Honoring Dr. King in Our Community: Reflection 

We conclude this blog series with a reflection about Dr. King’s work and how each of us can continue to advocate for racial justice for everyone in the United States. Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough to just talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. 

In the 50-plus years since Dr. King’s death, has there been much progress for Black Americans? According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, since 1968 there have been advances in absolute terms in areas such as high school graduation, income and life expectancy. But Black Americans are still only half as likely as Whites to have a college degree, earn only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by White workers, and live 3.5 fewer years than Whites. Also, the rate of homeownership has remained steady for Black Americans while it has grown for White households, and the rate of incarceration among Blacks has almost tripled since 1968. 

It’s obvious that some things must change, and change significantly, if we hope to realize MLK’s vision of an equitable society. At United Way, we’ve changed how we invest in our communities. In 2025, 75% of the nonprofit agencies we’re funding are led by people of color (as recently as 2020, it was only 36%). More than half of the organizations we’re funding have budgets under $500k, and 49% are place-based, meaning that they focus on serving residents in a specific neighborhood. We believe this emphasis on supporting grassroots, place-based organizations, as well as our continued push for agency collaboration and shared outcome measures will allow us to move the needle on the core issues of economic mobility and racial equity that have weighed down our communities for generations. 

Ways to get educated and involved: 

SERVICE & SUPPORT 

We tend to think of “service” as singular acts, but perhaps we’d do better as a community in achieving Dr. King’s dream if we thought of service as a common thread that can connect many of our daily activities.  How would we speak, what would we purchase, where would we focus our attention and whom would we befriend if we centered service?  

Today’s service opportunity has two parts. First, look over the activities described over the previous four days and repeat one of them, or accomplish one that you skipped. Second, and more importantly, consider how you as an individual can change your habits in ways that contribute to greater equity – and then commit to at least one of those changes for 2025. 

LISTEN & LEARN 

Listen to Dr. King’s speech Where Do We Go From Here where he outlined a new strategy for the civil rights movement after a decade of voting rights struggles. Dr. King encouraged all Americans to unite in the fight against poverty and to create equal opportunity. He specifically highlighted the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, and quality education for all people.