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Every year, Anne Arundel Community College recognizes local residents for carrying on the mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year, eight community members will be honored at the 38th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.
“This breakfast allows them to be recognized as keepers of the flame for the philosophies of Dr. King,” said Eugene Peterson, who chairs the breakfast.
The 2019 breakfast will be held on January 21 from 8:00am to 10:00am at La Fontaine Bleue, and tickets are $35 per person. To purchase tickets, visit www.eventbrite.com.
Vickie Gipson is a social justice advocate. She has worked with the Caucus of African-American Leaders, the Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP, the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, and many other local community and social justice organizations.
Gipson lives in Ward 4 in Annapolis and focuses most of her spare time helping others in her community who are facing injustices.
She is a lawyer and has worked as a legal professional for 30 years. Gipson has a versatile legal background, and has worked on issues related to wills and estates, contracts, real estate, business, nonprofits, civil rights and other issues.
Jay Offer has served in religious leadership for 27 years and was ordained in 2007. He founded Harvest Crusade Ministries in Glen Burnie, through which he has reached a segment of the community often forgotten.
Offer served in the U.S. Army for three years, and then for 27 years as a decorated police officer and administrator. He retired in 2015 and became an entrepreneur and full-time pastor.
In 2016, Offer helped found the Empowering Believers Apostolic International Network, which reaches the United States, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana.
Offer expanded his personal ministry by feeding families through a community food bank, and serving as the community ambassador at a high school in a racially charged community.
Kellie McCants-Price, Ph.D., is an associate professor in Anne Arundel Community College’s psychology department. A social justice advocate, she co-chairs the college’s Intergroup Dialogue program, which allows the community to better understand social identity groups through facilitated conversation.
As a mentor for AACC’s Diversity Faculty Fellows Program, McCants-Price is devoted to creating a pipeline for adjunct faculty members from underrepresented groups to become full-time faculty members.
McCants-Price has served as a mentor for AACC students, especially those from minoritized groups seeking careers in the mental health field. She provides monthly commentary on mental health and diversity topics for a local NPR station.
Tryphena Ellis-Johnson is a life member of the NAACP and chairs the Juvenile Justice Committee. On the first Sunday of the month, she mentors youths at the Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center.
A member of Jack and Jill of America Inc., Arundel Bay Area chapter, Ellis-Johnson serves on various committees and is treasurer of the Associate Jewels magazine.
Ellis-Johnson is financial secretary to the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Anne Arundel County Chapter. She is also a contractor for Homeland Security.
On the county Board of Elections, she oversees all elections in Anne Arundel County and ensures the process is nonpartisan. Ellis-Johnson is the first African-American to serve on the county Board of Elections.
Taylor Pyles founded the Blue Ribbon Project based on his personal and professional experiences involving child abuse and the foster care system.
He created the Backpacks of Love program, designed to provide emergency essentials to children being placed into foster care.
Pyles is a detective with Annapolis Police Department, assigned to the Criminal Investigations Section. He primarily investigates crimes against children. He has worked for the department since 2003 and became a detective in 2010.
Pyles also is vice chair of the Children's Justice Act Committee, which is the Maryland Children’s Justice Act Task Force. Additionally, Pyles sits on the Anne Arundel County Child Fatality Review Board.
Janice Hayes-Williams descends from enslaved Africans from Anne Arundel County and traces her family history back to 1760.
After 20 years of government contracting, Hayes-Williams started researching local African-Americans.
She was hired as co-producer and Maryland history consultant for the documentary “Pip and Zastrow: An American Friendship,” which won the Target Filmmaker Award – For Inspiration to Dream in Color at its first film festival. She is also the first recipient of the Anne Arundel County Arts Council Historic Arts Award.
She continues to provide African-American walking tours of Annapolis and shares the hidden histories of the African-American community of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
Hayes-Williams is a senior staff member for Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley.
While at Hastings College, Shane Nikolao was a member of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal.
He was admitted to the Maryland state bar and began working for the personal injury firm of Rosen and Esterson in Baltimore. In January 2008, Nikolao joined the firm of Alan Hilliard Legum, P.A., where he practiced law under Alan Hilliard Legum.
In 2014, he became a partner. Since joining the firm, Nikolao has represented individuals throughout Maryland in both state and federal courts. He is a member of the Maryland Association of Justice, the Maryland State Bar Association and the Anne Arundel Bar Association. He is a life member of the Anne Arundel County NAACP.
Cassandra Moore is assistant director of Enrollment Development and Admissions at Anne Arundel Community College.
She feels privileged to work with families in Anne Arundel County, for her life’s work has been devoted to ensuring access, inclusion and equity in higher education. Moore serves on Northeast High School’s Community Stakeholders Team and is the college readiness co-chair.
Moore received the Thomas A. Bilger Award for her consistent vision, service and leadership to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and to her profession.
She is active in the Chesapeake and Potomac Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, where she is a founding board member and served as treasurer.
A graduate of Leadership Anne Arundel, Moore is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Anne Arundel Women Giving Together and the Fort George G. Meade Historic Post Chapel.
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