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Elder Matthew S. Holland of the Seventy joins Vickie Terry, executive director of the NAACP Memphis Branch, and others at branch headquarters in Memphis on the morning of Juneteenth, Monday, June 19, 2023. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is giving $500,000 to help renovate the branch.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Elder Matthew S. Holland of the Seventy, second from right, joins Vickie Terry, middle, executive director of the NAACP Memphis Branch, and others at branch headquarters on the morning of Juneteenth, Monday, June 19, 2023. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is giving $500,000 to help renovate the branch.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Joell Archibald, a retired nurse and service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teaches a MyBaby4Me course on Saturday June 17, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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It has been two years since leaders of the NAACP and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met at Temple Square in Salt Lake City to announce initiatives to benefit the Black community through education and humanitarian programs.

At the Memphis Branch of the NAACP on Monday, the Juneteenth holiday, the church gave $500,000 to help renovate the organization’s Memphis Branch.

“This kindness from the Church of Jesus Christ symbolizes a shared commitment to create a more equitable society,” said Vickie Terry, executive director of the NAACP Memphis Branch. “I thank the church for helping us create a welcoming space for women and others in the community.”

Church President Russell M. Nelson explained those few years ago that the two organizations would “bring relief to suffering souls in underprivileged areas of the United States” and “teach important principles of self-reliance.”

Since then, the church has given $2 million to fund 116 scholarships via the United Negro College Fund, according to church information. All but eight of the awardees have attended historically Black colleges and universities.

Forty-three students took part last summer in the Rev. Amos C. Brown Student Fellowship to Ghana. The fellowship allowed American students of various backgrounds to experience Ghanaian culture, learn about their ancestral heritage and become ambassadors of racial harmony.

Humanitarian assistance is also being provided to train people to lead healthier lives. At a community garden in San Francisco last October, NAACP and Latter-day Saint volunteers installed a new water-wise irrigation system. The garden provides more than 100 families in a food desert with access to fresh food.

To combat asthma, trees are being planted in 10 historically Black neighborhoods across the country. And to support babies and mothers in Memphis, the MyBaby4Me program implemented last November is helping reduce infant mortality. The city’s 38126 ZIP code has one of the United States’ highest infant mortality rates, according to church information.

Other projects not connected with the NAACP, but which the church classified as consistent with the spirit of Juneteenth, are progressing around the country.

One of these is the church’s rehabilitation of the Ella J. Baker House in Boston, which helps youth experiencing homelessness and attempts to curb gang violence. Another is the opening later this month of the Center for Family History at the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

The NAACP and the Church of Jesus Christ first came together to “demonstrate greater civility, racial and ethnic harmony and mutual respect.”

In July of 2019, Nelson spoke to the NAACP national convention in Detroit. In his speech, he noted that, “We strive to build bridges of cooperation rather than walls of segregation. We are all connected, and we have a God-given responsibility to help make life better for those around us. We don’t have to be alike or look alike to have love for each other. We don’t even have to agree with each other to love each other.”

“If we have any hope of reclaiming the goodwill and sense of humanity for which we yearn,” he added, “it must begin with each of us, one person at a time.”