W. Franklyn Richardson Will Deliver Keynote Address at the United Black Clergy of Westchester’s Annual MLKCelebration

Activist and religious and civil rights leader Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson releases Witness to Grace: A Testimony of Favor, a poignant memoir, which gives readers a glimpse into the historic struggle of Black people in America. Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church to reflect on the state of race and public health in America exactly 60 years after the March on Washington

New York, NY (Friday, January 13, 2023) – Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Senior Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, NY, and Chairman of the Conference of National Black Churches (CNBC), will join with the United Black Clergy of Westchester to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 16th. This year’s celebration, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? the title of Dr. King’s 1967 book which is as relevant today as it was when Dr. King penned these words.

“In the words of Dr. King, ‘of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.’ Sixty years after his revolutionary speech at the March on Washington and 55 years since Dr. King’s assassination, we find ourselves in a renewed fight as it relates to the public health of Black Americans,” said Dr. Richardson. “It is the vision and mission of Grace and CNBC to make 2023 a year of fighting for the protection of all rights that empower our physical, mental and spiritual well-being.”

With the question of health inequity still as poignant as ever, from lack of vaccine access to recent rollbacks of public health legislation, Dr. Richardson and CNBC have stepped in to fill the gap of access to healthcare and wellness within Black communities across the U.S. At the peak of the pandemic, in recognition of the crucial influence of the Black church within the Black community, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with CNBC to launch the “Trusted Voices, Trusted Content, Trusted Spaces” Action Plan to address the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Black communities and awarded CNBC a $1.56 million grant award to this end. CNBC remains committed to the goal of public health access through various programmatic initiatives across the country, offering vaccinations, prostate cancer screenings, and inviting conversations around mental health in the Black community.

WHO:

Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Senior Pastor, Grace Baptist Church and Chairman, Conference of National Black Churches

Rev. Stephen W. Pogue, President of the United Black Clergy of Westchester

HONOREES:

MLK Leadership Award: Senator Charles E Schumer

Community Service: Judith Watson, CEO, Mt. Vernon Neighborhood Health Center

MLK Drum Major: Larry Spruill, Historian, Lecturer,

WHEN:

MLK Day, January 16, 2023

12:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Grace Baptist Church

52 South 6th Avenue

Mount Vernon, NY 10550

About Grace Baptist Church

Grace Baptist Church is a multi-cultural center grounded in the African-American tradition and focused on empowerment. We are a congregation seeking to be faithful to the will of God, empowering persons through preaching, teaching, witnessing, advocacy, and program development, so that the ministry of Jesus Christ will be realized in our time and place. We invite you to discover and share God’s amazing Grace!

For more information, please visit http://gracechurchtoday.org.