Cleveland NAACP picks new executive director

Group aims to attract new, younger members

1/15/2013

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland NAACP has hired a new executive director as the group aims to attract new, younger members.

The Plain Dealer newspaper reports that Sheila Wright of Cleveland says she would work with leaders of the Cleveland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to continue the group's effort in fighting for civil rights.

The 43-year-old Wright is a judicial clerk with the Cleveland Housing Court.

Cleveland NAACP President Hilton Smith tells the newspaper he wants to begin a new marketing plan to attract young members and also re-establish roots the group has with local churches.

The organization also has been monitoring how Cleveland city officials are investigating the deaths of two people killed in a barrage of 137 bullets fired by Cleveland police.