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 that is available to all children in order that they achieve academic success and are productive citizens in today's society.  Our education priorities are universal, high quality, free pre-K; more time for learning; effective teaching in every school and classroom; targeted spending that is adequate to the neediest states, districts and students; fair discipline; diversity and meaningful community and parental engagement which is all toward the objective of college and career success for all students.  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 $600,000 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 enrichment program designed to recruit, stimulate, and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. ACT-SO includes 32 categories of competition in the sciences, humanities, business, and performing and visual arts. Since 1977, more than 300,000 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 800 cities across the country, ensuring an America where young people are prepared to assume leadership roles in their families, community and in the work place. 

Civic engagement is critical in maintaining a heathy democracy. Most recent, key provisions of the Voting Rights Act removed vital voting protections necessary for African American, Latino, Asian American, American Indian, and Alaskan Native voters as well as other youth, seniors and disabled voters, making it more difficult to cast a vote. In this moment of unprecedented, targeted and coordinated attacks on our democracy through the attrition of voter suppression, the excesses of income inequality, and the ravages of unequal education and criminal justice systems, the NAACP leadership and mobilization is as vital today as ever.  

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.  

Increases in extreme weather events, droughts, sea level rise and storm surge, is all serving to crack the ice on resistance to belief in climate change.  The NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program seek to address the intersection of environmental justice and climate justice. Specifically, the ECJP advances policies and practice that work towards eliminating harmful carbon emissions which cause negative health, economic, and quality of life impacts on communities while also driving debilitating change in our air, water and terrain; advancing energy efficiency and clean energy alternatives, and improving community resilience and livability to endure the rise in the increasing, devastating effects of climate change and reduce disaster-induced displacement.  

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 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.  Currently, over 700,000 individuals return home annual, looking for opportunities to rebuild their lives. One of the most important factors in determining successful reentry for those returning home is the ability to find employment and provide for themselves and their families. The Criminal Justice Program has worked on the issue of reentry as one of its priority areas. 

Legal assistance provided by our lawyers seeking justice through the courts, the removal of barriers to voting,  advocacy for fair and equitable law enforcement in all communities across America, access to quality education, and clean and healthy environments are all ongoing work of the Legal Department. The NAACP continues to implement programs that focus on armed services and veterans affairs assistance, emergency/disaster relief, and housing assistance. Fighting for educational equality, equal protection under the law, good jobs, quality affordable health care, clean energy, economic empowerment and labor rights are all central core values of our work in the past, present, and will continue to be the cornerstone surely in the future.  

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.