legislation to promote equity and fairness in employment, education, voting and law enforcement;
• Provide input to law enforcement on issues of concern to the community including use of force and racial profiling; and
• Investigate claims of discrimination in government contracting, employment, education and law enforcement.

Again, we thank you for your support, and look forward to seeing you at our 2018 Freedom Fund Dinner, which will be held at the Kona Kai Resort & Spa on October 12, 2018.

Sincerely,

André Branch

President, San Diego NAACP