by Rob Taylor Jr., Courier Staff Writer
The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that Kellie Ware-Seabron, Esq., has been named executive director of the Pittsburgh NAACP branch.
And she’s coming into the position at a critical time for the local NAACP. There’s an upcoming presidential election you may have heard about…there’s an Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge accused of referring to a Black juror as “Aunt Jemima” (among other reports of racially-charged commentary)…there’s the upcoming census count…criminal justice reform…and more issues.
The Pittsburgh NAACP made the announcement Feb. 6. Her first official day with the NAACP was Feb. 1.
In a statement sent to the Courier from the branch’s Search Committee Chairman, K. Chase Patterson, he said that “Kellie is smart, serious about justice, and totally committed to the mission of the NAACP movement. We believe that she brings a valuable combination of professional and leadership experience that will help to grow the work of the Pittsburgh NAACP as well as our impact on the condition of Black lives in our region. The Executive Committee is excited to work with Kellie and to see the results of her hard work and great ideas.”
Ware-Seabron comes to the NAACP from the City of Pittsburgh, where she served as its inaugural Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy Analyst for City Council. In that role, Ware-Seabron worked closely with numerous community and non-profit organizations, and government entities to advance racial equity in Pittsburgh.
Immediately before joining the City of Pittsburgh, she worked to secure tenants’ rights as a staff attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services.
Ware-Seabron’s professional experience also includes working at a community development corporation in Homewood and as a tipstaff for a Family Court Judge.
She told the Courier in an exclusive interview, March 10, that she’s “always respected the work and mission of the NAACP,” which was heightened in law school, after learning “more about the tactics and strategies that Thurgood (Marshall) and others used to win our civil rights battles in court.”
A 2006 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in Applied Developmental Psychology, Ware-Seabron then graduated from Northeastern University School of Law, in Boston, with concentrations in Law and Development and Poverty Law and Economic Justice.
Ware-Seabron is a Pittsburgh native, growing up in East Liberty and graduating from Peabody High School in 2002.
The Pittsburgh NAACP has a storied history of being a powerful force in Pittsburgh, and Ware-Seabron said that it must remain that way, though there can be areas of improvement for the organization. What’s one of the ways? “By showing up, and showing up consistently,” she told the Courier exclusively. “We need to be out there, in the community, interacting with folks, building coalitions, making sure that the work that we’re doing aligns with their needs to the extent that that’s possible. We’re working on that; we’ve restructured our general membership meetings to their own day (the second Tuesday of every month), and they’re rotating around the city quarterly so everyone has a chance to interact with the NAACP a little closer to home.”
Ware-Seabron wants Pittsburghers to know that the NAACP will “get out front and lead on the issues, and let people know that we’re a place they can turn to.”
Ware-Seabron added in a statement that she’s “very excited for the opportunity to support the work of the Pittsburgh NAACP at this critical juncture. We’re at a crossroads as to what the future holds for Black folks in this city. Racism is a public health crisis, Black Pittsburghers could move virtually anywhere and have a better quality of life. Now what? I believe the Pittsburgh NAACP can and will play a critical role in moving the needle in the right direction for our City.”
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