Mississippi State NAACP Conference in Biloxi Nov. 5 -7, 2026

Report of Attorney Patrice Amandla Sulton, Moderator of Labor & Industry Workshop:


Dear all,

Thank you for a thoughtful, solutions-focused Labor & Industry workshop today. I appreciate the opportunity to help facilitate the discussion and hear everyone’s ideas for expanding African American entrepreneurship, ownership, and workforce opportunity.

Below, I’ve organized the recommendations into two groups: priorities for the State Conference to consider advancing, and actions we can all take individually and through our businesses and organizations. These reflect ideas raised during the discussion, not formally adopted positions.

Recommendations for the State Conference

• Connect people to jobs and apprenticeships. Build relationships with organized labor and other opportunity providers to connect community members with jobs and press trade unions to expand apprenticeship opportunities.
• Advance fair employment policies. Advocate for a higher minimum wage, equal pay, and fair opportunities for people with criminal records, including policies and protections against employment discrimination.
• Support branch-led education and services. Help branches offer expungement clinics; AI literacy and job training; financial and stock-market education; and workshops on heirs’ property, deed theft, ownership interests, powers of attorney, and estate planning.
• Build a coordinated Black-business support strategy. Encourage each branch to create a “Black Book” of businesses to support and use NAACP events and purchasing to direct spending toward Black-owned businesses.
• Promote cooperative ownership and investment. Help build coalitions that expand co-ownership, grow the pool of contractors in our communities, and create opportunities for community members to own properties and businesses that organizations, including the NAACP, can patronize.
• Strengthen youth leadership and economic education. Support Black teachers and principals, advocate for our schools, rebuild spaces for young people to develop as leaders, and consider scholarships that teach the business side of sports.
• Protect communities from harmful data-center development. Explore how the State Conference can support affected communities and local branches.

Actions we can all take

Continue learning and organizing. Participants encouraged attendance at the Mississippi Workers for Human Rights Conference at Jackson State University, December 10–13.

Be intentional about where we spend. Support Black-owned businesses, including when planning events, booking lodging, and making major purchases. Participants highlighted the Hilton in Jackson, the Almanett in Gulfport, and Sharp Bed and Breakfast, as well as seeking out Black sales professionals.

Preserve land and build generational wealth. Learn about our ownership interests and estate-planning options, share that knowledge with younger generations, and explore ways to retain and generate income from inherited homes rather than selling them.

Pursue ownership together. Explore cooperative investment, co-ownership, and real-estate opportunities that keep assets and economic benefits in our communities.

Help shape access to capital. Seek opportunities to serve on bank loan committees and other bodies that influence lending decisions.

Invest in young people and one another. Create opportunities for leadership beyond athletics, support educators, and help restore the community networks that prepare the next generation.