The Mahoning County based Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee has decided they will host their annual MLK Day services and workshop remotely.

Making the move to a virtual session was taken out of an abundance of caution over COVID-19 concerns. 

But the committee is determined to achieve their goals. They've been hosting these services and workshops for over 40 years. Sunday and Monday's events will be no different. 

"Even though these are different circumstances, our focus is on institutionalized racism and to talk about issues and problems that can be addressed for the year," said spokeswoman Jaladah Aslam. 

Reverend Dr. Marvin McMickle of Cleveland will be the worship preacher and workshop speaker. He has earned degrees from Columbia University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He's spoken about Martin Luther King Jr's messages and missions for a great length of his career.

Aslam said the workshop Dr. McMickle is leading will have a focus on helping prevent crime and substance abuse amongst school-aged children. 

"We want to go above and help kids in the Youngstown City Schools talk about substance abuse," she said. "We've worked to have conversations with the school. They've had some success implementing programs."

Ohio requires substance abuse programs in school curriculum, usually appearing in health classes.

"But the missions we discuss go beyond focusing on decisions children can make to stay healthy," she added. "We want to set kids up and help them learn to make real life decisions."

The committee believes there has not been as much push back to these programs as much as a lack of focus on the students wellness as a whole. 

Aslam herself is a mother of 25-year-old son. She said it would be easy to push the needs of students who are not her own aside, but she insists on working to help other kids anyways.

"We're not going to get better as a community unless we all put everything into helping each other," she said. That's the reality. I'm not gonna sit back and say its someone else's problem. We need to look at all the children. Whether they are black, white, rich, poor or from the inner city or suburbs. These kids will be our future leaders, and it makes sense for us to care about each other."

Worship services for MLK Day will be held via Zoom at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 16. They will be followed by the community workshop at 9 p.m. on MLK Day and also streamed on Zoom.

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