via MSNBC: NAACP starts push for younger members

The NAACP has launched an advertising and marketing campaign to help it reach its goal of attracting 1 million members over the next four years.

With 300,000 members, the 95-year-old civil rights organization wants to reach out to younger prospective members, between the ages of 20 and 45, said John White, a spokesperson for the Baltimore-based association.

[...]

The NAACP wants to “send a message it is still a relevant organization” and still doing important civil rights work, he said. For instance, the organization opened 15 voter assistance centers in nine states to aid displaced New Orleans voters who want to vote in this month’s city elections. Several thousand voters were forced to relocate after Hurricane Katrina.

The remainder of the article goes to state that the NAACP has hired Hunt Valley PR and marketing firm Renegade to help spread the word through a direct mail campaign, an e-mail marketing campaign as well as speaking on radio programs. In early 2005, the group’s future was floundering fast, and I guess this new campaign is a good idea. According to the article, another consulting firm in Baltimore run by Ackneil M. Muldrow says “younger people [in their 20s and 30s] want to break economic barriers in the workplace, rather than social barriers”. I don’t know if I agree with that, especially since we all know that those social barriers are still as prevalent as they were in the NAACP’s heyday. But, they are trying…and like I said, maybe this’ll be a step in the right direction.

$5 says they team up with BET and offer a set of ringtones.