Mid-City Excellence hosts 11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Solutions Summit

Members of the St. Joseph community gathered at Word of Life Church on Monday morning for the 11th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Solutions Summit.

Mid-City Excellence Community Learning Center invited attendees to celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy, on Monday, Jan. 20, as well as “promoting racial harmony, unity and togetherness for all people.”

Keynote speakers for the 2025 Solutions Summit included former Kansas City Chiefs players — Shawn Barber and Dustin Colquitt, the event also featured live performances from several gospel artists, the St. Joe Stixx, and the Mid-City Excellence “TrashCan Band.”

Speaker Shawn Barber talked about the importance of being a mentor for the youth and setting them up for a successful future.

“As a community, we need to wrap our arms around young folks and let them know they are enough, they aren’t alone, and God made them perfect just the way they are,” Barber said. “Everything I said today was just in a way of remembering Martin Luther King on his day and understanding how Mid-City excellence is doing a great job of just providing opportunity for guys like myself to be a mentor to them.”

Year-round, Mid-City works to solve generational poverty, juvenile crime, and poor mental health through mentoring and performing arts for the youth.

More information about the program can be found at, https://visitmce.org/.