City, County to Host 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations
Two free community events in Omaha will reflect upon the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Douglas County and the City of Omaha will recognize employees today with their annual Martin Luther King, Jr. awards. A community member will also be honored during the Aspire to Inspire: 2022 ceremony, which will be held both in-person and virtually.
Douglas County will recognize Haruna I. Sule, a nursing assistant at the Douglas County Health Center and the City of Omaha will recognize Shawn Peoples, a recreation coordinator for City of Omaha Parks and Recreation. Winsley Durand III will receive the MLK Jr. Community “Living the Dream” Award.
These awards have been presented for several years to employees and community members who emulate King’s vision of diversity, inclusivity and equality, according to a news release.
Sule has worked for DCHC for four years. He is originally from Lagos, Nigeria, and inspires his co-workers regularly with his story of pursuing the American Dream. His nominator wrote: “Haruna demonstrates all the qualities that exemplify Dr. Martin Luther King. He demonstrates equality not only from the residents’ standpoint, but to our team members, who he helps to create a safe and workable environment.”
Peoples has worked for the city’s recreation department for four years and manages the Adams Park Community Center. His nominator wrote: “Shawn has shown great passion for the revival of North Omaha. He works with an extremely diverse community at Adams Park and embraces the opportunity to touch the lives of patrons of all ages and backgrounds. Shawn also works hard to ensure that all backgrounds and cultures are represented and accounted for when designing programs or partnerships for his community.”
Durand is the executive director of the REACH initiative for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. He has been an advocate for minority-owned businesses for decades. REACH, which is a plan to grow the number and capacities of small and economically developing firms to meet the demand of institutional organizations with construction projects and procurement opportunities, has been a strategic partner with the City of Omaha for supplier diversity efforts since 2015.
The celebration will be held at noon Friday in the legislative chambers of the Omaha Douglas Civic Center, 1819 Farnam St., and will be livestreamed online at humanrights.cityofomaha.org.
In addition to the awards ceremony, the fourth annual Martin Luther King Jr. “Living the Dream” high school competition will be held Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Holland Performing Arts Center. The talent contest, which highlights students in the Omaha area, is free and open to the public.
Doors open at the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St., at 5 p.m. The event will be streamed at youtu.be/F_VfUimIoQo and on Cox Channel 22.
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