The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People might soon call Northwest D.C. home.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and the NAACP announced in a press release Monday that the organization signed a letter of intent to relocate from Baltimore to the future redevelopment at the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs on 14th Street NW.
“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 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 group has long had a D.C. bureau, but its headquarters are in Baltimore.
“Washington, DC, sits at the epicenter of change. This exceptional opportunity to bring our national headquarters to DC will allow us to be even more proactive in serving the Black community, and confronting the serious challenges facing the nation,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in the release.
The mayor’s office and the NAACP did not immediately respond to DCist’s request for comment on a timeline for the move.
In February, the organization moved from its former home in Northwest Baltimore, built in 1955, to the Wells Fargo Tower downtown as part of a “strategic reset,” according to the Capital Gazette. At the time, the group also revealed that it had expanded its Washington office.
The news comes as D.C. has seen large-scale protests following the killing of George Floyd, resulting in clashes between local officials and the federal government, and thrusting Bowser into the national spotlight.
Johnson appeared to reference the recent demonstrations in the release on Monday, saying, “As we have witnessed over the last month, our country is on the cusp of real change that is long overdue. 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.”
Late last year, the city announced that it was looking to redevelop the Reeves Center, which was named for lawyer and civil rights activist Frank D. Reeves, who worked for the NAACP and helped shape the case in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 ruling that mandated desegregation in schools.
The city plans to turn the center into a “transit-oriented, mixed-use development with office space, affordable housing, and neighborhood serving amenities in a way that reflects the site’s historic and cultural significance,” per the release.
