Oak Park NAACP coming back with 
Freedom Fund dinner

By ERIC LINDEN

The NAACP's national director of field operations will headline the 11th
annual Freedom Fund dinner to be held in Oak Park on Oct. 29 by the
NAACP Oak Park branch that is trying to revitalize.

Also at the gala to be held that Sunday, the NAACP Oak Park branch will
honor four local residents for giving service to the community. The
Freedom Fund Dinner will be held at Mar Lac Banquets, 104 S. Marion St.
in Oak Park, and it is hoped that event will lead to new activity for
the Oak Park branch, which has seen membership and programs decrease in
recent years.

"After a brief reorganizing hiatus, our Freedom Fund efforts are back on
track, and we look forward to reacquainting this branch with the Oak
Park community," said NAACP Oak Park branch president Walter A. Perkins III.

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. The
national NAACP proclaims it has about a half-million adult and youth
members throughout the United States and calls those members "the
premiere advocates for civil rights in their communities."

The Oak Park branch started in 1987, after a highly charged racial event
in Oak Park. With support from the Oak Park village board at the time,
the Oak Park Development Corporation--both all white organizations at
the time--proposed buying a church building in Oak Park to prevent a
purchase by a predominantly black congregation.

After a strong start and continued activity under previous leadership of
the Oak Park branch, NAACP actions have decreased, the organization has
been less public in its profile and the Freedom Fund dinner has not been
held consistently. Perkins has stated a firm commitment to reviving the
local branch.

Besides Rivers' address, the 2000 NAACP dinner will be highlighted by
the presentation of the community awards to the following people:

* Kimberly Allison, coordinator of the branch's ACT-SO program.
The NAACP holds this nationwide Academic, Cultural, Technological and
Scientific Olympics, in which young people compete in arts, sciences and
various other media. Allison of Oak Park for several years has been
coordinator of the program, which is held in conjunction with Oak Park
and River Forest High School.

* Michael Kelly, chairman of the board of FBOP Corporation, the parent
company of First Bank of Oak Park
Kelly, a resident of River Forest, heads a $5 billion multi-bank holding
company based in Oak Park,  with the main location at 11 Madison St.,
branches locally at 6011 W. North Ave. in Oak Park and 4909 W. Division
St. in Chicago's Austin adjacent to Oak Park on the east. FBOP also owns
banks elsewhere in Illinois and in Texas and California.
One of the most profitable banks in the area, First Bank of Oak Park has
$163 million in assets. Last year, FBOP acquired, among other
properties, Pullman Group Inc., which has eight branches in the Chicago
area, mostly on the predominantly black South Side of the city and
adjacent south suburbs.

* Sherlynn Reid, former executive director of the Community Relations
Department of Oak Park village government
Reid of Oak Park retired last year after more than 30 years in the
village hall position. Among other duties, she and her department were
charged with ensuring compliance with Oak Park's fair housing ordinance,
with mediating neighborhood disputes, with monitoring the practices of
owners of multi-family property in Oak Park and with many other
subjects.

* Michael Shields, former president of the branch.
Shields of Oak Park served as branch president in 1998 and 1999 and
currently is a vice president of the Oak Park branch.

Rivers' appearance in Oak Park will come little more than a week before
the Nov. 7 presidential election. The national NAACP has had several
programs in place to call attention to the election and to increase
voter registration. The election campaign is called "lift every voice
and vote," which is a take-off on "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the song
that is know as the black national anthem.

The NAACP also has identified the following as the top 10 issues in the
election between the two major candidates: Democrat Vice President Al
Gore and Republican Gov. George W. Bush of Texas:

1. Supreme Court Nominees
2. Health Care Funding Reform Disparities
3. Racial Profiling
4. Reparations
5. Educational Funding, including public education funding and funding
for black colleges
6. Economic Development, which includes access to capital and access to
credit
7. Social Security reform
8. Criminal justice, including reform of mandatory minimum sentencing
and disparities in sentencing for crimes involving crack and cocaine
9. Predatory lending
10. Employment non-discrimination

Tickets for the Oct. 29 gala are $50 per person. To order tickets or for
other information, call the NAACP at 708-445-3658 or e-mail to
oakparknaacpfree@aol.com