NAACP FOUNDATION

Since its inception, the strategy and implementation of NAACP programs, has been to ensure a society in which all individuals are treated fairly and are afforded access to opportunity, without regard to race, gender, creed, religion or sexual orientation. In education, the NAACP's leadership and advocacy has remained focused on removal of all obstacles to equal access to educational opportunity, ensuring access to an equitable and quality education is available to all children in order that they achieve academic success and are productive citizens in today's society. The National Early Childhood Literacy Program is implemented by NAACP Education Committees in communities on a local level in communities across the nation. The objective of the program is to increase literacy development and increase third grade level reading proficiency for African American and low income students. Through the introduction of literature, reading to pre-school children, providing books in the home and classroom, literacy comprehension and skills are acquired at an earlier age. Tutoring and mentorship programs are also implemented by local NAACP Education Committees, supporting and encouraging elementary through high school students to remain in school, advance academically and graduate. The NAACP encourages the pursuit of higher education through the Scholarship Program. The Association's Scholarship Program serves to assist in the elimination of financial barriers that confront young people as they pursue their undergraduate and graduate education. The scholarships awarded include: the Earl G. Graves, Agnes Jones Jackson Scholarship, Historically Black College & University Scholarship Fund, Lillian & Samuel Sutton Education Scholarship, Roy Wilkins Scholarship and the Hubertus W.V. Willems Scholarship. Over $450,000 has been awarded to students, offsetting the increasing costs of a college education. The NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics is a yearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate, and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. ACT-SO includes 26 categories of competition in the sciences, humanities, business, and performing and visual arts. Since 1977, more than 260,000 young people have participated in this cultural enrichment and academic scholarship program. Youth of today must be positioned to assume leadership on every level of society; therefore the NAACP places significant importance on leadership development. Young people who participate in the NAACP Youth & College Division, are mentored, receive leadership development skills and are trained in civic responsibility and engagement. Youth councils and college chapters are chartered in over 600 across the country, ensuring an America where young people are prepared to assume leadership roles in their families, community and in the work place. Economic Empowerment is essential to the stability and growth of families and communities. The NAACP Economic Empowerment Program works to remove barriers to economic advancement and access to opportunity. Financial economic education, promoting diversity and inclusion in business hiring, career advancement and procurement, monitoring financial banking practices and promoting community economic development, breaks down barriers to employment, wealth creation, lending and business ownership. The NAACP is engaged in eradicating racial and ethnic disparities, eliminating the systemic imbalance in the delivery of healthcare that disproportionately affects the African American community and other communities of color. Thus, the NAACP continues working to ensure equal access to medical care for all. Improving good health and wellness is an NAACP priority. Aggressive community outreach conducting, health symposiums, workshops and the publication of health and wellness toolkits, focus on the elimination of diseases in our communities: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, childhood and adult obesity and HIV/AIDS. Civil rights and civil liberties for all remain at the forefront of NAACP social justice and advocacy. The NAACP is committed to ending "Stop and Frisk," racial profiling polices implemented by law enforcement in communities throughout the nation. The NAACP is working to achieve greater law enforcement accountability and ending the violence administered against unarmed people of color. Legal assistance provided by our lawyers seeking justice through the courts, advocacy for fair and equitable law enforcement in all communities across America and the removal of barriers to voting and employment for formally incarcerated people is ongoing work of the Legal Department and criminal justice initiatives. The NAACP continues to implement programs that focus on armed services and veterans affairs assistance, emergency/disaster relief, and housing assistance. The stroke of a computer key, Google, Facebook or telephone call will instantly connect you with additional information about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), its programs and initiatives. Please contact the NAACP at: www.naacp.org or call toll free phone: 877.622.2798, for additional information.