DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced yesterday that the NAACP headquarters will be moving to DC from Baltimore. The new headquarters will be part of the redevelopment of the Frank D. Reeves Center at U and 14th.
“Washington, DC, sits at the epicenter of change,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a press release. “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…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.”
The headquarters won’t be moving into their new home anytime soon, though. The Reeves Center is currently being redeveloped, and Bowser said in a press conference today she expects the current building will have to be torn down to create a more ergonomic structure.
Though the Reeves Center has long been an underutilized eyesore for city officials, it played a major role in former DC Mayor Marion Barry’s plans to revitalize the U Street neighborhood. The building was named for lawyer Frank D. Reeves, who took part in advocating for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education while working for the NAACP.
“The Reeves Center stands in an iconic and culturally significant area of the U Street corridor with deep connections to the NAACP,” Mayor Bowser said in a 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, DC.”
Jane is a Chicago transplant who now calls Cleveland Park her home. Before joining Washingtonian, she wrote for Smithsonian Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and opera.
