STARKVILLE — While the J. L. King Center in Starkville runs only on an $80,000 budget a year, it continuously provides programs and services to community members.

Founded by the late Rev. J. L. King, the center has been a hub for community advancement for decades. Through youth development programs, skill training and education guidance, the J. L. King Center’s goal is to not only help community members with their immediate needs but provide long-lasting opportunities, Public Relations Specialist Rudi Rudd said at the Starkville board of aldermen work session Friday.

“The purpose of the J. L. King Center is to provide resources immediately but also long-term to provide people with the skills and the knowledge to continuously improve yourself instead of just working with your issue that is current,” Rudd said.

The largest program the center provides is its youth development program. This after school program provides kindergarten through eighth grade students with academic help, along with daily meals. Youth Development Coordinator Margaret Brown said this program is essential to the community because it is free for students to attend, allowing children whose parents might be unable to afford after school care free but quality support.

Prior to the pandemic, Brown said she had over 80 students attend the after school program, but now only has around 45 students. She said she is taking in new students whenever she possibly can.

“We’re going to continue to enrich the kids,” Brown said. “We lost a whole lot with the shutdown of the school year, but that’s where we came back in and tried to build up and get them back up to the level or even higher of the level they’re supposed to be in.”

The J. L. King Center offers educational support through the GED and Workkey Practice program. This program provides teenagers and young adults who have or will not graduate high school tutoring on how to succeed at the General Educational Development test.

“We want to be their resource to help kids get their education, however that needs to be received,” Rudd said.

Through the Career and Finance Center, community members can participate in several different initiatives. Employable U helps individuals not only find a job, but find jobs that are sustainable and provides a livable wage. Sponsored by Regions Bank, Financially Fit teaches community members financial skills and about money management. Power-Up offers real-life skills for how to lower power and electrical bills.

If participants complete all these programs through the Career and Finance Center, they will receive a credit to their electrical bill through Starkville Utilities or 4-County Electric.

“These are some of the new things moving forward and really having tangible skills to provide our communities with,” Rudd said.

While the center has run on inconsistent grants in the past, causing the center to close at unforeseen times, it now runs primarily on private funding, member of the board of directors Alison Buehler said. The center’s $80,000 budget funds salaries and the few items it has to buy that are not donated.

Buehler said she encourages people to contribute to the J. L. King Center because creating more opportunities for community members builds a better Starkville.

“It’s people investing in this because it matters,” Buehler said. “It matters to this part of town, and it matters to the whole community. If the whole community isn’t doing well, it doesn’t matter. If your little neighborhood is fine, but this neighborhood isn’t, it’s going to bleed over. It’s going to bleed over into our schools, into everywhere. It’s worth investing in.”