The Winston County Branch of the NAACP will host its 39th annual Freedom Fund Banquet on Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. The banquet will be held at the Mt. Olive Bethel Harmony District Association Building (MOBH), 521 Armstrong St., Louisville, MS 39339. The theme for this year's banquet is "Defeat Hate-VOTE". The speaker is District Attorney Scott Colom, Mississippi Judicial District 16, from Columbus, MS.
Scott Colom is native of Columbus, MS. He received a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Millsaps College. After college, Scott was selected to teach in Guyana, South America by World Teach, a non-profit, non-governmental organization based at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. While participating in the program, Scott taught English in a small rural town in Guyana.
Scott is also a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he graduated cum laude. While in law school, Scott interned with the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, and was one of twenty-five students nationwide awarded a summer honors internship with the United States Department of Justice. He was also a member of the school’s Mock Trial and Moot Court team.
After law school, Scott was one of 28 young legal professionals nationwide to be awarded a Skadden Fellowship to work with the Mississippi Center for Justice. During the fellowship, Scott worked with a group of non-profits to help develop affordable, asset building alternatives to predatory lending.
In 2011, Scott Colom was appointed the youngest and first African American justice court judge in Lowndes County history. In 2013, he was appointed the first African American prosecutor for the city of Columbus. In 2015, he was elected District Attorney for Circuit Court District Sixteen, which includes Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties.
The goal is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The Freedom Fund Banquet is our primary fundraiser. Our fund raising activities have allowed for the following: Provision of free school supplies at our Annual Back-to-School rally, Sponsorship of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, Participation at Legislative day at the capitol, Investigation of various community Civil Rights complaints, Sponsorship of ACT-SO Youths, Partnership with the Coalition for a Healthy Winston County, Participation in the Juneteenth Celebration, Red Cross donations, and Donation of Christmas gifts.
Banquet tickets are available at the cost of $25 for adults and $15 for youth ages 12 and below. Contact Letitia Jackson at 662-803-2956 or Carolyn Hampton at 662-803-2106 to purchase tickets.
