16th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Observance & Fair

South Orange Maplewood Community Coalition on Race presents the 16th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance Monday, January 16, 2017 at 2:00 pm, at Columbia High School, 17 Parker Ave, Maplewood. The event is free and open to all. Hundreds of SOMA residents and friends from neighboring communities gather to honor Dr. King through music, dance, a sharing of interfaith readings, and an affirmation of Dr. King’s call to action and service.

This year we are pleased to welcome LaShawn Y. Warren, Vice President and General Counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, as our guest speaker. Ms. Warren has worked as a public interest attorney for nearly 20 years. Before the Institute, she served as Vice President of Policy Development and Programming at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and she worked as Oversight Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. In addition to Ms. Warren’s legal work on civil rights issues, she is a graduate of Yale Divinity School where she focused on ethics, faith, and social movements and effective paradigms for building healthy urban communities.

The Reception and Volunteer Fair follow at 3:30 pm in the cafeteria. The Fair gives members of the community information and ways to serve from local community groups, including those housing and feeding the poor, mentoring and tutoring our youth, and those serving other social causes. There will also be projects with instant impact that can be completed right then and there. Food pantry donations are encouraged and welcome.