Game Changers: The Conscious Culture Volume 2 Issue 8 | Page 22

communities first MLK Jr. pro-
gram featuring singers, speeches,
poetry etc. which packed the
church consistently. Ms. Bil-
lups organized the first NAACP
Prison Branch in the country,
known as the Genesis Branch,
at the Long Island Correctional
Facility, which served as a model
for other prison branches around
the country.
ty and she was instrumental in
bringing Jesse Jackson to speak
at the school. Later she would
work on Reverend Jackson’s
presidential campaign. She also
served on the National Council
of Negro Women.
Years after leaving a communi-
ty program she’d ran; a young
man received an award and was
asked who was the most influ-
ential person in his life and he
replied Ms. Sarah Billups. This
21 - Game Changers Magazine Sep/Oct 2017
is just one of the many accolades
Sarah has received over her years
serving the community first in
New York and now in Atlanta
South. Ms. Billups’ work as a
youth mentor began in New York
with the NAACP. Her mentor
was Charles Gray the president
of the NAACP for Islip, NY told
her she had much more potential
than she knew, soon she was
involved in the NAACP organiz-
ing programs for the community
at her church. Ms. Billups did the
She worked as a school social
worker for Central Islip School
in New York where she provided
counseling and crisis intervention
programs for high risk stu-
dents, grades 9 through 12. She
counseled youth and families on
issues involving gangs, teenage
pregnancy, youth violence, and
substance abuse. Sarah also had
a heart to care for the psychiat-
rically disabled, she did so as
a psychiatric social worker for
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in
Brentwood, NY. She sponsored
the first major AIDS Symposium
in the area under the National As-
sociation of Social Workers and
Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
Ms. Billups was active in the
Public Employees Federation as
a Political Action Liaison, and
fought for jobs and employees’
rights and benefits around New
York State. She was a member of
the Central Islip School District’s
Multi-Cultural Committee, and
was the catalyst for the district’s
“International Unity Day” in
commemoration of the 9/11
attacks. The hundreds of young
people who have benefitted from
Ms. Billups’ service have all
gone on to successful lives, none
falling prey to the ills of under-
privileged communities.
Sarah relocated to Georgia in
2008, and has been working with
the Henry County NAACP as
Chairperson of Religious Affairs
for three years. She was ap-
pointed Community Coordinator
for Henry County NAACP by
Branch President, Mr. Eugene
Edwards. She has done Black
history lectures, sponsored the
first Juneteenth program in Henry
County, assisted with Black his-
tory programs in Stockbridge and
McDonough, “I don’t care how
much Black history you learn
there is always more to learn”
and she set out to learn more and
then share that knowledge in her
novel titled “Ephraim’s Jour-
ney: A Tale of the Underground
Railroad” which Ms. Billups
hopes to soon have published.
I am excited to read it myself.
Sarah says “no one teaches kids
about the political process” so in
a continued effort to do that she
hopes to start the Shiloh Cultural
Youth Academy in collaboration
with Shiloh Baptist Church in
McDonough, GA where she will
provide Civic and Cultural ed-
ucation and services. Ms. Sarah
Billups is ever striving to im-
prove the community and engage
the youth in the shaping of their
future, and we thank her for it.