*Effective Dec. 1, Alice Huffman will no longer be the president of the California-Hawaii State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) due to “health concerns,” she tells California Black Media.
Rick Callender, former president of the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP and current CEO of the Santa Clara Water District, has been appointed to the position and will assume duties the day Huffman’s term expires.
In a written statement, Huffman first alerted the organization’s executive members of her intentions to vacate the office she has led for over two decades.
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“Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president since 1999. It has been a pleasure to serve with you, but all good things must come to an end. Due to health concerns, I tender my resignation as president effective December 1, 2020,” Huffman stated in her letter to members of the executive committee.
Huffman, who isn’t shy about sharing trials she has overcome in her life — including that she is a high school dropout — leaves the position of president after most recently being an outspoken supporter of multiple California 2020 election ballot initiatives, among them: Prop 15, Prop 21, Prop 22, and Prop 25.
The initiatives, most of them avidly backed or hotly contested by voters and policy makers, focused on a range of issues. From amending the state’s property tax system (Prop 15) and rent control (Prop 21) to the reclassification, under the state’s labor law, of app-based drivers and an increase to the minimum wage (Prop 22), the initiatives put Huffman in the crosshairs of groups that opposed her positions.
Source: Cal NAACP Announces New Leader to Replace Outgoing Pres. Alice Huffman
