Dear community,
We hope all is well with you all. We have some sad news.
Longtime community advocate Colandus “Kelly” Francis, former Camden NAACP President, community leader, education & housing advocate, passed away this past Saturday.
Kelly was one of the first leaders in New Jersey that supported the work of NJEJA in Camden.
Kelly was a progressive political leader in Camden, often at odds with the political bosses in Camden and the surrounding communities.
In the early years, Kelly helped to shape the Environmental Justice movement in New Jersey and was a staunch supporter of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. He opened the door for NJEJA to meet and work with community leaders. Kelly provided insight into the environmental degradation that had devastated his beloved community.
Kelly was a civil servant; he delivered the mail to the community. He knew every nook and cranny in Camden. As a mail carrier, he developed relationships with many of the citizens in Camden and the surrounding communities as well.
His kind of activism will be missed.
“They don’t build them that way anymore”
In love and care,
NJEJA
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