The Los Baños-Dos Palos-Gustine branch of the NAACP gathered about 12 of its members Friday night to meet with a field training manager to help guide them toward making their organization more effective.</p><p>Greg Akili, whose NAACP office is based in Baltimore, asked members to tell him their short-term and long-term goals. Increasing membership was one item discussed that could fall into both categories. Akili told the group to gain more members the branch should not rely so heavily on talking about past achievements of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. </p><p>“I’ve noticed that in some cases we have two types of members. One is the nostalgia member, ‘In 1956 the NAACP was ooh-wee, that’s why I been a member.’ Or there is the legacy member, ‘Well you know my grand daddy was a member of the NAACP,’” Akili said. “We’ve got to make sure we talk to people about the value of being a member, not just for what happened in 1960 or whatever and not just because your grandfather or grandmother was a member. Think about it. When you talk to people they say ‘Well, what is the NAACP doing over there?’ If you can’t tell them then the assumption is you ain't doing nothing.”</p><p>NAACP members counted voter registration drives, handing out local scholarships, receiving sponsorships and the local branch’s existence among its accomplishments. </p><p>Chapter President Jon Grissom also said the group has members monitoring the justice system to make sure defendants are being treated fairly. </p><p>“Our local courts have begun to recognize and acknowledge that there’s representation here. A lot of times when I go into the courtroom the judge often stops and says who are you here to represent today,” said NAACP member the Rev. Mychael Williams. “We’ve had them re-evaluated before they go to these sentences. Because a lot of the time the sentences they want to put on these kids are awful.”</p><p>Williams and Grissom said there was a juvenile in the area that had a $2 million bail the NAACP managed to have reduced. They said the suspect was eventually released on his own recognizance. The charges were later dismissed.</p><p>Problems the local NAACP believe Los Baños is facing include high unemployment (particularly for minorities), the need for more vocational training, a lack of mentoring and after-school programs, and a fractured relationship between law enforcement and minorities.</p><p>Akili suggested the branch reach out to other groups, emphasizing goals they likely have in common.</p><p>“If you improve education then that works for everybody. If you’re certainly able to increase the employment here, we are not ever going to get all the jobs,” Akili said. “The first thing we have to communicate is that we’re open and want to work with others. While we have a particular focus — African American — that doesn’t mean that we are myopic because we know that we are connected here. This is a small community and you can believe that what happens to one of us sooner or later is going to effect the other.”</p><p>Enterprise staff writer Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563 or cpride@losbanosenterprise.com