While continuing to offer an annual program celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mercer County is gradually making strides toward improving community relations through focused and intentional programming at each event.  After 12 years featured programming, this year Mercer County will attempt to form a group of leaders to design and implement informal community conversation regarding topics or issues of interest as identified by the group.  In order to reach this goal, guest speaker James H. Atkins was invited to speak at the annual program highlighting the commitment and progress of a similar group in a neighboring county.  The program did not end there, but continued a month later where Dr. Quentin Tyler led a facilitator training for a group of 16 individuals supportive and interested in the formulation of the group of leaders and subsequent and related programming.