Kip Carr: Secretary

Kip Carr was elected Secretary of the Georgia State Conference NAACP on October 8, 2005 at the 63rd Annual Georgia State NAACP Convention in Athens, and re-elected to a second term on October 6, 2007 at the 65th Annual Georgia State NAACP Convention in College Park. Carr is the first State Conference Secretary to be re-elected to a second term since Betty Haggins in 1997.A brief overview of accomplishments is as follows:

1. Instituted electronic notices for State Conference meetings

2. Conducted the first-ever voluntary workshops in June 2006 to orientate Branch Secretaries into the branch election process. Nearly twenty (20) branches participated in two sessions held in Dublin and Marietta.

3. Began the process of compiling State Conference records.

4. Was the first State Conference Secretary from Georgia in more than 10 years to serve as Regional Secretary at the 97th Annual NAACP National Convention in Washington in July 2006.

5. Responsible for logistics and securing meeting location of several State Conference meetings.

6. Served as Master of Ceremonies at the first-ever Presidents’ Ball

7. Was appointed to the National Resolutions Committee by the Chair of the Resolutions Committee in March 2007, and served in this capacity at the 98th Annual NAACP Convention in Detroit. Elected as a Region V Representative on the Resolutions Committee and will serve through July, 2008.

8. Represented State Conference at various meetings and events.

9. Represented State Conference at the National Board of Directors Meeting, Atlanta, May, 2006

10. Of the four (4) people who were certified by National Office to conduct mandatory training of branch officers, was the only one to participate in all four training workshops in 2007, in which over 600 local branch officers were trained.

Personal Background

Carr was ordained as the very first junior deacon in the history of State Street Baptist Church in Bowling Green, and played a key role in the city’s first-ever Martin Luther King observance in 1983.

After moving to West Virginia, Carr was elected to the West Virginia Democratic Executive Committee, where the six-county district he represented was about 1% African American. Carr also played a key role in the first-ever citizen task force to propose new county commission district lines for a West Virginia county, served as a member of a EEO advisory committee that was a precursor to the Human Relations Commission for the City of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and at 25 was the youngest member of the Berkeley County Board of Education Advisory Committee.

Carr served as a political commentator for WXVA-FM in Charles Town, West Virginia for its election-night coverage in 1992, and wrote an occasional column for the Herald-Mail newspaper in Hagerstown, Maryland. 

After returning to Bowling Green in the mid-1990s, Carr created the Political Empowerment Project, which served to educate citizens about the political process and was successful in spearheading a candidate forum in 1994. 

In the Atlanta area off and on since 1988, Carr served four years as President of a community association in south Fulton County, and held several meetings to inform residents of upcoming zoning issues. 

Carr has been listed in each edition of Who’s Who Among African Americans since 1995, and was honored by the Governor of Kentucky in 2005 as being an “Honorary Kentucky Colonel”, the highest civilian honor in the Bluegrass State. Carr is listed in the Notable Kentucky African American database

Carr is a past member of the Old National Merchants Association Board of Directors, and is active with the College Park Historical Society, is a past member of the Board of Zoning Appeals for the City of College Park, GA, and is the founder and chair of the College Park Civic League.

Kip Carr/NAACP Background

Bowling Green, Kentucky Youth Council

• Charter Member, 1974 (reactivation)
• “Emancipation Day” f/k/a “Jubilee Day” Program Participant, 1979-80
• Chairman, Program & Research Committee, 1980-83
• Vice President, 1982-83
• President, 1983-84

• Ex-Officio Member, Executive Committee, 1983-84

Kentucky State Conference of Branches

• Member Ex-Officio, Executive Committee, 1984-85
• Member, Convention Planning Committee, 1984
• Chairman, Political Action Committee (PAC), 1995-97
• At 27, the youngest State PAC Chair in the nation.

Jefferson County, West Virginia Branch

• At-large Member, Executive Committee, 1985-87

• At 17, the youngest ever elected to a branch executive committee in the nation

West Virginia State Conference of Branches

• Member, Resolutions Committee, 1985-86; 1990-94

• Member, National Convention Planning Committee, 1998

• Member, Bylaws Committee 1999

• Vice Chairman, Census 2000 Special Committee, 1999-2000

• Member, Nominating Committee, 2000

Fayette County, Georgia Branch

• Chairman, Communications Committee, 2003-04; 2005-present
• Member. Freedom Fund Committee. 2005
• Member, Bylaws Committee, 2005
• Member, Elections Supervisory Committee, 2006

• Parliamentarian, 2007-present

Georgia State Youth and College Division

• Acting Secretary, 1989

• Only person ever to serve both as secretary of the Georgia state youth & college division and of the Georgia State Conference

Georgia State Conference of Branches

• Chairman, Special Committee on Internal Affairs, 2000-01; 2003-05

• Parliamentarian, 62nd Annual State Convention, 2004

• Chairman, Bylaws Committee 2005-

• Secretary, 2005-

Southeast Region

• Youth Nominee, National Board of Directors, 1989

• Workshop Facilitator, Region V Conference, 1999

• Regional Secretary, 2006

• Chairman, Elections Supervisory Committee (for Region V National Board Representative Election), 2006

• Regional Representative, National Resolutions Committee, 2007-08

National

• Adult Member (non-board appointee of National Board Chairman), 1998-2000

• Member, National Resolutions Committee (appointee of Chairman of the National Resolutions Committee, 2007

Special Training

• Participant, Midwest Region III Mandatory Branch Training Project, 1982-83

• Wingspread Conference for NAACP Youth Leaders, Racine, Wisconsin, 1984

• Region V Youth Leadership Summit, 1988, 89 & 1990

• Voter Empowerment Training, 2000

• Region V Mandatory Training Leadership Certification, 1998, 2000, 2003 & 2005

• Executive Leadership Training for State Conference Officers, 2006

• Executive Leadership Certification Training for Branch Officers, 2007