The NAACP and The ONE Campaign announced an unprecedented new alliance at the 38th NAACP Image Awards, joining together for the first time in a life-saving partnership in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa and the world's poorest countries.
"Today, more than ever, there is a critical need for the NAACP to collaborate with key partners like the ONE Campaign to strategically address racial and ethnic disparities across the world, with specific focus on combating poverty, hunger and disease on the African continent," said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond.
The new partnership includes a ONE Campaign recruitment drive of 250,000 new ONE and NAACP members in targeted regions nationally, work with NAACP's over 1700 field chapters across America and a new "ONE-NAACP Task Force" of over 35,000 of the NAACP's leading grassroots leaders and activists for mobilization around the 2008 election and key policy making opportunities. The NAACP and ONE will also join forces on a series of co-hosted forums, town halls and public meetings in important presidential primary and general election states and key legislative states and districts.
"The NAACP is one of the most respected and effective forces for social justice in the United States. Working together in this historic alliance, we can bring the power of American hearts and voices from across the country to Africa and make saving the lives of the world's poorest people a priority," said ONE Campaign President and CEO Susan McCue. "Person by person, the NAACP stood up against and defeated "separate but equal" in America. Today, we stand together to say it's wrong in Africa. Together, one by one, we can beat global AIDS and extreme poverty."
The announcement comes as the NAACP awards this year's NAACP Chairman's Award to activist and U2 lead singer Bono, bestowed in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service. In 2004, with leaders from 100 other anti-poverty organizations, Bono helped launch ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, which today includes over 2.4 million members united in the fight against extreme poverty.
Working with ONE, the NAACP will engage their members in support of bipartisan debt cancellation, trade reform, effective aid, global health, clean water and infrastructure development efforts. Joint projects will also focus on educating and engaging members through the NAACP's Regional Civil Rights Training Institutes, National Convention, Youth and College Chapters throughout the country and work to forge partnerships between the corporate and nonprofit communities serving the developing world.
The NAACP joins ONE as the campaign's millions of supporters set their sites on the 2008 presidential elections, working together across the political aisle to meet at house parties, engage candidates in-person and connect online. Through ONE.org and working on the ground in communities, colleges and churches in all 50 states, ONE members ask America's leaders to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S budget and G8 summits to legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair and fighting corruption.
The alliance brings new grassroots power to the fight against global disease and extreme poverty at a critical time. Currently, more than 1 billion people around the world live on less than $1 a day and Africa has been hit harder by the HIV/AIDS virus than any other region of the world. Last year alone, more than 2.1 million Africans died from AIDS and another 24.7 million are infected with the HIV virus, approximately 2 million of whom are children. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of the total world HIV-positive population and has approximately 12 million HIV/AIDS orphans.
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