UTICA — The Utica-Oneida County Branch of the NAACP announced its installation ceremony of officers and committee chairpersons for the 2023 to 2025 term.

Judge Anthony Garramone, the legal counsel for the Utica Common Council, will be presiding at today’s ceremony at Utica City Hall.

The Utica-Oneida County Branch of the NAACP is a unit of the National and New York State NAACP organizations.

The Utica branch has been on the civil rights battlefield since 1961 when the branch was founded by Edward Bass to address the absence of equal rights for minority citizens.

The 2023 to 2025 officers are:

• Freddie Hamilton, president.
• Dawn Michelle Laguerre, vice president.
• Joe Johnson, treasurer.
• Alane Varga, secretary.
• Dietra Harvey, member-at-large.
• The 2023 to 2025 Standing Committee Chairs are:
• Edward Jackson, membership.
• Dawn Michelle Laguerre, education.
• Sonia Martinez, health.
• Carol Gable, environmental justice.
• Diane Berry, civic engagement.
• Craig Grant, Black History Month celebration.