About
Our Mission
Our Mission is simple: To bring together dedicated, committed, and sincere people to work enthusiastically on concerns and issues facing our community (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream) and to set examples through their deeds, conscious behavior, and approach to addressing issues with maximum integrity and proficiency.
In August 1985, a community meeting was convened at Scott United Methodist Church in Pasadena, California bringing together freedom loving people to address some of the problems facing the community:
- Spiritual Renewal
- Educational Decline
- Economics & Employment
- Health & Welfare
Check out some of our activities on the web at Flickr.com
Our Legacy
For our 26 years, the MLK Community Coalition has paved the way for people living in the Pasadena, Altadena, and surrounding communities to keep Dr. King’s dream alive.
Before the coalition was officially organized in 1985, a core group of 10 people had worked enthusiastically to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday.
Over the past 26 years, the coalition has sponsored the Martin Luther King Essay contest encouraging students in the Pasadena Unified School District and local private schools to write essays addressing different aspects of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
Beginning 10 years ago, the coalition introduced an art contest to include the growing pool of talented student visual artists. Notably, the combined entries from both the essay and art contests have numbered well into the thousands:
- 20,000 students have entered the essay contest
- 2,585 young artists have submitted entries for the art contest
Thousands of dollars have been awarded to students from elementary, middle school, and high schools during this period of time
In 2001, we joined in the “Day On, Not Off” National Initiative spearheaded by the Atlanta Martin Luther King Center for Social Change. We’ve coordinated local volunteers to partner with the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) to sponsor a beautification project at designated campuses the Saturday before the national holiday celebrating Dr. King’s birthday.
