Local NAACP Appointing New Officers

From the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People:

The Greater Norristown Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is inviting the public to attend a ceremony installing new officers at 4 p.m. on Sunday Feb. 10, at Siloam Baptist Church, 1329 Willow Street in Norristown. The new officers and executive committee members were recently elected and will serve a two year term – 2013-2014.  

The guest speaker for the event will be the Montgomery County Chief Public Defender Kier Bradford-Grey. Bradford-Grey was appointed in February 2012 and is the first African American woman to head a department in the history of the county. Bradford-Grey joined the Delaware Federal Defenders Office in 2007, and between 1999 and 2007, she was an assistant public defender in Philadelphia.

Among Bradford-Grey's accomplishments are:

• Bringing the Delaware Federal Defender Office to number one in acquittals among the nation’s federal defender organizations by winning a number of cases; and
• Pioneering the use of DNA, linguistics and handwriting expertise in constructing effective criminal defenses.

Bradford-Grey’s goals in her role in Montgomery County include:

• Reducing recidivism for juvenile offenders;
• Protecting the public by reducing wrongful convictions;
• Respecting the victims of crime;
• Efficiently using limited taxpayer resources; and
• Ensuring fair administration of justice from law enforcement.

The Honorable Cheryl Austin, Judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, will swear in the new officers and executive committee members. Austin is another trailblazer as the first African American woman elected to the court in our county’s history. The Norristown Area High School Gospel Choir will be performing at the event.

For more information, call 610-297-4255 or email NorristownNAACP@msn.com.