The NAACP has decided to keep its national headquarters in Baltimore.
The civil rights organization passed on opportunities to move to Washington, D.C., Montgomery County, Md. and downtown Baltimore and instead will stay in northwest Baltimore, the Baltimore Development Corporation told The Baltimore Sun on August 12.
According to Roger Vann, chief operating officer and chief of staff for the NAACP, the “timing was not right.”
The decision wasn’t an easy one to make, as the corporation had received a generous offer from the D.C. government. In 2006, the District’s city council approved a $3.5 million grant to help with the NAACP move. However, as the group struggled to find a buyer for its current headquarters, the likelihood of that move decreased. Vann told the Associated Press that the group wasn’t able to move through internal processes quick enough to take advantage of the council’s “very good offer.”
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was among those pleased with the organization’s decision to stay put in her city.
“I am thrilled by the NAACP’s decision to remain in Baltimore,” Rawlings-Blake told the Baltimore Business Journal. “It is tremendous news for the people of this city, many of whom played a role in building the organization into what it is today.”