Although many of the NAACP's active members are getting older, leaders of the century-old civil rights organization say they are working on many equality issues in the Bronx. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

The Bronx branches of the NAACP are now celebrating the national civil rights organization's centennial. Members say that in 2009 the NAACP still has power and importance in the borough.

"You would be surprised how many people are still calling the NAACP," says Edward Mulraine of the NAACP Williamsbridge branch. "It's just that the NAACP has to reach out more to the younger people, or even the older people to let them know the NAACP is still relevant."

The members who gathered at a recent NAACP luncheon in Throgs Neck said they know they are relevant when it comes to helping to improve the lives of people in the borough. But with a lot of the very active members getting older, a push is needed for new and younger members.

"This is a voluntary-based organization, and unless we have the laborers to come out and continue to do the great work of this association, it's very difficult to continue the mission," says President Beverly Roberts of the NAACP Parkchester branch.

Issues that need solutions include the borough's disturbing rates of crime and poverty and negligence in the educational system.

"Our next struggle is in the area of educational equality," says Bronx Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benjamin. "Too many of our black children dropping out of school, too many of our young black men are not going to college. Too many are in our prisons and to few enough in our colleges. That's is the next step for the NAACP when it comes to pushing forward for equal treatment and rights for African-Americans living in America."

Others say the struggle for good paying jobs has to continue. Dr. Annie B. Martin, the NAACP New York branch president, is worried that the bad economy is forcing the elimination of local and national jobs won through the NAACP's struggles.

"The people who are being displaced from jobs and the middle class is being destroyed in this country," says Martin. "The middle management is being destroyed because there are the jobs they created for civil rights purposes. Now we are losing these jobs."

But before the Bronx branches of the NAACP tackled the myriad of issues, the first goal may be to attract newer, younger members.