Mayor Martin O?Malley has pledged to offer the NAACP ” an aggressive retention [package],” according to spokeswoman Raquel Guillory, that could include tax breaks and other incentives to keep the 97-year-old organization?s headquarters in Baltimore.
NAACP chairman Julian Bond said last week that after 20 years in Baltimore the NAACP leadership had decided to move its headquarters to Washington to be closer to the center of the national political process.
However, NAACP spokesman John White said “no date, no timetable has been set” for the relocation.
White also said the NAACP owns its headquarters on Mount Hope Drive and that as far as he knew the building has not yet been placed on the market for sale. White added, “Baltimore has been a wonderful place to be for us.”
NAACP President Bruce Gordon is out of the country on vacation, White said, and has been unavailable for comment.
In response to the news regarding a decision by the NAACP to move its headquarters from Baltimore, former Congressman, Maryland Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume issued the following statement: “Maryland has always been a good home for the NAACP and I was glad to have been a part of the early effort that brought the organization to Baltimore. Like many others, I am disappointed to learn of this decision.”
