CHICAGO (AP) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition are hosting an annual Martin Luther King Day Jr. scholarship breakfast.
It's the 22nd year of the event and attendees on today include Gov. Pat Quinn.
Officials with Jackson's civil rights organization say the goal is to highlight how large gaps in wealth and education persist among different populations.
Jackson has made poverty awareness a theme of commemorative events this year.
He announced Sunday his plans to spend the night at Pacific Garden Mission, a Chicago homeless shelters. Jackson says the millions of Americans living in poverty is a moral disgrace.
Also today (Monday), Chicago's Joffrey Ballet is offering an African dance class in commemoration of the holiday and the Bronzeville Children's Museum in Chicago will have a program featuring crafts.
In Kankakee today, the Dr. King Annual Prayer Breakfast is at the Quality Inn in Bradley. Then a motorcade heads to the Greater New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Kankakee.
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