The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund, which offers $500 grants to high school seniors in the greater Sacramento area, has scheduled its awards dinner for Jan. 15 at the University of California, Davis.

The sixth annual tribute to the slain civil rights leader comes at a time when two new African American leaders are living up to his legacy: Barack Obama as the new president of the United States and Kevin Johnson as the new mayor of Sacramento.

Also, the dinner is taking place on King’s birthday, when he would have been 80.

“This is divine providence,” said the Rev. Timothy T. Malone, president and co-founder of the Davis-based Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund. “This is happening at an extremely important time in history.”

Together, Malone said, the Obama and Johnson victories “really highlight the work of Dr. King and others in the civil rights and human rights movements.

“And, of course, education is the key, so very important to one’s growth and development. And that’s why we have a scholarship fund.”

This year marks the first time the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund Award Dinner has been held at UC Davis since the event began in 2004.

Malone said the event provides an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the community and the university. Also, he said, the venue impresses upon students that they belong — at a world-class institution like UC Davis or any other college.

Malone, pastor of the Multicultural Christian Church of Davis, is slated to give the dinner’s keynote address. The program also includes a performance by the UC Davis Gospel Choir.

The university’s Office of Campus Community Relations is co-sponsoring the scholarship fund dinner, scheduled from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in Freeborn Hall.

Associate Executive Vice Chancellor Rahim Reed, who heads the Office of Campus Community Relations, explained why UC Davis is co-sponsoring the event: “We want these high school students to know about our commitment to diversity and the principles that Martin Luther King stood for.”

UC Davis’ Principles of Community are an example of that commitment, Malone said. They were adopted in 1990, when Larry Vanderhoef served as executive vice chancellor and provost, and reaffirmed in 1996 and 2001, by which time Vanderhoef had moved up to chancellor.

Now, to recognize his long record on diversity, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund plans to give a lifetime achievement award to Vanderhoef, who is stepping down as chancellor in June.

Scholarship program

MLK scholarship recipients are not required to attend UC Davis; they simply must be planning to attend two- or four-year colleges. For the 2009 awards, each student was asked for a description of his or her community service, plus a one- to five-page essay.

King figured in most of the essay topic choices. They included: What would King say about President Obama? Has King’s dream been fulfilled? What would King say about the war on terror?

The 2009 award recipients: Fareeha Amjad, Simrin Atwal and Inderpreet Bassi, all from Pioneer High School, Woodland; Priscilla Lopez, Woodland High School; and Sylviane Njomo, Davis High School.

In its first five years, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund has given grants to around 40 local students. The awards dinner is the scholarship program’s only fundraiser of the year. Individuals, businesses and organizations also are invited to sign up as event sponsors.

The fund plans to present special $500 awards to a pair of UC Davis students: Lia Shepherd and Tiffany Wright, both seniors, with their selection based on nominations reflecting character, academics and community service.

Besides Vanderhoef, three other community leaders are due for recognition by the fund:

Outstanding Educator — Bruce Haynes, associate professor of sociology, UC Davis.

Outstanding Community Service — Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald, former chair of the Davis Human Relations Commission. She is a 1997 graduate of UC Davis, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.

Outstanding International Peace Leader — Dave Dionisi of the Davis-based Teach Peace Foundation. Last year he secured a $600 grant from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund for the benefit of 10 students in Liberia; in renewing the grant this year, Malone said the scholarship fund is boosting the award to $900.

Tickets and sponsorships

Dinner tickets are $30 each, and sponsorships are available at four levels:

Bronze — $100, entitling the donor to a business card-sized ad in the dinner program.

Silver — $200, a quarter-page ad.

Gold — $500, two tickets and a half-page ad.

Platinum — $1,000, four tickets and a full-page ad.

Checks should be made payable to “MLKSF” and mailed to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 1555, Davis 95617-1555.