A national speaker who focuses on success for all students in post-secondary education will be the keynote speaker Monday at the 38th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast.

Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education, is an adviser, educator, researcher and policy advocate. She has worked at the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance at the U.S. Department of Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Council for Independent Colleges, and King’s College.

This year’s event will be held at 8 a.m. at La Fontaine Bleue, 7514 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie. The event was expected to sell out; check availability at eventbrite.com/o/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-breakfast-committee-12280702345.

During the event, which draws elected officials and community representatives, eight awards are handed out to individuals who exemplify the legacy of the slain civil rights leader. This year’s winners are:

George Phelps Jr. Distinguished Citizen Award: Tryphena Ellis-Johnson is a life member of the NAACP Anne Arundel County chapter, where she serves as chairwoman of Juvenile Justice Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee. In addition to community volunteer activities, Ellis-Johnson is a member to the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections. She is a past receipient of the Fannie Lou Hammer Award.

Currently, she is employed with Global Resource Solutions as a contractor for Homeland Security.

Leon H. White Clergy Memorial Award: The Rev. Jay Offer is the pastor of Harvest Crusade Ministries in Glen Burnie. In 2016, he became general secretary of the Empowering Believers Apostolic International Network, which offers outreach services in United States, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana.

Dallas G. Pace Humanitarian Award: Annapolis Police Detective Taylor Pyles founded the Blue Ribbon Project based on his own personal and professional experiences involving child abuse and the foster care system. As a child in Anne Arundel County, Pyles was removed from his home just before his eighth birthday by the Department of Social Services and placed into the foster care system. He remained in foster care until “aging” out at the age of 18. As an adult, Pyles was troubled by seeing the negative outcomes of those in which he was in foster care with. This included multiple drug overdoses, suicides and incarceration.

Based on these outcomes, he launched the Blue Ribbon Project as a resource for adult survivors. Over time, Pyles recognized the additional needs of abused and neglected children in our community. The major undertaking was Backpacks of Love. As a detective with Annapolis Police Department, Pyles investigates child abuse, child sex offenses and other crimes against children.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award: Janice Hayes-Williams is an Annapolis historian and civic activist. Through her research, advocacy and writing, she has focused on retelling the stories of African-Americans in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. She is the steward of the Crownsville Hospital Patient Cemetery, and she was appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to serve as commissioner to the Maryland Heritage Area Authorities representing Michael Busch, Maryland speaker of the House of Delegates.

In 2017, she became an ombudsman in the administration of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley. She recently accepted a position with County Executive Steuart Pittman as an adviser on diversity recruitment and inclusion.

2018 Alan Hilliard Legum Humanitarian Awards: Vickie Gipson is an advocate for social justice and has worked effectively with the Caucus of African American Leaders, the Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP, the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and a number of other local community and social justice organizations. The longtime Annapolis resident is a lawyer and has worked as a legal professional for 30 years who was recently elected to the Anne Arundel County Orphans Court, which oversees wills and estates.

Shane Nikolao is a senior partner at Alan Hilliard Legum, an Annapolis law firm. Since joining the firm, he has represented individuals with discrimination, personal injury, medical malpractice and general litigation claims throughout Maryland in both state and federal courts. Nikolao is a member of the Maryland Association of Justice, the Maryland State Bar Association and the Anne Arundel Bar Association. He is also a life member of the Anne Arundel County NAACP.

Martin Luther King Zeitgeist Awards: Kellie McCants-Price is an associate professor in Anne Arundel Community College’s Psychology Department in the School of Liberal Arts. She is an advocate for social justice and one of the co-chairs of the college’s Intergroup Dialogue Program that offers faculty, staff, students and community members an opportunity to create new levels of understanding of social identity groups, including race, gender, social class, ability and sexual orientation through facilitated conversation.

McCants-Price serves as mentor for the Anne Arundel Community College Diversity Faculty Fellows Program.

Cassandra Smith Moore is the assistant director of enrollment development and admissions at Anne Arundel Community College. Her professional experience has afforded her the opportunity to advise military service members and their families, nurses, adult learners, high school students, African-American males and first-generation college students.

Smith Moore serves on the Northeast High School Human Performance Signature Integrated Community Stakeholders Team and is the College Readiness co-chair.

rhutzell@capgaznews.com