Pastor Richard Pittman Sr. has been elected president of the NAACP area covering Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Pittman was elected president of the Tri-State Conference that is made up of seven local chapters of the NAACP: the Duluth, Mankato, Minneapolis, Rochester, St. Cloud, St. Paul and Sioux Falls, S.D., chapters.

The Tri-State area conference coordinates activities and communications among the seven chapters and is the regional liaison for the NAACP national headquarters, according to a Friday news release.

In his new role as president, Pittman will serve on and chair the executive committee of the conference.

According to the release announcing his election, Pittman was founding pastor of the House of Praise Church of God in Christ in St. Paul for the past 30 years. He also has been an assistant pastor of a congregation of 2,500 people for 12 years.

“His vocation has been to preach the gospel and serve our community in every way possible,” the release said.

Pittman has been on the conference’s executive committee and the St. Paul NAACP over the past decade serving as religious chair, public safety and criminal justice chair and president of the St. Paul Roy Wilkins NAACP Chapter. He was recently re-elected president of the St. Paul chapter. He also serves on the Elders Council and several other community boards.

Over the past three years, with others who partner with the NAACP, Pittman has worked to help create an addendum to a 23-year-old agreement between the NAACP and the St. Paul Police Department that covers policing policies, body-worn cameras, training and use of force. He has also worked with the St. Paul chapter’s education committee in its efforts to “bring closure to acts of systemic racism, social injustice and discrimination against students of color.”

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