The 112th NAACP National Convention, held virtually, took place last month and resulted in the election of Dallas NAACP Juanita Craft Youth Council secretary, Hailee Hall, to the position of Region VI National Youth Work Representative and Regional Secretary.
Hailee is a senior at the School of Science and Engineering at Yvonne Ewell Townview Center.
Her new duties include: recommending to the Board of Directors policy, advocacy, and programmatic activities pertaining to the civil rights concerns of African American and other young people; providing oversight of the implementation of these programs and policies; recommending policies to increase the advocacy capacity of the Association’s youth units; and, consulting with the President and CEO to recommend annual work plans and resources to effectively implement youth program.
“Initially, I was worried about what would be expected of me, especially since I am going into my senior year of high school.,” said Hailee. “Now, I’m excited for the opportunity to represent the young activists that we serve in Region VI.”
With her election, there is a passing of the torch. Traelon Rogers, the former youth representative of Region VI, was the person who nominated her for the position.
Hailee said she “was really shocked by the nomination simply because it was unexpected, but it was also eye opening because [Traelon] believed that I had the tenacity to be our region’s representative.”
Traelon, who spoke of his former experience as the Region VI Youth Representative, said he wanted to get involved on a national level because he understood “what their impact was on policies and how things were carried out.”
At the time of joining the National Youth Works Committee, Traelon said there were veterans on the committee that had a wealth of knowledge that was able to pick up on.
Traelon is a former Juanita Craft Youth Council President and now serves on the Board of Directors of the NAACP and as Board Assistant Secretary. According to Traelon, his nomination pick of Hailee was based on her qualities of “leadership” including her “capacity to represent our city, state, and region well.”
Linda Lydia, the Juanita Craft Youth Council Advisor said, “Hailee is an incredible young lady who possesses leadership skills and knowledge far beyond our expectations. Her sense of community and commitment to tasks in our council is noteworthy and we are so proud of her being elected to this national position. We feel certain she will go further with the NAACP.”
Hailee is not a newcomer to holding prominent positions of activism in the community. She is also an NAACP Vote 4 Me Ambassador, as well as a Youth Leader at Friendship-West Baptist Church, where she and her father, Vincent Hall, are Bothe active members.
