East St. Louis NAACP’s new president focused on restoring chapter’s visibility, credibility
A local branch of the NAACP has unanimously voted in a new president.
Robin Carey-Boyd replaces Stanley Franklin, who led the local branch for a decade. No one is saying what led to his abrupt suspension and then resignation. Andrew Bailey served as interim president after serving as vice president of the local branch under Franklin.
Teresa Haley, president for the NAACP Illinois State Conference, is confident Carey-Boyd is the right person for the job, calling her an “amazing leader.”
As president, Carey-Boyd will oversee NAACP activities, be the official spokesperson for the organization and make major decisions with the support of the executive committee, Haley said.
“She will also move the NAACP national agenda forward in terms of political activities to ensure we’re getting out the vote, addressing issues around the voting rights act, exercising our right to vote, addressing issues around health as it relates to the black community,” Haley said. “We are still in this COVID era, even though we’ve taken off the masks. They have a new variant out there.”
Addressing education issues in both public and private schools, overseeing the activities related to the climate and environmental justice, making sure people “who look like the citizens of East St. Louis” are afforded job opportunities, and helping them save on utility bills are part of Carey-Boyd’s agenda.
Anytime there is any injustice, as branch president, she is the official spokesperson for the area. Carey-Boyd will work with community leaders to reduce crime and build relationships between the black community and the police department, Haley said.
“I am excited about Robin taking on this responsibility. She is professional, polite, very direct, and a doer who gets things done. She has the results to prove it,” she said. “That’s what East St. Louis needs.
“The East St.Louis branch is about more than just hosting the banquet. It’s about boots on the ground. Robin is going to increase the visibility of the activities of the East St. Louis branch.”
Along with the new leader comes a new location for the branch.
Haley said the NAACP office has moved out of Franklin’s building on State Street to New Life Community Lifeline Center at 1764 State Street. A phone system has not yet been connected, but Carey-Boyd can be reached by email NAACPbranch3013@gmail.com.
Focusing her comments on the new leader and a new beginning for the branch, Haley said Carey-Boyd is no stranger to leadership roles and cited a few examples.
“She served in leadership roles as the first and second vice president for the branch. She is an ongoing member of the planning committee for the annual NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet,” Haley said. “And she served on the local branch’s executive committee.”
Carey-Boyd is also a member and past president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and current president of the East St. Louis Pan-Hellinic Council, which oversees the “Divine Nine” sororities and fraternities when they work together in the St. Clair County and Madison area.
She is a past president of Jack ‘n Jill Lincoln University Alumni Association Greater St. Louis Chapter. Jack ’n Jill of America is a national Black family organization.
“This again exemplifies her leadership skills. If you can organize and work with historically Black sororities and fraternities and be their president, you can definitely handle the responsibilities as the president of the NAACP,” Haley said
Carey-Boyd was raised in East St. Louis and attended Assumption Catholic High School. Her father, Robert Allen, is a former director of vocation school at the old State Community College and her mother, “the late great Edna Allen,” is a former director of the gifted program in East St. Louis School District 189.
She and her husband, Mike Boyd, have two grown children and three grandchildren. She says she likes watching late-night television and cooking, particularly her sweet potato pie.
Carey-Boyd said she is looking forward to making the local NAACP more visible and available to meet the community’s needs.Anyone who stands close to her, she says, “is going to do something to serve the community because everybody can do something.”
Getting people registered to vote and taking an active role in improving their community is a priority, she said.
“We are also looking at increasing our membership so we can have new ideas, new community involvement, new blood,” Carey-Boyd said. “We are also working hard on environmental factors as they relate to the new solar energy that has come to our community and community health issues.”
She said she also is putting together a political action coalition that includes East St. Louis, Fairview Heights, O’Fallon and Belleville.
“We’re trying to pull everybody out for this upcoming election,” she said.
She is organizing a group to participate in the 5k walk on June 18. The event is a collaboration with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. She said she will be providing resources and information about COVID-19, prostate cancer, and mental health resources.
Mostly, Carey-Boyd said, she wants to help restore the community’s trust in its local NAACP chapter.
“I want the community to know when they have problems and challenges to come to us for resources,” she said.
This story was originally published April 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
