ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610210078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BALTIMORE
SOURCE: Associated Press
After more than two years of controversy over its leadership, direction and finances, the NAACP has completely paid off its debt and is rebuilding, officials of the nation's oldest civil rights group said Saturday.
``The NAACP for the first time is operating in the black,'' said President Kweisi Mfume.
Just one year ago, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was struggling with $4million in debt and still searching for a replacement for fired Executive Director Benjamin Chavis.
``It's like night and day,'' board member Leroy Warren said Saturday as the group ended its annual three-day board meeting. ``It's like one day you're on a respirator, and the next day you're fighting Mike Tyson.''
``We refuse to be an asterisk in somebody's history book about `once upon a time in the 20th century there lived a great organization.' We want to make sure we're there in the next century,'' Mfume said.
Since taking office in February, Mfume, former head of the Congressional Black Caucus, has spent most of his time revamping the 87-year-old civil rights group's organizational structure and controlling spending.
Chavis was fired in August 1994 for committing more than $330,000 to settle a suit filed against him without the board's approval
Mfume gave the board a balanced budget for 1997, with a revenue estimate of $12.6million against anticipated expenditures of $11.7million.
Mfume said he plans to build reserves to avoid future debt crises and wants to establish a $50million endowment for the NAACP, raising $10million each year for the next five years.
The former Maryland congressman also said the group's membership is climbing, after suffering during the crises of recent years, but he would not give specific numbers.
Board members said the organization is ready to return to the business of civil rights.
``We've got more vision as to what's going to happen to the NAACP,'' said the Rev. Raymond Scott, president of the group's branch in Port Arthur, Texas.
``There's a sense of relief that we are back on course,'' said Ben Andrews, president of the NAACP's Connecticut state conference. ``We feel good about our future.''
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB