Each year, the City of Tacoma officially celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s event theme was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration: A Community Blueprint – Building Block by Block. The program highlighted the present and future of Dr. King’s impacts and featured local performers and speakers who work and volunteer to ensure the community embodies equity, hope, and continuing to rise no matter the challenges faced.
This year’s celebration included a community outreach fair where select organizations showcased their organization’s missions and provided resources for the community. Comcast took part in the fair, hosting a booth staffed with Comcast employee volunteers and was able to share information about Internet Essentials (Comcast’s low-cost, high-speed internet) and information about Comcast’s commitment to digital equity.
Comcast employee volunteers were also able to get educated by and connected with other community organizations who took part in the fair.
“We met and connected with many of the other resource providers understanding their roles in the community and how it intersects with our commitment to working with those needing help,” said Phillip Eppright, Contract Account Executive and Pacific Northwest Comcast Black Employee Network Employee Resource Group Board Member. “There were hundreds of people in attendance of all ages, races, economic demographics and the energy was palpably positive.”
A celebration followed the fair which included a gospel choir, poetry, community service awards, color guard, and a local youth reading from King’s “Blueprint” speech. The celebration included several elected officials with speeches from Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce and Tacoma native Don Graves, and Mount Vernon, New York Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, who delivered the keynote speech.
