MLK Action

New & Exciting…

Upcoming Events

News & activities the MLK Action Team wants to share with our neighbors (see details below)

MLK Education Task Force’s Community Book Drive is providing each of the eleven first grade classrooms of the Dennis Yarmouth SD twenty four beautiful books featuring children and stories from a wide range of backgrounds.  THANK YOU to everyone who supported this drive.

Women’s History Month Tiemline – seen at Dennis Center for Active Living, created and shared by Independence House.

Timely Message from Tara Vargas Wallace, Founder and Director of AmplifyPOC Cape Cod –

“At Amplify POC, our mission has always been clear: to close the racial wealth gap and build an economy where communities of color can truly thrive. We do this through education, entrepreneurship, advocacy, and love — by creating pathways to prosperity and by standing in the gap where opportunity too often stops short.

But the truth is, this work has never been easy to fund — and it’s becoming harder.

With growing uncertainty in the political climate and widespread cutbacks in funding, racial equity work is among the first to be deprioritized or defunded. We’re seeing a shift in philanthropy — a step backward from the commitments made in 2020. Even before that, Black- and Brown-led organizations received less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars nationwide. Now, even that small percentage is shrinking.

And yet, our communities need this work more than ever.

When communities of color are able to thrive, everyone benefits. A stronger, more equitable local economy lifts the entire region — creating more jobs, more entrepreneurship, more cultural vibrancy, and more shared prosperity. When barriers fall for those who’ve been pushed to the margins, our whole community becomes healthier, more resilient, and more innovative. Investing in racial equity isn’t charity — it’s a powerful economic development strategy that strengthens Cape Cod as a whole.

Every business we help ignite, every young person we equip with confidence, every family we strengthen — these are acts of liberation and future-building. This is how we reclaim economic power, rewrite what’s possible, and create a future where our communities don’t just get by, but rise, flourish, and lead with brilliance for generations to come.”  See more at their website www.amplifypoccapecod.com 

There are many state legislative proposals that align with the mission and values of Nauset Interfaith Association.  An excellent source of information regarding proposals can be found on the website of the State League of Women Voters https://my.lwv.org/massachusetts/cape-cod-area/2025-2026-lwvcca-followed-legislation

Combat Racial Wealth Inequities by supporting local businesses with BIPOC (Black, Indigeneous, Persons of Color) owners.  AmplifyPOCcapecod.com is a nonprofit dedicated to educating about and eliminating the racial wealth gap.  They maintain an across the Cape list of businesses owned by persons of color.  Here, thanks to NIA member M.A. Watson, is a curated list of businesses with an easy drive for NIA members: https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AMPLIFY-POC-Business.pdf   Businesses include restaurants, and numerous other services.

Check out the on line story of our 2026 MLK Breakfast titled “Leaning into Love by Teresa Martin at https://capecodnews.org/leaning-into-love/ with video clips and brief interviews.

– Link to Community Conversation “Racism on Cape Cod: What are our institutions doing and what can we do”: https://www.youtube.com/live/jJAQdRSFDYQ  

Feeling the Need to “Do Something”?  Here’s are suggestions from AltaMed to contribute to your community: https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Community-Support-Activities-pdf.pdf

If searching for ways to talk to kids about race, check out the website EmbraceRace here https://www.embracerace.org/ 

Link to a list of Anti-Racism Resources including books, films, podcasts and more recently shared with us by a team member:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/edit   Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020.

Open Eyes Travel – posting photos from travel that opens our eyes to a more inclusive US History.   If you want to share travel experiences that may help us broaden our understanding of the contributions of persons of color to our US history, please send them to me with brief explanation of photo at boujoukosk@comcast.net

View MLK Action Team Public Service Announcement with Lower Cape TV here:  https://vimeo.com/816645523

Please note that many of the event flyers below are not NIA sponsored events.  All NIA events will be listed here as well as on our calendar page.

Any Time Activity

Celebrating the Mosaic: Sites of Historic and Cultural Significance for the Many People Who Call ( & Have Called) Cape Cod home, a fun, self-paced, (virtual or in person) educational scavenger hunt activity for people of all ages.  PDF LINK

Past Special Events

Education Task Force

The mission of the MLK Education Task Force is to help our communities reflect deeply on the way that race and other identifiers negatively impact education through thoughtful and thought-provoking learning opportunities. Our goal is to help to create safe, kind, and equitable educational communities by offering collaborative, value-added solutions to deficits in our educational systems and by providing BIPOC residents of Cape Cod, with a particular focus on educators and students, with social and professional support.

Current Initiatives:

• DEI centered conference, free to all Cape Cod educators will be held on July 11, 2023 at the MRSD high school on Oak St. in Harwich.  Watch this site for detailed information soon.
• Community Book Drive to bring literature featuring children and families from a variety of cultures and ethnicities into our local classrooms successfully concluded with approximately 40 new books going to each Nauset and Monomoy School District 3rd grade classroom library.  Book drives are held on alternating years from the educators’ conference.  This year’s book drive will benefit the Dennis Yarmouth School District which has one of the largest and fastest growing BIPOC student populations on the Cape.
• Educator Mentorship Network to match newly hired educators of color with current and retired educators of color to help navigate their early career years.   
• Celebrating the Mosaic: Sites of Historic and Cultural Significance for the Many People Who Call ( & Have Called) Cape Cod Home, a fun, self-paced, (virtual or in person) educational scavenger hunt activity for people of all ages.  NOW available through link on this webpage.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL STUDY GROUPS

Most Americans are familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King’s ” I Have A Dream,” moving address; however, fewer than 10% have read and studied his ” Letter From Birmingham Jail,” considered by most scholars as his most important work.