Madison Empowers Youth Through Service

For decades, the city has supported the widely known and celebrated Madison-Dane County Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance, but did you know that the city also supports the MLK Youth Call to Service? The Call to Service is just for middle school students, and occurs earlier in the day. This year, nearly 100 middle school students from all across Madison and dozens of staff braved 20 below wind-chills on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to come together, learn about King’s legacy, and commit to service to their communities, and I got to join them. 

For decades, community partners led by the Urban League of Greater Madison, MSCR, Partners for Afterschool Success, and supported by city agencies have been gathering teens to learn more about Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, the civil rights movement and the importance of service to our communities. This year, teens gathered to learn more about the ongoing struggle for justice from Freedom Inc., listened to and analyzed a speech King gave to middle school students in 1967 with Deana Wright, created and analyzed freedom songs with Dr. Fabu Carter, and created beautiful self-portraits with Madison Public Libraries "Our Town Everywhere" initiative. 

I had the privilege of joining them, and I learned that they heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “What is your life’s blueprint?” In it, King shared that if you focus on your own brilliance, “the world will make a beaten path to [your] door.” Hearing this, I reflected on the insecurity of young people stepping into their own power. When I was a young activist in college, balancing academics and activism, I felt this insecurity too, until I received an award from my college for successfully balancing academics and activism! There’s a lot of power in being seen and recognized, and I still remember vividly the dignity and power I felt when I realized people had been paying attention and that people saw me.

“Number one in your life’s blueprint,” King says in his speech, “should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness.” All of our young people certainly deserve that feeling, deserve to be seen, and deserve to know their worth. I’m proud that the city supports an event every Martin Luther King Jr. Day that does just that, and I feel grateful to be able to be a part of it.