Who Do We Serve?
The J.L. King Center primarily serves a 6-square-mile area that encompasses five subsidized housing communities and surrounding subdivisions. Our participants come from neighborhoods across Starkville and Oktibbeha County, reflecting the broad reach of our programs. The J. L. King Center serves school-aged children in Oktibbeha County effectively with an afterschool program and summer camp that is free to all participants. The King Center also offers Family Dynamics programming, Workforce Training, and Educational Programs. Examples include: annual school supply giveaway, our Reading Railroad event with Junior Auxilary, GED training and scholarships, the fall and spring internship and job fair, and financial literacy events.
Many of our Summer Campers getting fit and active to keep their bodies in shape with the help from our MSU Workers!
The J.L. King Center has proudly served the Starkville community for over 50 years. In 2019, we reformed as a registerd non-profit with the state of Mississippi, Friends of the J. L. King Center. This is our impact 2019-2025
2025 – Accepted as a Starkville Community Foundation Partner
2023, 2024, 2025 – 100% of King Center participants passed the 3rd grade state reading gate
2023, 2024, 2025 – 60-90 families each year received backpacks, school supplies, and useful Christmas gifts such as coats, socks, underwear, and school clothes.
2020-present – Each student receives dinner each day during the year and lunch each day during the summer with partnerships with Pine Lake Church and Second Serving
2023, 2024, 2025 – 45-60 after school students’ grades are tracked to ensure they make at least one year’s growth in one year’s time in reading and math on Learning Farm (computer program)
2023, 2024, 2025 – 6-12 GEDs earned each year, and we received grants to pay for the tests.
2023, 2024, 2025 – Free Summer Camp offered for 60 students with enrichment programs and remedial reading, writing, and math with an end of summer trip to the McWayne Science center
2022 – Received a $20,000 grant from Regions Bank to teach financial literacy classes in exchange for paying part of a utility bill. The classes we designed were then adopted by Helping Hands and are still used in our community to pay bills in exchange for financial literacy each week.
2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 – Partner with Baptist Student Union, Omega Si Phi, Mississippi State’s Stennis Institute, and MSU’s Honor’s Program, Lamba Sigma, Rotary Club, Black Student Alliance, and MSU Extension
2022 Omega Psi Phi – Citizenship Award to Director Margaret Brown
2021-2022 Named MSU Community Partner of the Year
2020 – Remained open during Covid to serve students and families with meals and academic support. We served drive-by meal and graded student work that was dropped off. We were the first to reopen our physical site with social distancing and staggered hours.
Received grants from: Rotary, Regions Bank, Wal-Mart, SAAC, Stennis, Chck-fil-A, Starkville Strong, 100 Women Who Care, Starkville Community Foundation, Mississippi Arts Institute, the Homestead Education Center
2019 – Raised $30,000 to replace the roof on the King Center and formed Friends of the J. L. King Center.