Congresswoman Barbara Lee will present The Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award to Ms. Tomika Perkins, Sunday, January 20, 2019 – 7:00-9:30 pm at “In the Name of Love”, The 17th Annual Musical Tribute Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland, CA 94612

On Sunday, January 20th, Congresswoman Barbara Lee will present the Oakland Citi­zen Humanitarian Award to Tomika Perkins, Operations Di­rector at Operation Dignity, for her outstanding work on behalf of the Oakland community at “In the Name of Love”, the 17th Annual Musical Tribute honor­ing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an extensive civic and cultural event that pays homage through music, to one of the greatest hu­manitarians of our time.

The theme of this year’s tribute is “Rhythm and Blues and the Civil Rights Move­ment” highlighting 5 outstand­ing vocalists Jeanie Tracy, Kev Choice, The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, Terrie Odabi, and Alvon Johnson along with an exciting backup band includ­ing Kev Choice and Joe Warner on piano, Scott Thompson on bass, Daria Johnson on drums, and Alvon Johnson on guitar. These outstanding musicians have each individually made a tremendous impact on the Bay Area cultural scene, and the 2019 program will bring them together onto the stage for the first time to rekindle Dr. King’s powerful and unifying teach­ings. The tribute will also serve as a platform for a one-time exciting collective, creative experience meant to inspire hope, celebrate Oakland’s cul­tural history and highlight the power of music to spur positive change.

The tribute will also include the 65-voice Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir; and the 300-voice Living Jazz Children’s Project backed up by winners of Jazz Search West 2019, another Liv­ing Jazz program. Konda Ma­son, Co-Founder and Founding CEO of Impact Hub, Oakland will serve as Mistress of Cer­emonies.

Living Jazz, an Oakland based non-profit and producers of the MLK Tribute, originally created this award to acknowl­edge those who give of them­selves beyond the call of duty and to inspire others to work for the betterment of the communi­ty. The recipient is chosen with the help of Oakland’s Depart­ment of Human Services, and in the spirit of Dr. King’s tireless efforts, is presented annually at “In the Name of Love”, the An­nual Musical Tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tomika Perkins is the Op­erations Director at Operation Dignity. She started with the agency over 13 years ago as an outreach worker with their street outreach team. She is now the Operations Director overseeing street outreach, the Community Cabins programs, and Opera­tion Dignity’s facilities serving more than 200 homeless veter­ans each year. Operation Dig­nity’s programs touch clients countywide, with their outreach concentrated here in Oakland, they also expanded outreach to Alameda in 2016.

Tomika is highly involved in the ongoing wellness of unshel­tered and marginally housed clients and has been an active partner in the City’s imple­mentation of various programs including OPRI, AC Impact, Coordinated Entry, and the Community Cabins.

She is a fierce advocate for the unsheltered and deep­ly committed to partnerships across agencies and the City of Oakland, balancing perspec­tives from multiple stakehold­ers to ensure that interventions are client focused and strengths based.

“In the Name of Love”, Oak­land’s only non-denominational musical tribute to Dr. King, is the perfect platform in which to honor Tomika Perkins, this year’s recipient of the Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award and a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge a member from our own community helping to inspire change and positive contribution.

Tickets: $25-$60 adv., door $30-$65; discounts for children 12 and under Tix and info: liv­ingjazz.org/mlktribute or call 510-858-5313.

“In the Name of Love” has been made possible through the generosity of the National En­dowment for the Arts; Califor­nia Arts Council; City of Oak­land Cultural Funding Program; Clorox Company Foundation, Zellerbach Family Founda­tion; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Alameda County Arts Commission; and BART.

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