About MLK 365

Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher, scholar, social activist, orator, peace advocate and humanitarian, but his most enduring quality was that he was a “change agent,” after the order of Jesus Christ. His life was a road map for social justice and community empowerment, a testament that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.  It was for change that King shared his dreams; it was for change that he applied his faith, and it was for change that he lost his life.

MLK365 inspires to activate the power of change within ordinary people so that they can transform their own communities.

OUR MOTIVATION

We are concerned about the growing sense of hopelessness in the community--a very real “poverty of the spirit” as seen with the increase of drugs, gangs and senseless murders. We are concerned that America sends too many to prison and so few to college. We are concerned that the human rights of a few will become the subject of moral turpitude to be sacrificed, by the many, on the political altar of expediency. We are concerned that far too many families are locked into generational cycles of poverty and despair. Finally, we are concerned that far too many people of conscious have not found the passion or motivation to speak and act on their own vision and values.

THE MLK365 TEAM

1. Staff Volunteers: Sam Starks, Char Starks, Mark Freeman
2. Board: Scott Syphax, President; Janelle Newborn-Vincent, Treasurer; Sam Starks, Secretary; Aliane Murphy-Hasan; Vincene Jones; Mark Freeman; Jacques Whitfield.
3. Event Volunteers: Lisa Fox, David Walton, Allan Darte, Tonia Valmore, Anthony Brown, Robert Best, Bonnie Ratner, Sandra Moorman
4. MLK365 Scholarship Team: May Lee, Ted Canty; March Coordinator and Team: Tom Burruss, Rory Kaufman, Eric Walker and Harry Block; Media Coordinator: Don Alias; Youth Mobilization: Crandall Rankins; Talent Showcase: Pepper Von and Greg King
5. Dramatic Arts Team: Michael Benjamin, Cheryl Dunn and Orland Gladden.

THE HISTORY

In 1983 the Sacramento Human Rights & Fair Housing Commission brought together several disconnected Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) activities to form the MLK Celebration Day Committee. Every year, this committee would host a city-wide celebration that consisted of a job fair, financial, health, ecumenical service, multi-cultural talent showcase, children’s educational activities and a gospel celebration.
In 1988 the Martin Luther King Jr. Expo & Fair (MLK Job Fair), with the expressed permission of the King family to use Dr. King’s name, incorporated as its own non-profit organization. Over the past twenty-seven years, the MLK collaborative has achieved many milestones including hosting 200,000 people at our events, bringing the Fisk Jubilee Singers, hosting a dinner honoring Coretta Scott King and raising over $100, 000 in education and work related scholarships.

After twenty three years of hosting Sacramento’s Martin Luther King Jr. March and Celebration, we asked ourselves, “How would Dr. King like to be honored?” Our answer came in a question: “If King were alive, what would he be doing?” We believe he would be speaking and acting on his vision and values while encouraging others to do the same with their vision.

In 2005, we changed our name, expanded our mission and officially incorporated as MLK365 because one day wasn’t enough.

THE MISSION STATEMENT

MLK365 is a Martin Luther King Jr. inspired, value-centered non-profit organization committed to advancing the principles of social change through the talents and passions of ordinary people as a strategy for building strong communities.

MLK365 Change Model

• Vision→ a prophetic ability to see things as they can be and not as they are→
• Values→ applying what you passionately believe to be true in the pursuit of your vision→
• Application → strategic actions committed in the furtherance of the vision→