Junius “Jeff” Carter of Englewood was elected as the new president of the NAACP Bergen County branch after the chapter’s former president Anthony Cureton was elected Bergen County Sheriff.
Carter, 60, was a member of the chapter before being elected, running unopposed. In a recent published interview, he said he plans to expand membership and reach local colleges to create student chapters.
An adult services assistant in the Bergen County Special Services School District, Carter will be sworn in as president Jan. 13. Originally from Pittsburgh, Carter and his family moved to Bergen County in 1992. His previous jobs include operating a McDonald’s restaurant.
“We need to come together as a country,” he said in one published interview. “But unfortunately, we have seen a lot of racial issues in the schools, in jobs and, you know, throughout the country, and we are dealing with some even now here about racial injustice.”
With a mission to get more college students involved with the NAACP, Carter said he’s aiming to get more youth involved with the over century-old civil rights organization.
“We have a chapter at Bergen Community College, but they are not active, and I want to reactivate it,” he said. “And also get chapters at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Ramapo. We need young members. That’s the lifeblood of any organization.”
Carter is set to be sworn in as president during a ceremony at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Englewood.