For Immediate Release: Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013
Contact: Donna De La Cruz, [email protected] (202) 441-3798

(WASHINGTON)—Community Change today commended the leadership of Ben Jealous at the National Association for Advancement of Colored People. Jealous announced today that he will be stepping down as President and CEO in January.

Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director for the Center for Community Change, praised Jealous’ tenure at the NAACP.

“Ben has exercised extraordinary leadership in his time at the NAACP and has made contributions that are transforming the country – from his visionary work in building a movement for criminal justice reform and voting rights to his path-breaking forging of alliances with the LGBT and Latino and Asian communities to his efforts to build lasting power for the African American community through unprecedented voter mobilization work,” Bhargava said.

Bhargava added that Jealous re-energized the NAACP, making it financially sound, more sustainable, more focused and powerful, with a donor base that has increased nearly tenfold.

“In recent years, the NAACP has won state and local battles to abolish the death penalty, shrink prison systems, outlaw racial profiling, expand voting rights protections, reform gun laws, close dangerous power plants, expand early childhood education, and secure health care coverage for the uninsured,” Bhargava added. “Moreover, the NAACP has played a dynamic role as an ally in the fights for workers’ rights, women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, and marriage equality, as well as in the struggle to end the HIV epidemic.”

“I have had the great fortune to work closely with Ben on many of those issues. He is soulful, brilliant, and strategic – a gem in the movement for human rights and social justice in the U.S. We look forward to his many more years of outstanding contribution in the struggle for justice,” Bhargava said.

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