The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is moving its national headquarters to Northwest D.C., according to a release Monday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and NAACP President Derrick Johnson signed a letter of intent Monday to move the headquarters from Baltimore to the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs at the corner of 14th and U streets NW. Johnson said the District has become “the epicenter of change” during recent anti-racism protests urging the White House, congressional and national leaders to bring an end to police brutality.
“As we have witnessed over the last month, our country is on the cusp of real change that is long overdue,” Johnson said in the release. “A new home in Washington will allow us to not only fully participate in the growth of this great city, but to also amplify the voices of the Black people as we fight for the crucial policy changes and economic empowerment needed in communities across the country.”
Frank D. Reeves, for whom the new headquarters is named, was a lawyer who helped develop the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled segregated schools unconstitutional. The city is now redeveloping the center after former Mayor Marion Barry opened it in 1986 to boost business in the area struck by the 1968 race riots in D.C., according to The Post.
“The Reeves Center stands in an iconic and culturally significant area of the U Street corridor with deep connections to the NAACP,” Bowser said in the press release. “As we continue fighting for change and working to build a more fair and just nation, we look forward to welcoming this iconic civil rights organization to Washington, D.C.”
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will spearhead the center’s redevelopment into a “transit-oriented, mixed-use” facility with offices and affordable housing units, according to the release.
John Falcicchio, the acting deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said the new space will serve the historical significance of the building’s role in D.C. culture.
“The inclusion of this national institution, the NAACP, as a foundational partner in the Reeves Center redevelopment sets a cultural and historic intention that will serve the neighborhood and Washington, D.C. for years to come. We look forward to this partnership to bring the NAACP to the U St neighborhood,”
The NAACP did not lay out a timeline for the move, according to the release.
