About our branch

The Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP roots spring directly from the work of local and civic minded leaders from within the West Medford community. Of critical importance to the formation of the branch was the hard work of the late Rev. Oscar Phillips of the Shiloh Baptist Church and Mr. Wallace Kountze, who was elected the branch’s first President. In August of 1977 a list of 97 persons who signed up for membership was sent to the National office of the NAACP to apply for our own Charter. In October of 1977 the National office formally recognized Medford as a separate and distinct NAACP unit.

The adult leaders in the community made sure to include youth in the process of establishing a new branch, and a sufficient number of young people signed up to create a youth group within a year of the adult branch’s formation.

The Medford Branch changed its name to the Mystic Valley Area branch in order to capture the desire of persons from surrounding cities/towns to become active members of a vibrant local Civil Rights organization. Today the Mystic Valley Area Branch includes in our geographic reach Arlington, Malden, Everett, Woburn, and Winchester.