‘Serious challenges’: National NAACP board takes action to revamp struggling Wilmington branch

What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Longstanding concerns about the Wilmington NAACP branch’s operations, financial stability and community impact have led national leaders to appoint the president of the group’s Connecticut branch to the interim job of righting the ship.

Scot Esdaile, who previously helped the Delaware state branch of the civil rights organization get on solid footing, will lead a comprehensive reorganization of the branch in the state’s largest city.

The branch has an estimated 3,000 members in Wilmington, City Councilmember Coby Owens said.

Esdaile, also a national NAACP board member, will take over the branch from Charles Brittingham, who Owens said has been in charge for at least a quarter-century. Owens said he anticipates elections for new leadership sometime this year.

Brittingham, also a former leader of the Delaware State Conference of Branches NAACP, did not respond to requests for comment.

Esdaile’s arrival is a welcome one, said Fleur McKendell, who has led the state NAACP since January, after longtime leader Richard “Mouse” Smith died.

She said the 110-year-old Wilmington branch should be the state’s preeminent unit, but has stumbled in recent years, so she asked national NAACP leaders to put it under an “administratorship.” After reviewing her request, the national board decided Wilmington “needed some revitalization,” McKendell said.

“The Wilmington branch has really faced some serious challenges with respect to member and community engagement,’’ McKendell said. “And from my lens, I think that prevented it from really fully being able to serve the community. Not just its members but the community by way of advocacy initiatives and different things like that.”

McKendell said that while visiting with various branches since taking the state helm, she noticed “some gaps that really needed to be filled” in Wilmington. “It didn’t appear that the advocacy and the civil rights work that we are charged to do as the nation‘s oldest and largest civil rights organization was really meeting the mark in Wilmington.”

That triggered what she called “some really courageous and challenging conversations with president Brittingham, whom I respect a great deal,’’ McKendell said. “He’s been leading the Wilmington branch for some years, but again he is aging. We have respect for our seniors who have been boots on the ground and who have been holding the line for decades. But sometimes you’re just not able to advocate or galvanize at the level you may have been able to do.”

Esdaile will “help me help them stabilize their operations, to ensure compliance with bylaws and just really rebuild community trust and branding,’’ she said.

McKendell said that “this step or this appointment is not a punishment. It’s really just a reset button to really restore the Wilmington branch’s credibility and effectiveness because it’s the largest, Blackest city in our state. And every corner of Delaware needs an effective epicenter of civil rights advocacy, especially with some of the things that we’re facing at the national political climate.”

One issue McKendell said he found was that standing committees on issues such as education, criminal justice, legal redress and health equity — all required by the national NAACP for local branches — were not all functioning in Wilmington.

“You have to have a leadership and an executive committee that can galvanize the community,” McKendell said. “We should be outside at events. We should be outside at rallies. I’m not saying they weren’t doing some of this, but it wasn’t again at the level that it really should be. We have people in Wilmington who are in dire need of civil rights advocacy that the branch just wasn’t in a position to be able to provide.”

Beyond aligning Wilmington with national directives, Esdaile will be charged with helping the branch resolve outstanding debts, holding membership drives, initiating youth programs and prioritizing advocacy on issues such as voter empowerment, criminal justice reform and economic justice tailored to Wilmington’s needs.

Derrick Johnson, the national NAACP president, said in a statement that Esdaile’s “proven track record in reorganizing state conferences make him the ideal leader for this moment. His deep understanding of Delaware’s challenges, and his prior work there, will ensure the Wilmington branch emerges stronger and more focused than ever.”

Esdaile was not available for an interview this week, but in a statement called his new assignment “a homecoming of sorts” after working with Smith several years ago.

“Now, I’m honored to return and partner with Wilmington’s dedicated members to help restore this branch as a beacon for justice. We will confront systemic inequities head-on, amplify marginalized voices in Wilmington,” Esdaile said in the statement.

Councilmember Owens, the criminal justice chair for the state NAACP branch, said he worked with Esdaile during his previous stint in Delaware and praised his organizational skills.

“He is really good at building structures that are built to last,’’ Owens said. “That’s probably one of the biggest things, especially with so many new systems being used by the NAACP right now.”

Owens stressed that Esdaile would only be a temp, that new elections will likely be held in the coming months.

Owens said the change is being made in part because the branch wasn’t “holding open elections and notifying the full membership” before voting.

Beyond that, the issue with Brittingham was “just a management thing, understanding the new technologies. Sometimes that could be difficult for people. Back in the day, to become a member you would have to cut a check, get a membership card,” Owens said.

“Now they have different portals. So you can still do it the old way, but you can also go online and get a membership.”