Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP President Anna Richards was named North Carolina NAACP branch president of the year at the state conference last weekend.
Under her leadership, the Chapel Hill - Carrboro NAACP has become more organized and accessible. Richards has hosted several Freedom Fund Banquets during her tenure that have raised the fundraiser bar above $10,000 each year. This increase has resulted in additional scholarships, given to local high school seniors, for college expenses.
The branch has not only been able to increase the amount of each scholarship, but also create a sustaining scholarship opportunity that will give each recipient the chance to renew their award for another year.
Richards has worked tirelessly to support the efforts of the UNC-Chapel Hill NAACP and the Silent Sam Coalition, who worked to remove the Confederate monument from UNC’s campus. She spoke at rallies along with the students, helped to get the UNC branch into compliance and met with the Chancellor and Chief of Police several times to address inequalities in the treatment of anti-racist activists and pro-confederate demonstrators.
President Richards has supported the efforts of the NC NAACP by traveling with the state conference delegation to DC to protest the Thomas Farr judicial nomination, by ensuring the Chapel Hill - Carrboro Branch sends at least one bus to HKonJ each year and by attending as many NC NAACP press conferences and direct action rallies as possible.
Under her leadership, the branch has had several successful Woman of the Year candidates including first place in 2017 and second runner-up for 2019.
Richards has kept the Chapel Hill - Carrboro NAACP Executive Committee committed to serving the local, state, and national community through programming, direct action, service and membership engagement.
Due to her outstanding leadership, the branch has been the recipient of several awards, including Branch of the Year 2017 and 2018, runner up in the NC NAACP Membership Showdown, and national recognition in 2019 with Thalheimer awards for programming as well as membership production.
The branch has several active committees working on NAACP’s Game Changers including the criminal justice, political action, education, labor, health, and housing committees. These committees have hosted events to support medicaid expansion, voter registration drives, affordable housing advocacy, fair labor practices, fair wages (FightFor15), and more.
Along with making the branch strong, she has created a committee leadership system that pairs a young person with a more seasoned chair in order to attract young members and to develop young leadership.
Richards retired in 2013 from Boeing, where she provided enterprise leadership of Finance Operations including payroll, payment services and supply chain financial analysis. During a 42-year career with several corporations, while pursuing increasing professional responsibility, she was a committed mentor and community volunteer.