MCC Unity Breakfast 

Each year Muskegon Community College hosts a county-wide breakfast in celebration of the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  This event brings students, community leaders, organizations, and local residents together to hear from current freedom activists as they maintain the foundation of Dr. King’s beliefs.  The goal of the MLK Unity Breakfast is to promote equality and justice for all people.

2025 MLK Jr. Unity Breakfast
VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center
460 West Western Avenue
Muskegon, MI 49440
Friday, January 17, 2025, 7:30 AM – 11:00 AM EST

More information, including the keynote speaker will be released in October 2024.

2024 MLK Jr. Unity Breakfast – Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Keynote Speaker

The 27th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast on Friday, January 12, 2024 will take the VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center, in downtown Muskegon. In addition the event will feature a panel discussion on the black community’s economic development, entrepreneurship and business development following the keynote address. As our keynote speaker we are extremely excited to present Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Economist, Author & Commentator; Founder and President, Economic Education; President Emerita of Bennett College..

Dr. Julianne Malveaux has long been recognized for her progressive and insightful observations. She is a labor economist, noted author and colorful commentator. Described by Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country”. Her contributions to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender and their economic impacts are shaping public opinion in 21st Century America.

Dr. Malveaux’s popular writing has appeared in USA Today. Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence magazine and many others. Her weekly columns appeared through King Features syndicate for more than a decade (1990 – 2003) in newspapers across the country including the LA Times, Charlotte Observer, the New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Examiner. She has hosted television and radio programs – and appeared widely as commentator on networks including CNN, BET, PBS, NBC,ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, TV One, C-SPAN and others. Currently, she writes a weekly column for NNPA (the National black press syndicate).

Dr. Julianne Malveaux has been a contributor to academic life since receiving her Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1980. She has been on the faculty or visiting faculty of the New School for Social Research, San Francisco State University, the University of California (Berkeley), College of Notre Dame (San Mateo, California), Michigan State University and Howard University. She holds honorary degrees from Sojourner Douglas College (Baltimore, Maryland), Marygrove College (Detroit, Michigan), University of the District of Columbia, and Benedict College (Columbia, South Carolina). She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at Boston College.

During her time as the15th President of Bennett College for Women, (2007-2012) Dr. Julianne Malveaux was the architect of exciting and innovative transformation at America’s oldest historically black college for women. Under her leadership, the administration identified four key focus areas: women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, excellence in communications, and global awareness. During her presidency, Bennett College successfully received a 10-year reaffirmation of its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, markedly improved existing facilities, embarked on a $21 million capital improvements program – which marked the first major campus construction in more than 25 years – and in fall 2009 enjoyed an historic enrollment high.

Currently, Dr. Malveaux serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute as well as The Black Doctoral Network. She is President of PUSH Excel, the educational branch of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. A native San Franciscan, she is the Founder and President of Economic Education, a 501-c 3 organization focused on personal finance and economic policy education and their connection. Economic Education is headquartered in Washington, D.C. She recorded 10 episodes of “It’s Personal with Dr. J” in 2017, a podcast aimed to bring you news and views on current events, economics and more. She currently hosts MALVEAUX! For UDC TV and will begin taping her second season this fall.

For more information on the MLK Unity Breakfast, contact Dan Rinsema-Sybenga at daniel.rinsema-sybenga@muskegoncc.edu.