110 Years of Advocacy: Des Moines NAACP Celebrates at the 48th Annual Freedom Fund
Updated: 3 hours ago
On December 6, 2025, the Des Moines Branch of the NAACP gathered at Prairie Meadows for the 48th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet and an extraordinary milestone: 110 years of organized civil-rights advocacy in our community.
The evening asked us to do more than remember the people who built this branch. It challenged us to consider what their legacy requires from us now.
Our keynote speaker, Alencia Johnson, bestselling author of Flip the Tables and Founder and CEO of 1063 West Broad, brought a national perspective shaped by work at the intersection of culture, politics, social impact and movement building. Her message reinforced a truth that has carried the NAACP across generations: leadership is not simply about holding a position. It is about recognizing what the moment demands and being willing to act.
Celebrating leadership in our community
The Freedom Fund also gave us the opportunity to recognize people and organizations whose work is helping Greater Des Moines move forward.
The 2025 honorees were
Sharon Zanders Ackiss, Excellence in Advocacy Award;
Dr. Ashley Garrin, Visionary Leadership in Education Award;
Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Faith-Based Organization Award;
Audrey Kennis, Women in NAACP Award;
Supply Hive, Organization of the Year Award; and
Dr. Gregory Johnson, Corporate Citizen Award.
Each recognition represented a different form of leadership, but together they reflected what lasting change requires: advocacy, education, service, institution-building and people willing to use their influence for the good of the community.
110 years, and the work continues
The people who organized the Des Moines Branch in 1915 could not have known the exact challenges our community would face more than a century later. They did, however, leave us something powerful: an organization, a history and a responsibility.
Today, that responsibility includes protecting civil rights, expanding educational and economic opportunity, strengthening civic participation, developing young leaders and ensuring that Black people and all people of color have the opportunity not merely to live and work in Greater Des Moines, but to thrive.
We honor the legacy by continuing the work.
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