Susan L. Taylor, former editorial director of Essence magazine, will be the keynote speaker at the Georgia Perimeter College 12th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration on Tuesday, Jan. 15. All events are free and open to the public.

The theme of this year’s MLK program is a call to action through the National Cares Mentoring Initiative, launched by Taylor in 2006 at the Essence Music Festival. The program, and its local chapter, Essence Cares, encourage individuals to mentor atrisk children. It has been selected as this year’s MLK service project.

A Mentor Recruitment Rally kicks off the event at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 15. The rally will be held at GPC Clarkston Campus Student Center, 555 N. Indian Creek, Clarkston.

The program will be led by Thomas W. Dortch Jr., chairman emeritus of 100 Black Men of America, and Tracey Knight, president and CEO of InView Solutions, an educational and community relations consulting firm. More than two dozen organizations will sign up community members for specific mentoring opportunities.

The evening celebration begins at 7 p.m., at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, 2340 Clifton Springs Road, Decatur. The celebration includes a keynote address by Taylor, performances by a GPC student jazz ensemble and the GPC Chorale. Also, awards will be given for outstanding humanitarian contributions by an individual, a student and a corporation.

This is one of the largest King event held in Georgia, with almost 3,000 guests attending each year. Past speakers have included Dr. Ben Carson, actor Ben Vereen and entrepreneur Russell Simmons.

“Our focus at GPC is student success, and that means putting particular emphasis on mentoring and advising our students,” said GPC President, Dr. Anthony S. Tricoli.

“By remaining accessible, affordable, and by offering award-winning faculty teaching in small classes, we are able to empower our students to succeed. Ms. Taylor and the King celebration embody the spirit of this goal.”

V103-FM morning personality Frank Ski and Fox5-TV Atlanta weekend sports anchor Karen Graham will emcee the event. Ski, an award-winning media mogul in radio, recording, television and film, has amassed a fan base across the country. Graham, an Emmy-award winning journalist, is currently a student in the American Sign Language Interpreter program at Georgia Perimeter College.

“Essence Cares is a massive mentoring campaign that asks every able adult and our leadership—elected and appointed officials, educators, business, religious and secular leaders and college students—to rally their communities to guide and secure our vulnerable children,” Taylor said. “The goal is to create the largest mentoring campaign American students by 10 percent annually.”

Taylor is also a cofounder of The Future PAC, the first national political action committee devoted to providing progressive African American women opportunities to hold more federal- and state-level political offices by creating a network of support and funding.

For more information, call Barbara Obrentz at 678-891-2685 or visit http://www.gpc.edu/mlk.