World Needs Challenge: Overcoming Racism
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center) is committed to educating the world on the life, legacy, and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mrs. Coretta Scott King using the philosophy and methods of nonviolence to prepare global citizens to create a more just, humane and peaceful world.
Challenge Grant’s Project: Students with King is a unique student friendly focused program that interacts with our K-12 school age students and educators throughout the world. SWK Program are youth initiatives designed to focus on building relationships with youth groups and entities, schools and families while educating them about Dr. M. L. King, Jr., Mrs. Coretta Scott King, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Students with King’s leadership saw a need to increase interactions with its middle and high school age students. Over 11,000 middle and high school students benefited from the on-line version of our Students with King Interactive Civil Rights Talk initiative, which helps students to overcome bias. The adaptation to the virtual world made an impact on the students and educators and enabled The King Center to reach students throughout the world. This program is more accessible for schools and organizations that normally are not able to visit the King Center to benefit from the teachings of these talks.
Additionally, we are pleased that we are able to serve our international students. Schools from Canada, Germany, the Bahamas, Turkey, Nigeria and throughout the United States joined the on-line program. We are committed to introducing students to people of the movement in our efforts to help students grasp the urgency to embrace nonviolence as a lifestyle.
This initiative supports and contributes to leadership and positive character development objectives for middle and high school students by introducing them to key concepts related to social justice, nonviolence and the Beloved Community.
Donald A. Bullock, Coordinator of Students with King Program.
The Beloved Community Leadership Academy
The Beloved Community Leadership Academy (BCLA) is the premier youth program of The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center). The program focuses on Nonviolence365®, Technology and Innovation Business, Leadership and Entrepreneurship. The Beloved Community Leadership Academy is committed to developing the next generation of compassionate, courageous, conscientious, nonviolent leaders who think critically in solving pressing world issues.
We recently hosted our Opening Session with 100+ students and achieved our goal of acquiring an international audience as students joined from such countries as Scotland, France, Bangladesh, Philippines, Liberia, South Africa, Nigeria and across the United States of America.
During week one and week two, students received an in-depth introduction to Kingian nonviolence. This course utilized discussions and activities that enhanced communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, including interrupting unconscious biases as well as addressing and managing implicit biases. A student expressed that, “the best part of Ignite Summit was, the fact that, there were so many different people from various backgrounds and all of us were working on a common goal to improve our communities.” Students began to utilize Dr. King’s critical thinking and practical methods of nonviolent social change as a means and strategy to accelerate progress in their social justice initiatives.
During week three, students received an introduction to UX/UI design, programming technologies, and design and development related to mobile applications. In five days, students defined a challenge, learned how to operate Figma, built wireframes and presented a prototype of a website or mobile application to their peers. Their products included a website that helped students apply for college and start their careers, a mobile app that located affordable gas, a website that offered affordable health care options and a mobile application that disseminated nonviolent leaders to crime scenes. One student shared, “I really enjoyed the diversity of the content we learned, though I was familiar with NV365, I became far more comfortable with applying these ideals to modern situations.”
During week four, students received an introduction to business, leadership and entrepreneurship along with the responsibilities future business leaders must not only generate profits but also positively impact society including people and the planet. Topics covered include an introduction to the Beloved Business principles, core values, personal and business financial literacy and goal setting. We also engaged in conversations with world-class industry leaders such as Sola Winley, Morgan Shaw Parker, Jennifer Barnes and Earl Lucas. One of our students stated, “at first I mainly attended the BCLA to learn new things about learning about finance. In the end, I learned a lot about nonviolence 365 and I’m so happy to be able to apply that to the rest of my life.”
Our opening unit, Ignite Summit was a success. It truly empowered “DREAM Builders” (youth and young adults ages 13-18), to create a just, humane, equitable and peaceful world by introducing Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy and methodology in technology and innovation, and business, leadership and entrepreneurship.
Ian Elmore-Moore, Beloved Community Leadership Academy: Ignite Summit
