Scholar-activist Dr. Yaba Blay will deliver the 2023 Community MLK Celebration keynote address on January 26, 2023 at 6 pm. 

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available here.

This event is presented by the UVA Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; UVA Health Diversity and Community Engagement; the UVA School of Data Science; and UVA Lifetime Learning in the Office of Engagement.

"Why We Can’t Wait,” the title of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s third book, will serve as the theme of the University of Virginia’s 2022 Community MLK Celebration.

“Dr. King’s message in ‘Why We Can’t Wait’ rings just as true today as it did in 1964,” Kevin McDonald, UVA’s vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships, wrote in an email. “As we enter another year of a pandemic that continues to profoundly impact the world and exacerbate the stark disparities in our society, it’s important to remember that we can’t sit idly by. In fact, there’s no better time than the present to be actively engaged in transformational efforts.

This January, UVA’s Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in partnership with the Community MLK Celebration Planning Committee will provide donations to local non-profit organizations in the Charlottesville-Albemarle community. In the early stages of its planning, the committee determined that in light of all of the difficulties those in the local community have faced over the course of the pandemic, it wished to redirect funding typically reserved to host the annual keynote event toward local agencies who are making a difference and providing relief to those who need it most.

A subcommittee worked during fall of 2020 to identify six local Charlottesville-Albemarle non-profit organizations that are making significant and immediate positive impacts in the community. These organizations target the areas of food insecurity, rent relief, and education:

• Loaves & Fishes

• Legal Aid Justice Center

• Piedmont Housing Alliance

• City of Promise

• International Neighbors

• African American Teaching Fellows

The 2021 Community MLK Celebration will take place virtually January 18-29 with an array of virtual events.  Visit mlk.virginia.edu to view the full schedule.

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” could easily be written about our divided nation today, but it’s the title of a book Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. published more than 50 years ago.

Taking the title of King’s 1967 book as the theme of the 2021 Community MLK Celebration, the University of Virginia’s Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is planning a series of virtual events Jan. 18 through 31.