ALEXANDRIA BRANCH OF THE NAACP ACTIVITY REPORT

1. MEMBERSHIP

R. Theressa Hillian, Branch Secretary, mailed out renewal for membership and manned the membership table at a Black history commemorative event. Membership table was set up at annual African American Heritage Festival on July 22.

2. LIFE MEMBERSHIP

Chair:

R. Theressa Hillian, Branch Secretary, mailed out renewal for life membership and manned the membership table at a black history commemorative event.

We have the following categories of church and synagogue as life members: Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian, and five denominations of Protestant congregations. Individual life members are black, white, and Native American. The list also includes all members of Alexandria's City Council, including our Mayor, are subscribing or fully paid Life Members, as both of Alexandria's members of Virginia's House of Delegates, our State Senator, Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of Circuit Court, Sheriff, and Congressman. Members of Alexandria's elected School Board have been subscribing, too.

3. YOUTH WORKS - (Youth Council #7825)

Youth Advisor: Jeannett Lightfoot
1st Vice-President:
Treasurer:
Secretary:

Hosted a tribute to African American Literary Work and Art; Participated in Alexandria NAACP Black History Month Program-Soul Food Taster; Volunteered a host & hostess for the Alexandria NAACP Branch Freedom Fund Banquet; Attended the Warren/Page Counties Branch Freedom Fund Banquet & Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Youth attended the Region VII Conference; Attended NAACP Virginia State Conference Quarterly Executive Committee Meetings; implemented a membership recruitment campaign which seeks monetary donations to a membership dues fund.

4. POLITICAL ACTION

Chair:

Cover the Uninsured
In March of 2003, the Political Action Committee co sponsored a “Cover the Uninsured” forum with the Health Committee. The forum featured representatives from the Queen Street Clinic, FAMIS program and Alexandria Health and Human Services. “Cover the Uninsured” was a national educational initiative on the 41 million uninsured Americans. One week was devoted to town hall meetings, health fairs and religious events across the nation to spread the message on the plight of the uninsured.

Candidate Forums
In April of 2003 the Committee co sponsored candidate forums for the city council, mayoral and school board elections along with several area civic organizations.

Meet and Greet Reception
In September of 2003, the Committee co hosted a “Meet and Greet Reception” with local civic organizations for the mayor and city council. At the reception, NAACP announced our “legislative report card” which will track and grade the votes of legislators on issues important to the NAACP. The event served as an opportunity to build relationships with key officials and community members. Over 70 community members were in attendance.

Participation in City Council Public Hearings
In September of 2003 the Branch began its monthly participation in public hearings. Every month the Branch will send a representative to the hearings to speak on an issue of concern to the community, and update the council and mayor on the progress of the legislative report card.

5. EDUCATION

Co-Chairs: Joyce Sanchez and Sallie Craft

The branch was a co-sponsor of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Service held at Oakland Baptist Church in Alexandria on January 15.

The branch sent a letter to Alexandria Superintendent of Schools and high school principal venting their outrage when a local school teacher required a first grade African American boy to clean feces off the floor of a school restroom as a form of disciplining the child.

The branch hosted a meeting with Superintendent of School, Dr. Herbert Berg and members of the School Board at the branch's general membership meeting on February 15. One topic discussed was Standards of Learning (SOL) testing.

The branch hosted a lecture, "Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century" at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center on February 27. Speakers Yolanda Williams (Washington, D. C., Adult Education Project Specialist) and Senior Pastor Dr. Leonard Smith (Mount Zion Baptist Church, Arlington) explored issues confronting African Americans. A Soul Food Tasting reception followed the program.

The branch completed another year in the tutoring and mentoring program in the Alexandria City Public Schools. Our tutors included Anna Medley, Anice C. Wilson, Viola Wilson (Sallie Craft's sister) and Sanchez who tutored at Ramsay Elementary School and Ethel S. Underwood who tutored at Jefferson Houston Elementary School. The volunteers tutor in conjunction with the Alexandria Tutoring consortium. The branch informed members of the many scholarships that the NAACP Education Department offer: Roy Wilkins Scholarship, Earl G. Graves/NAACP Scholarship Award, Willems Scholarships for Male Students, Louis Stokes Science & Technology Award, etc.

Sanchez attended education committee meetings with the Tenants and Workers Support Committee, a local advocacy organization. On May 15, the topic of the meeting was Framing the Issues Around Racial Justice in the Schools. A workshop was presented by employees from Applied Research Center (ARC) around these issues. The purpose of the workshop was to show how minorities are treated around certain events that happen in school environments including suspensions and expulsions.

Sanchez attended the 2000 Alexandria City Public School Business and Community Partnership Breakfast on June 8 held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. The speaker was Dr. Terry K. Peterson, Counselor to the Secretary of Education. He emphasized the continued need for the community to be involved in the school system. He especially made note that Alexandria has ninety businesses involved in the "Partnership in Education". He re-emphasized the need for parents to continue the education process by reading to their children at least 30 minutes a day. Take your child to the local library, get a card, and check out books all can enjoy.

6. LEGAL REDRESS COMMITTEE

Chair: S. Howard Woodson, III, Esq.

The branch received more than numerous complaints or calls alleging discrimination, which were handled internally, referred to attorneys or to the appropriate agencies.

Assistance from the branch was requested in the following matters: employment termination of a black Alexandria police officer; arrest warrant issued for a person for not paying a traffic violation fine; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and class action suit against Department of Veterans Affairs; employer discrimination against Department of Treasury and racial discrimination on other job sites; discrimination suit for visitation of man's son who is under metal health care; police entering a home without a warrant; and police physical abuse on someone in Alexandria Detention Center.

The branch continues its oversight of the Alexandria Police Department as well as the Alexandria Commission on Civil Rights.

The branch continued its contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) concerning hate mail that we received. Our branch also contacted the computer server Erols.

7. LABOR AND INDUSTRY

Chair:

The branch was represented meetings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) representatives in support of PTO's relocation from Crystal City, Arlington to Alexandria. City leaders are confident the new location would drive the municipal economy, creating jobs, luring businesses, law firms and design centers to the area while revitalizing the Eisenhower Valley as a high-tech corridor.

Vanessa Hester attended the NAACP Federal Sector Task Force Summit II held at the McLean Hilton Hotel in Tysons Corner, Va on Jan.15. Branch members also attended a rally on June 4. More than 300 federal employees, labor union leaders and representatives of Federal agencies also attended. NAACP Board of Directors member Leroy Warren is Chair of the Task Force.

R. Theressa Hillian responded to many email messages received about the NAACP boycott of tourism in South Carolina. S.C. Governor Jim Hodges replied to an email that was sent to him by our branch life membership Chair F.J. Pepper.

Guest speakers at the June 6 branch executive meeting were Guile Nigle of the Northern Virginia Living Wage Coalition and Erica Taylor of the Tenants and Workers Support Committee. Members of the City Council voted June 17 in favor of a living wage law that would pay more than a hundred city contract workers nearly twice the federal minimum wage ($5.15). Passage of the law has put Alexandria in the company of more than 40 other cities and counties across the country. Members attended a rally before the vote. The branch endorsed enactment of this ordinance to help improve the quality of life for those citizens in Alexandria who, although working full time, are paid poverty wages; i.e., wages that fall below the federal poverty level. We also saw it as complementing our civil rights advocacy since many of those earning poverty wages are also the first to experience attacks on their civil rights.

R. Theressa Hillian and Kimberly Jajack were among the members who attended the NAACP Federal Sector Task force Seminar held at the Israel Baptist church in Washington, DC on June 8. The goals and objectives of the Task Force are to gather focused, first hand information on what is occurring in the Federal workplace, in order to address charges and allegations of employment discrimination, abuse of employees, verbal assaults, favoritism, and other forms of discrimination.

8. HOUSING

Branch President S. Howard Woodson, III, Esq. attended a meeting on March 6 with owners of the Foxchase apartment complex in an effort to preserve housing for residents of 423 low-incoming Section 8 units. After more than four months of negotiations, AIMCO, the owner of Foxchase Apartments, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have reached an agreement to extend the Section Eight contract for five more years. We expressed our concern to the Mayor and City council that action should be taken to ensure the continued availability of affordable housing.

9. HEALTH

Chair: Valerie McDonald

The branch was represented at a discussion on the connection between spirituality and health in the African American community and the importance of church-based health promotion. Reverend Louis A. Collins III of Gethsemane Christian Fellowship in Richmond, VA was the speaker at the event held February 12 at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center.

The branch completed and returned to Caya B. Lewis, NAACP National Health Coordinator, a survey to assist the Association in its participation in a project sponsored by the Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention Partnership. This project, referred to as the "Sexual Health Conversation Project", gives the NAACP the opportunity to survey its units on topics such as HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

McDonald attended a meeting of the Alexandria Task Force on AIDS which is staffed by a full time administrative assistance from the Alexandria Health Department. The group is composed of people living with HIV, health professionals, and persons who are interested in reducing the spread of the disease.

McDonald chairs the HIV Consortium Prevention Education Committee, a group that seeks to support HIV educators through training and skills building. We are reaching out to schools of Health Education, promotion, and organizations that would like to work on the prevention aspect of HIV/AIDS.

McDonald attended the South East Asian Health Fair at T.C. Williams High School.

McDonald attended a program presented by the Climbing Jacob's Labor Network "From the Pulpit to the Pews: Improving Health Through Church-based Health Ministries" at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center. Rev. Louis A. Collins III, Pastor of Gethsemane Christian Fellowship in Richmond. Rev. Collins discussed the connection between spirituality and health in the African American community and the importance of church-based health promotion.

McDonald mailed out a Church News Advisory on the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS to Alexandria Black Churches. The observance was from March to March 11.

McDonald attended the National Summit on Africa's HIV/AIDS workshop, Feb.17 and 18, in Washington, D.C. and heard presentations on the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and its effect on two important groups crucial to the survival of the African populations; they are the teachers, and the growing number of AIDS orphans.

McDonald attended the National Black Religious Summit IV on Sexuality held in Washington, DC July 5-7. Dr. Jocelyn Elders was keynote speaker. Topics included how can we use education, advocacy, and ministry to reduce teen pregnancy, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, address the growing problem of domestic violence, develop serious dialogue on sexual orientation, and learn to accept each other in caring ways.

10. RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS

Chair:

Health Committee Chair McDonald met with Rev. Carla Thompson, pastor of Meade Memorial Episcopal Church, to discuss several health issues and have plans for a follow up meeting that will include some of the heads of the church department.

McDonald sent Church News Advisory information to local black churches concerning capacity building training for board development and fiscal management conference July 31 - Aug. 2.

11. ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS AFFAIRS

Chair: Ethel S. Underwood, Colonel, USAFR Retired

The branch served as a center of Information on matters affecting the members of the Active Military, Reserve and State National Guard and Veterans and submits information that is printed in the branch newsletter.

12. PRESS AND PUBLICITY

Co-Chairs: Barbara Bush and Everett Lewis

The branch published quarterly newsletters to inform branch members and the community about branch activities and accomplishments. Work of the branch was mentioned in the local press and on radio, television and other media. The Community Mass Meeting of the 28th Mid-Atlantic Region 7 Leadership Conference was taped on March 31 and shown on Jones Communications television in Alexandria. NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume was guest speaker.

13. FREEDOM FUND

ChairS: Anice Wilson, Joyce Sanchez and Corrine Dixon

The branch held a very successful Life Membership and Awards Banquet on October 22, 2000 with Belle S. Wheelan, Ph.D., President of Northern Virginia Community College, as guest speaker.

14. OTHER

Lillie Finklea and Louise Massoud, co-founders of the Friends of the Freedmen's Cemetery, gave a briefing at the general membership meeting on Feb. 1. They have initiated a campaign to save and possibly restore the Alexandria cemetery of black Civil War soldiers known as "Contrabands" or "Freedmen". They were more than 1,700 former slaves who joined the Union army after 1861 when Alexandria was taken by Northern troops. Finklea and Massoud have spoken to NAACP Counsel Dennis Hayes and NAACP Board Member Babette Colquette. Colquette is employed by Mobil oil company and Mobil owns the property where the soldiers are buried. Several members attended the unveiling and dedication of a new Virginia Department of Historical resources historic marker commemorating the site of Alexandria's 1864-1869 Freedmen's Contraband Cemetery on Sep.30.

Four branch members attended the NAACP Annual Meeting held on February 19 at the Marriott Metro Center Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The branch hosted the 2000 Mid-Atlantic Region VII Leadership Training Conference on March 31 -April 2, 2000. Workshops were held on labor, health, housing, branch administration, legal, education, public relations, economic development and membership.

Branch member Vanessa Hester served as a member of the Resolutions Committee at the National Convention.

The branch hosted the 5th Northern Virginia Area 15 Spring Link-up Reception and Fund Raiser held at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center on May 21. Salim Khalfani, executive director of Virginia State NAACP, was guest speaker. Certificates of recognition were given to churches that were selected for their involvement in the NAACP.

Several members attended the National Convention July 8-13 in Baltimore, MD.

Valerie McDonald, health committee chair, participated in planning activities for the Million Family March planned in Washington, DC. on Oct.16.


Branch Activity Report

1. MEMBERSHIP 2. LIFE MEMBERSHIP 3. YOUTH WORKS 4. POLITICAL ACTION 6. LEGAL REDRESS COMMITTEE 7. LABOR AND INDUSTRY 8. HOUSING	9. HEALTH 10. RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS 11. ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS AFFAIRS 12. PRESS AND PUBLICITY 13. FREEDOM FUND 14. OTHER

1. MEMBERSHIP R. Theressa Hillian, Branch Secretary, mailed out renewal for membership and manned the membership table at a Black history commemorative event. Membership table was set up at annual African American Heritage Festival on July 22. 2. LIFE MEMBERSHIP Chair: R. Theressa Hillian, Branch Secretary, mailed out renewal for life membership and manned the membership table at a black history commemorative event. We have the following categories of church and synagogue as life members: Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian, and five denominations of Protestant congregations. Individual life members are black, white, and Native American. The list also includes all members of Alexandria's City Council, including our Mayor, are subscribing or fully paid Life Members, as both of Alexandria's members of Virginia's House of Delegates, our State Senator, Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of Circuit Court, Sheriff, and Congressman. Members of Alexandria's elected School Board have been subscribing, too. Back to Top 3. YOUTH WORKS - (Youth Council #7825) Youth Advisor: Jeannett Lightfoot 1st Vice-President: Treasurer: Secretary: Hosted a tribute to African American Literary Work and Art; Participated in Alexandria NAACP Black History Month Program-Soul Food Taster; Volunteered a host & hostess for the Alexandria NAACP Branch Freedom Fund Banquet; Attended the Warren/Page Counties Branch Freedom Fund Banquet & Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Youth attended the Region VII Conference; Attended NAACP Virginia State Conference Quarterly Executive Committee Meetings; implemented a membership recruitment campaign which seeks monetary donations to a membership dues fund. Back to Top 4. POLITICAL ACTION Chair: Cover the Uninsured In March of 2003, the Political Action Committee co sponsored a “Cover the Uninsured” forum with the Health Committee. The forum featured representatives from the Queen Street Clinic, FAMIS program and Alexandria Health and Human Services. “Cover the Uninsured” was a national educational initiative on the 41 million uninsured Americans. One week was devoted to town hall meetings, health fairs and religious events across the nation to spread the message on the plight of the uninsured. Candidate Forums In April of 2003 the Committee co sponsored candidate forums for the city council, mayoral and school board elections along with several area civic organizations. Meet and Greet Reception In September of 2003, the Committee co hosted a “Meet and Greet Reception” with local civic organizations for the mayor and city council. At the reception, NAACP announced our “legislative report card” which will track and grade the votes of legislators on issues important to the NAACP. The event served as an opportunity to build relationships with key officials and community members. Over 70 community members were in attendance. Participation in City Council Public Hearings In September of 2003 the Branch began its monthly participation in public hearings. Every month the Branch will send a representative to the hearings to speak on an issue of concern to the community, and update the council and mayor on the progress of the legislative report card. Back to Top 5. EDUCATION Co-Chairs: Joyce Sanchez and Sallie Craft The branch was a co-sponsor of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Service held at Oakland Baptist Church in Alexandria on January 15. The branch sent a letter to Alexandria Superintendent of Schools and high school principal venting their outrage when a local school teacher required a first grade African American boy to clean feces off the floor of a school restroom as a form of disciplining the child. The branch hosted a meeting with Superintendent of School, Dr. Herbert Berg and members of the School Board at the branch's general membership meeting on February 15. One topic discussed was Standards of Learning (SOL) testing. The branch hosted a lecture, "Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century" at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center on February 27. Speakers Yolanda Williams (Washington, D. C., Adult Education Project Specialist) and Senior Pastor Dr. Leonard Smith (Mount Zion Baptist Church, Arlington) explored issues confronting African Americans. A Soul Food Tasting reception followed the program. The branch completed another year in the tutoring and mentoring program in the Alexandria City Public Schools. Our tutors included Anna Medley, Anice C. Wilson, Viola Wilson (Sallie Craft's sister) and Sanchez who tutored at Ramsay Elementary School and Ethel S. Underwood who tutored at Jefferson Houston Elementary School. The volunteers tutor in conjunction with the Alexandria Tutoring consortium. The branch informed members of the many scholarships that the NAACP Education Department offer: Roy Wilkins Scholarship, Earl G. Graves/NAACP Scholarship Award, Willems Scholarships for Male Students, Louis Stokes Science & Technology Award, etc. Sanchez attended education committee meetings with the Tenants and Workers Support Committee, a local advocacy organization. On May 15, the topic of the meeting was Framing the Issues Around Racial Justice in the Schools. A workshop was presented by employees from Applied Research Center (ARC) around these issues. The purpose of the workshop was to show how minorities are treated around certain events that happen in school environments including suspensions and expulsions. Sanchez attended the 2000 Alexandria City Public School Business and Community Partnership Breakfast on June 8 held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. The speaker was Dr. Terry K. Peterson, Counselor to the Secretary of Education. He emphasized the continued need for the community to be involved in the school system. He especially made note that Alexandria has ninety businesses involved in the "Partnership in Education". He re-emphasized the need for parents to continue the education process by reading to their children at least 30 minutes a day. Take your child to the local library, get a card, and check out books all can enjoy. Back to Top 6. LEGAL REDRESS COMMITTEE Chair: S. Howard Woodson, III, Esq. The branch received more than numerous complaints or calls alleging discrimination, which were handled internally, referred to attorneys or to the appropriate agencies. Assistance from the branch was requested in the following matters: employment termination of a black Alexandria police officer; arrest warrant issued for a person for not paying a traffic violation fine; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and class action suit against Department of Veterans Affairs; employer discrimination against Department of Treasury and racial discrimination on other job sites; discrimination suit for visitation of man's son who is under metal health care; police entering a home without a warrant; and police physical abuse on someone in Alexandria Detention Center. The branch continues its oversight of the Alexandria Police Department as well as the Alexandria Commission on Civil Rights. The branch continued its contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) concerning hate mail that we received. Our branch also contacted the computer server Erols. Back to Top 7. LABOR AND INDUSTRY Chair: The branch was represented meetings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) representatives in support of PTO's relocation from Crystal City, Arlington to Alexandria. City leaders are confident the new location would drive the municipal economy, creating jobs, luring businesses, law firms and design centers to the area while revitalizing the Eisenhower Valley as a high-tech corridor. Vanessa Hester attended the NAACP Federal Sector Task Force Summit II held at the McLean Hilton Hotel in Tysons Corner, Va on Jan.15. Branch members also attended a rally on June 4. More than 300 federal employees, labor union leaders and representatives of Federal agencies also attended. NAACP Board of Directors member Leroy Warren is Chair of the Task Force. R. Theressa Hillian responded to many email messages received about the NAACP boycott of tourism in South Carolina. S.C. Governor Jim Hodges replied to an email that was sent to him by our branch life membership Chair F.J. Pepper. Guest speakers at the June 6 branch executive meeting were Guile Nigle of the Northern Virginia Living Wage Coalition and Erica Taylor of the Tenants and Workers Support Committee. Members of the City Council voted June 17 in favor of a living wage law that would pay more than a hundred city contract workers nearly twice the federal minimum wage ($5.15). Passage of the law has put Alexandria in the company of more than 40 other cities and counties across the country. Members attended a rally before the vote. The branch endorsed enactment of this ordinance to help improve the quality of life for those citizens in Alexandria who, although working full time, are paid poverty wages; i.e., wages that fall below the federal poverty level. We also saw it as complementing our civil rights advocacy since many of those earning poverty wages are also the first to experience attacks on their civil rights. R. Theressa Hillian and Kimberly Jajack were among the members who attended the NAACP Federal Sector Task force Seminar held at the Israel Baptist church in Washington, DC on June 8. The goals and objectives of the Task Force are to gather focused, first hand information on what is occurring in the Federal workplace, in order to address charges and allegations of employment discrimination, abuse of employees, verbal assaults, favoritism, and other forms of discrimination. Back to Top 8. HOUSING Branch President S. Howard Woodson, III, Esq. attended a meeting on March 6 with owners of the Foxchase apartment complex in an effort to preserve housing for residents of 423 low-incoming Section 8 units. After more than four months of negotiations, AIMCO, the owner of Foxchase Apartments, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have reached an agreement to extend the Section Eight contract for five more years. We expressed our concern to the Mayor and City council that action should be taken to ensure the continued availability of affordable housing. Back to Top 9. HEALTH Chair: Valerie McDonald The branch was represented at a discussion on the connection between spirituality and health in the African American community and the importance of church-based health promotion. Reverend Louis A. Collins III of Gethsemane Christian Fellowship in Richmond, VA was the speaker at the event held February 12 at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center. The branch completed and returned to Caya B. Lewis, NAACP National Health Coordinator, a survey to assist the Association in its participation in a project sponsored by the Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention Partnership. This project, referred to as the "Sexual Health Conversation Project", gives the NAACP the opportunity to survey its units on topics such as HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. McDonald attended a meeting of the Alexandria Task Force on AIDS which is staffed by a full time administrative assistance from the Alexandria Health Department. The group is composed of people living with HIV, health professionals, and persons who are interested in reducing the spread of the disease. McDonald chairs the HIV Consortium Prevention Education Committee, a group that seeks to support HIV educators through training and skills building. We are reaching out to schools of Health Education, promotion, and organizations that would like to work on the prevention aspect of HIV/AIDS. McDonald attended the South East Asian Health Fair at T.C. Williams High School. McDonald attended a program presented by the Climbing Jacob's Labor Network "From the Pulpit to the Pews: Improving Health Through Church-based Health Ministries" at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center. Rev. Louis A. Collins III, Pastor of Gethsemane Christian Fellowship in Richmond. Rev. Collins discussed the connection between spirituality and health in the African American community and the importance of church-based health promotion. McDonald mailed out a Church News Advisory on the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS to Alexandria Black Churches. The observance was from March to March 11. McDonald attended the National Summit on Africa's HIV/AIDS workshop, Feb.17 and 18, in Washington, D.C. and heard presentations on the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and its effect on two important groups crucial to the survival of the African populations; they are the teachers, and the growing number of AIDS orphans. McDonald attended the National Black Religious Summit IV on Sexuality held in Washington, DC July 5-7. Dr. Jocelyn Elders was keynote speaker. Topics included how can we use education, advocacy, and ministry to reduce teen pregnancy, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, address the growing problem of domestic violence, develop serious dialogue on sexual orientation, and learn to accept each other in caring ways. Back to Top 10. RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS Chair: Health Committee Chair McDonald met with Rev. Carla Thompson, pastor of Meade Memorial Episcopal Church, to discuss several health issues and have plans for a follow up meeting that will include some of the heads of the church department. McDonald sent Church News Advisory information to local black churches concerning capacity building training for board development and fiscal management conference July 31 - Aug. 2. Back to Top 11. ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS AFFAIRS Chair: Ethel S. Underwood, Colonel, USAFR Retired The branch served as a center of Information on matters affecting the members of the Active Military, Reserve and State National Guard and Veterans and submits information that is printed in the branch newsletter. Back to Top 12. PRESS AND PUBLICITY Co-Chairs: Barbara Bush and Everett Lewis The branch published quarterly newsletters to inform branch members and the community about branch activities and accomplishments. Work of the branch was mentioned in the local press and on radio, television and other media. The Community Mass Meeting of the 28th Mid-Atlantic Region 7 Leadership Conference was taped on March 31 and shown on Jones Communications television in Alexandria. NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume was guest speaker. Back to Top 13. FREEDOM FUND ChairS: Anice Wilson, Joyce Sanchez and Corrine Dixon The branch held a very successful Life Membership and Awards Banquet on October 22, 2000 with Belle S. Wheelan, Ph.D., President of Northern Virginia Community College, as guest speaker. Back to Top 14. OTHER Lillie Finklea and Louise Massoud, co-founders of the Friends of the Freedmen's Cemetery, gave a briefing at the general membership meeting on Feb. 1. They have initiated a campaign to save and possibly restore the Alexandria cemetery of black Civil War soldiers known as "Contrabands" or "Freedmen". They were more than 1,700 former slaves who joined the Union army after 1861 when Alexandria was taken by Northern troops. Finklea and Massoud have spoken to NAACP Counsel Dennis Hayes and NAACP Board Member Babette Colquette. Colquette is employed by Mobil oil company and Mobil owns the property where the soldiers are buried. Several members attended the unveiling and dedication of a new Virginia Department of Historical resources historic marker commemorating the site of Alexandria's 1864-1869 Freedmen's Contraband Cemetery on Sep.30. Four branch members attended the NAACP Annual Meeting held on February 19 at the Marriott Metro Center Hotel in Washington, D.C. The branch hosted the 2000 Mid-Atlantic Region VII Leadership Training Conference on March 31 -April 2, 2000. Workshops were held on labor, health, housing, branch administration, legal, education, public relations, economic development and membership. Branch member Vanessa Hester served as a member of the Resolutions Committee at the National Convention. The branch hosted the 5th Northern Virginia Area 15 Spring Link-up Reception and Fund Raiser held at the Alexandria Black History Resource Center on May 21. Salim Khalfani, executive director of Virginia State NAACP, was guest speaker. Certificates of recognition were given to churches that were selected for their involvement in the NAACP. Several members attended the National Convention July 8-13 in Baltimore, MD. Valerie McDonald, health committee chair, participated in planning activities for the Million Family March planned in Washington, DC. on Oct.16.