The UC Davis School of Law will host its fourth annual MLK Day of Service and Celebration, this coming Monday (Jan. 16), honoring the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on his holiday. The law school’s home, King Hall, is named after the slain civil rights leader.

King Hall’s Black Law Student Association along with the 2023 MLK Day Working Group have planned a dynamic event of opportunities to give back to the community while celebrating King’s legacy and connection to the law school.

The event, including lunch during the noontime celebration, is free and open to the public. Please RSVP here.

Service opportunities

• Donation drive for Malcolm X Academy, a full-time, K-8 community home school that opened last October in Sacramento. In addition to its school program, the academy regularly provides hot meals, groceries and various other services for the Black community and others in Sacramento.

The newly established academy has a need for whiteboard markers, pens and pencils, binder paper and folders, arts and crafts materials, and other general school supplies; outdoor toys, gardening tools, a play kitchen and play kitchen supplies; books and Chromebook computers; copy paper, 11-inch-by-17-inch printing paper; and office supplies and cleaning supplies.

Law school students will be stationed outside King Hall to collect donations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Day of Service Working Group has created an Amazon Wishlist for the Malcolm X Academy; anything you order off the list will be sent directly to the school. Monetary donations are welcome via the Shakur Center for Health & Wellness.

• Donate blood, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Make appointments here (spots are limited).

• Volunteer to help at a naturalization workshop to be held Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento. Volunteers will assist permanent residents in completing the application for naturalization. The workshop is being held in partnership with the UC Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic and the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center. Questions about the naturalization workshop should be directed to Professor Amagda Perez by email.

Celebration

The noontime luncheon program (to be livestreamed) will celebrate the link between MLK and King Hall, home of the law school. The program includes remarks by Damian Cortez and Hassan Smith, co-presidents of the Black Law Student Association; and Dean Kevin Johnson; and keynote address by Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division, who formerly served as an Alameda County Superior Court judge.