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Mesa MLK parade short on funding
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A committee formed in Mesa to honor a slain civil rights leader with an annual parade is finding trouble keeping pace with the economy.
But even with a funding shortfall, the group says it plans to continue the tradition of the parade to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Mesa MLK Jr. Celebration Committee, formed in the late 1980s by residents, approached the city this week for support and expressed a need for additional help in keeping the day of celebration going.
Nancy Reynolds, the committee’s chairwoman, told the city’s Human Relations Advisory Board at a meeting that the parade and other festivities were still on target for mid-January, despite a drop in financial backing that supporters blamed on the country’s economy.
Reynolds said the committee has reached out to businesses and community members, including the faith community.
“We’ve met with pastors and held events through churches and schools,” she told the advisory board. “In the future we just hope to work more and to partner more with other organizations in the city.”
Mesa officials have in the past partially funded the parade, along with other special events in the city, but those programs saw drastic funding cuts in 2006.
Everett Woods, a member of the Human Relations Advisory Board, said Mesa officials have extended some support to the parade, including use of a city street sweeper, insurance coverage for the event, and free law-enforcement support.
Reynolds said some fundraising efforts have helped to steady the parade’s course, raising needed funds at a concert in October at the Mesa Arts Center. The money raised will go toward activities including a prayer breakfast, festival and the parade on Jan. 18.
In 2008, Woods said more than 5,000 people attended the parade, and the city expected that many at this year’s event.
Woods, a founding member of the committee that started at a home in 1987, said the group was instrumental in getting the city to recognize King’s holiday in the early ’90s.
“We had a march every year, prior to getting the holiday,” Woods said. “Mesa voted the holiday in, and we started the parade.”
More information
For more information or to make a donation to the MLK Jr. Celebration Committee, e-mail mesamlkjr@gmail.com or nreynolds65@gmail.com.
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