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Welcome Mack Graham, LBMLK Executive Director - 10/30/2020

The Long Beach Martin Luther King Center announced today the appointment of Mack Graham as its new Executive Director.

As executive director, Graham will work closely with staff and the Center's Board of Directors to ensure the organization can continue to adapt to serve the community through the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.
 
"Mack's background in nonprofit leadership and obvious passion for education, social justice and community service made him a premier choice," said chairman James Hodge in announcing the appointment. "He's an exceptional person who will bring great energy and vision to the MLK Center. I'm excited to welcome him."

Graham, succeeds interim Executive Director Evita Hernaez, who has served in the role since February 2020.
 
Graham is an accomplished leader who has worked at the intersection of community development, fundraising, and social justice. He comes to the Martin Luther King Center from iMentor, where he oversaw institutional funding for the New York City region. Graham currently serves as Fundraising Chair on the Board of Directors at the Lower East Side Family Union, and is an active member of Gathering for Justice's Justice League NYC - a state-based task force that utilizes Kingian nonviolence as a social application for systemic change and civic engagement. Graham holds degrees from Fordham University (MS in Nonprofit Leadership) and Stony Brook University (BS in Psychology), where he also played football.

 

"As a community organizer, I am inspired by the Long Beach MLK Center's legacy of Dr. King and its palpable commitment to empowering the Black and Brown community in Long Beach. I am thrilled to be part of this organization and look forward to continuing the work to rejuvenate our community from within"

The Long Beach Martin Luther King Center is more than an organization or building standing within the North Park area of the city. The Martin Luther King Center building at the corner of Riverside Boulevard and Pine Street is a symbol of black community pride, interracial partnerships, and hope for a neighborhood often excluded from social and economic mobility.

The Center's history began as a concept in the fall of 1967 at a meeting facilitated by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with the Central District Civic Association, CAN-DO Center, City of Long Beach, and the community at large. These agencies developed the Long Beach Youth Council. Like other African American communities during this period, activists wanted to move beyond token representation in majority institutions and create organizations that represented their interests and combated white paternalism. Interestingly, all of the black leadership were southerners who arrived in the New York area as participants in the Great Migration from the South. Their experiences guided a new movement for equity and equality in Long Beach.

 

The MLK Grab and Go Food Program feeding anyone that is hungry

"The Long Beach Martin Luther King Center has been providing an invaluable service, supplying nourishment to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Statement from the City of Long Beach.

 

About LB MLK website

The Long Beach Martin Luther King Center, Inc. intends to create a community both inside and outside of the community center and the North Park Area of the City by engaging participants, parents, staff, directors and community partners in service projects as part of the MLK Human/Social Services and Education Programs.  The staff and managers of the Long Beach MLK Center upholds the agency’s mission by fostering an authentic culture of service.