The Muncie National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Branch 3063, continues to move forward on a path that celebrates diversity.
Chapter President George Foley Jr. has been a member since 2015, actively marketing the organization while working closely with the community as program director for the Muncie Parks Department.
The two leadership roles have provided him with greater community outreach.
Foley took over as chapter president in November 2023 when the previous chapter president, Joseph Anderson, accepted an out-of-state job offer.
“I wanted to improve what the NAACP stands for and what we do,” Foley said.
Foley said he realizes the organization is often thought to be only for African Americans, a myth he wants to dispel. He cited the organization's mission statement directed toward combating discrimination issues.
“The NAACP is for anyone,” he said. “Discrimination can come in any force. We are here [for] Both civil rights and social injustice.”
The chapter currently has 15 members who meet via Zoom at 6pm on the second Thursday of every month. The routine has remained the same since the COVID-19 pandemic, though Foley said the organization hopes to meet in person again by the spring.
To encourage new and repeat members, the subsidiary has established a youth council where members often create community partnerships.
In this relationship, they hope to focus on gun violence awareness and begin conversations with the Muncie Police Department.
Muncie NAACP Youth Council during a Muhammad Ali Center trip. Tailored technology, drawing provided
Muncie Central High School junior Jamar Clark, president of the Muncie NAACP Youth Council, is involved in many of the school's extracurriculars but sees his community role as the one of utmost importance.
The NAACP Youth Council is another resource that he finds beneficial to his upbringing and beneficial to his social development.
Roundtable meetings with the local police department are a great opportunity for youth council members to be heard and say what they want to say, Clark said. He said this importance lies in the fact that the voices of young people are amplified but are not always heard.
Although a greater relationship has been established between the branch and its Youth Council, the Council is largely independent and equipped with its own board of directors. The 25 board members meet on the second Monday of every month at the YWCA, Foley said.
Clark said his favorite part of the presidential role is helping inform the public about the council and convincing them to join it, because the NAACP is not widely known. Nationally, the NAACP has been around for 115 years.
The future of our democracy lies in America's forgotten corners. “That's why the NAACP is working hard to recruit 300,000 volunteers across the country ahead of the 2024 presidential election,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said on the organization's national website.
The Muncie chapter of the national organization was founded in November 1947 by Smith Thompson Jr., Foley said. In the years since, the chapter has given credit to a variety of pivotal events responsible for its community impact.
In 2018, the chapter hosted a symposium for 600 people — along with two corporate sponsors, AEP and Meridian Health Services — to hear from speaker Ron Stallworth.
Stallworth is a retired police officer who famously infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and later served as the inspiration for Spike Lee's 2018 film, “BlacKkKlansman.”
The success of the symposium was an essential step in reviving the branch.
“We tried to expose the whole city and invite as many people as possible like us [could] To learn what the NAACP is [was]”But even though we were asked to host the event the following year, we declined because it was too much work… We did it,” Foley said. [to] Changing the focus of the state conference.”
Since then, he has remained adamant that the chapter's main focus is increasing membership rates and doing whatever it takes on the local front, including hosting an annual Freedom Fund banquet.
The chapter meetings are also a hot event for keynote speakers such as National Education Advisor Robert Jackson and Rashid Shabazz, a Chicago-based teacher and Muncie native.
Youth education remains a top priority for the NAACP of Muncie. The group raises funds for charity, distributes school supplies in the fall, and encourages young people to vote.
“We've done some voter registration events where we encourage people of color to register to vote. We've given scholarships to people who come out of high school into college and go on to college students at Ivy Tech and Ball State,” Foley said.
For Clark, the fact that he is able to lead the NAACP Youth Council in Muncie enables him to “change the black community one step at a time.”
Adult membership to Muncie's NAACP starts at $30. Youth membership (ages 5-18) is $10. Both are valid for one year and are renewable.
Those interested in joining can contact naacpmunciebranch@gmail.com to request membership or head to their website for more information.
Contact Catherine Hale with comments on katherine.hill@bsu.edu .
