MARTIN LUTHER KING COMMUNITY CENTER INCORPORATED
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Mission Statement
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center nourishes, educates, and supports Newport County, Rhode Island residents to improve their economic, social, and physical well-being. From its 1922 opening as the Newport Community Center, the Center became a gathering place for people of all cultures and communities, with a board, staff, and clients from every background and every neighborhood in town. In 1968, the Center was renamed in honor of Dr. King. Over the past century, MLKCC has grown in response to community need and become a multi-service agency providing critical hunger relief, wellness, and educational programs that last year served 6,232 individuals, the most in the Center’s history.
About This Cause
WHO WE SERVE: The MLKCC serves all six municipalities of Newport County, with clients living in the following communities: Newport (74%), Middletown (13%), Portsmouth (5%), Tiverton (5%), Jamestown (2%), and Little Compton (1%). Ninety-eight percent (98%) of clients are low-income, 28% are senior citizens, and 32% are children under 18. Some clients suffer from various health and mental health issues, live in single parent households, live with disabilities (26%), or experience homelessness (7%). Many families represent the “working poor,” employed but unable to keep pace with rising costs. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of clients are Latino, a growing population. MLKCC’s client diversity rate is 60%, eclipsing the 14.4% minority rate reported by the US Census for Newport County. The rate in child education programs is 83%, significantly higher than the City of Newport’s child diversity rate of 53% or the statewide child diversity average of 47%. Since the beginning of the COVID19 crisis, the MLKCC has remained in operation without closing, providing essential services to a community particularly hard hit by the virus. Today, the Center is undergoing a major renovation/construction project. All 25+ programs have remained fully operating in 4 separate sites during the project. PROGRAM AREAS: Programs include urgent hunger services such as our client-choice Food Pantry (the highest volume food pantry in the County), Mobile Food Pantry, Food 2 Friends delivery for homebound seniors and disabled adults (the only program of its kind in Newport County), Daily Breakfast (the County’s only daily meal site), Grab & Go Lunches, weekly fresh produce distribution, and daily bread distribution; educational programs for children in preschool - grade 5 that include our Preschool, After School Program, and Summer Adventure Camp; and engaging wellness programs for adults, teens, and seniors that include fitness and cooking classes, community meals, a support group for LGBTQIA+ youth, access to a Registered Dietitian, and Senior Lunch & Learn. We are taking measures to better serve the Latinx and Portuguese community, including offering programs led in Spanish and hiring new Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking staff. One of the seven administrative goals identified in our Strategic Plan is to Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in board, staff, and volunteers to align with the community we serve. We recently exceeded our goal of increasing staff diversity to nearly 50%. Our greatest success is longevity, serving our community for 100 years. In 2021, MLKCC was recognized as the best nonprofit and best childcare by Newport Life and Newport Daily News and was voted best nonprofit by Newport Chamber of Commerce. The MLK Community Center is an independent not-for-profit. Only 2.4% of our annual budget derives from local, state or federal government sources.