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AtlAntA DAily WorlD Powered by Real Times Media
ATLANTA
VOTERS GUIDE
Volume 86 • Issue 12
October 24 - 30, 2013
CARE and Atlanta Celebrate 20 Years Lorraine C. Miller named of Helping the World Together NAACP Interim President Special to ADW
Special to ADW
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People named Lorraine C. Miller Interim President and CEO during its board of directors meeting last week in Las Vegas, Nev. She will serve as interim president and CEO while the 104-yearold organization conducts a search for a new president to replace the outgoing chief, Benjamin Todd Jealous, said NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. The search committee will be chaired by the Rev. Theresa Dear of Bartlett, Ill., with Lamell McMorris of Washington, D.C. as vice chair. “This is a moment of great change and great opportunity for the NAACP,” Brock said. “We are excited to work with Lorraine C. Lorraine C. Miller Miller during this time of transition. We are confident that Lorraine will serve the association with a steady and experienced hand as we continue the search for the next president and CEO.” Within the NAACP, Miller served as president of the Washington, D.C. NAACP Branch for six years, and has been a member of the National NAACP board of directors since 2008. On the board of directors, she serves as a member of the Executive Committee and as chair of the Advocacy and Policy Committee, and she played a significant role in the creation of the NAACP’s Game Changers. Miller will begin her role as interim president and CEO and assume day-to-day responsibility for the association on Nov. 1, according to the transition plan approved by the national board of directors. “I am honored to have been selected for this venerable role,” stated Miller. “I look forward to continuing the path forged by Chairman Brock and President Jealous in the months ahead. These are important times, and the important work of the NAACP will go on.” Jealous was equal in his praise for Miller. “Lorraine is a natural fit as interim president of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization,” said Jealous. “She comes into this position with two decades of experience working for the U.S. House of Representatives and an even longer career in civil rights advocacy and policy. She will have the honor of leading the dynamic staff of this great organization.” Newly elected Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson also shared praise for the choice of Miller. “The NAACP is a grassroots advocacy organization and that work begins in the more than 1,700 branches and units across the country. President Miller knows her way around Capitol Hill and a NAACP branch meeting as a former branch president,” Johnson said. “I am hopeful that Miller will do for branches and units what Jealous did for the national organization in terms of fitting it for 21st Century advocacy.” Miller is also a commercial real estate broker who served as the first African-American clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, and previously worked for former House Speakers Nancy Pelosi, Tom Foley and Jim Wright, as well as U.S. Rep. John Lewis. She also worked in the Clinton White House, as bureau chief at the Federal Communications Commission and as director of Congressional Relations for the Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, she worked at the American Federation of Teachers. She is a faithful member of the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Powered by Real Times Media
Photo by Areya Simmons Dr. Helene Gayle welcomes guests to the 20th anniversary celebration of CARE being headquartered in Atlanta on Oct. 17 at the Atlanta History Center. CARE, the global poverty-fighting organization celebrated its 20th anniversary of moving its headquarters to Atlanta last Friday night at the Atlanta History Center, “You name a challenge that is being faced in a developing part of the world and typically CARE is there,” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in a video tribute that premiered at the event. “And, by extension, the city of Atlanta is there.” Before a crowd of more than 400 people, Reed presented CARE with the distinguished Phoenix Award, the highest recognition bestowed by the city. Ceasar C. Mitchell, president of the Atlanta City Council, read aloud a proclamation declaring Oct. 11 as CARE Day in Atlanta. CARE President and CEO Helene Gayle noted that the day is particularly significant to CARE, which fights extreme poverty by empowering women and girls, because Oct. 11 is also International Day of the Girl. Since moving to Atlanta in 1993, CARE has expanded its operations from 71 countries to 84 countries. The number of people around the world CARE reaches every year with its poverty-fighting programs has grown from 30 million then to 83 million last year. Gayle said Atlanta is the perfect base for transformative work, given that the city is home to global leaders, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, CNN and the Carter Presidential Center. “It has truly been great to be part of bringing the world to Atlanta,” said Gayle, who spent 20 years at the CDC, most of it in Atlanta. “For me personally, it is also a great source of pride to see CARE becoming ever more a part of the fabric of Atlanta.” The audience at the Atlanta History Center also heard from Muhtar Kent, chairman of the board and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, as well as Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. Emceed by CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin, the gala featured entertainment by the Burundi Drummers of Atlanta, Harmony: Atlanta’s International Youth Chorus, and musicians Jill Dexter and Zap Mama. Sen. Johnny
Isakson, Rep. John Lewis and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, were among the distinguished guests in attendance. Bono, lead singer of U2 and co-founder of ONE and (RED), said in the video tribute that CARE’s move to the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was meant to be. “It is no accident that you’re in Atlanta, the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement,” Bono said. “This is the same journey. This is about equality and justice. On the 20th anniversary of that move it’s fitting that we have the 50th Anniversary of King’s talk of a dream.” Former First Lady Laura Bush echoed those sentiments. “CARE and Atlanta are a great match, sharing a commitment to social justice, human rights and the dignity of people worldwide,” she said in the video. Maria Esther Landa Chiroque, who grew up poor on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, told those gathered for Friday’s celebration about a CARE program that trained her and other young women in vocational skills, normally the domain of men and boys. Launched shortly after CARE moved to Atlanta, the program taught Landa Chiroque how to weld. Later, through a CARE microfinance program, she received a small loan to start her business. Today her welding and metal scaffolding company employs 10 people. She recently built her own factory, where she mentors other young entrepreneurs. “With the support of organizations like CARE, we are reducing poverty in our country,” she said. “I know that CARE will continue with this extraordinary work in the next 20 years and beyond.” Atlanta-area corporations joined CARE’s celebration as sponsors, including The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines and UPS. Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. To learn more, visit www.care.org.