Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service

The Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service is the largest King Day in the nation, which celebrates Dr. King’s legacy by turning community concerns into ongoing citizen action. Each year on King Day, tens of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds from throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware volunteer in some hundreds of service projects, many of which continue throughout the year. Last January, 2008, more than 60,000 volunteers served in some 600 projects, once again making it the largest King Day service event in the nation.

On January 19, 2009, more than 60,000 volunteers are expected to serve in more than 600 projects. During the past thirteen years, some 400,000 people throughout the area have served in the King Day of Service. It has evolved into a fast growing nationwide movement, which has led to greater inter-group understanding, breaking down barriers that have divided us and has fostered lasting partnerships.

The national Martin Luther King Day of Service was started by former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, both veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, who co-authored the King Holiday and Service Act. The idea of the King Day of Service was to craft the federal legislation, which challenges Americans to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action through volunteer service in honor of Dr. King. This legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 23, 1994.

As state office chief of staff to Sen. Wofford, Todd Bernstein helped Wofford and Lewis start the national King Day of Service. The King Day of Service saw its beginning in Philadelphia where Bernstein started the Greater Philadelphia project and has served as director for the last thirteen years. He has helped replicate the Greater Philadelphia organizing model throughout the United States, having served from 2006-2008 as Director of the Martin Luther King Day of Service National Expansion Initiative through the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, D.C. Bernstein is also president of Global Citizen.

In the summer of 2008, Global Citizen and the Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service launched MLK 365, a new initiative promoting sustainable civic engagement and volunteer opportunities year-round. MLK 365 will formally kick-off on January 19, 2009 as part of the 14th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service. Using the King Day of Service as a springboard, MLK 365 will continue to work with our partners to encourage year-round civic engagement and ongoing volunteer opportunities. Community issues of focus will include literacy, homelessness, poverty, sub-standard housing, the environment and healthcare and social justice.

MLK 365 and the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service are programs of Global Citizen, a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement, community volunteering, civic responsibility, and sustained active citizenship among diverse groups, particularly young people. Global Citizen promotes democracy building, voter education and participation, locally and globally. Global Citizen brings together people of all ages and backgrounds to build diverse partnerships through serving others, thus realizing how much more we have in common than our differences.

Global Citizen works to promote partnerships among diverse groups, including community and civic organizations, the public and private sectors, labor unions, communities of faith, public, private and parochial educational institutions, colleges and universities, senior citizens, those with physical differences and people of all ages and backgrounds.