Making an impact. Making a difference. The best part? You can, too!
Allison Luthe, Executive Director, MLK Center, tells us more about the MLK programming and efforts contribute to community change and social justice.
About MLK Public Funding Campaign:
We invite you to join us in impacting lives and make an investment in your community, as we education youth, empower families and build community.
Our total goal is $2.2 million! When we raise $1,000,000 we can get a $1,000,000 matching grant from The United Way of Central Indiana Capital Committee. We’re nearly there. Your support will go a long way.
You can make a one-time gift or a monthly donation that will continue to support our needs in the future. You can also make a multi-year pledge that will count toward our United Way match.
~OR~ Text MLKCENTER to 44-321 to make a one-time gift.
MLK Center is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization: #23-7415846
Website: mlkcenterindy.org https://mlkcenterindy.org/ https://www.facebook.com/MLKCenterIndy/ https://twitter.com/MLKCenterIndy https://www.instagram.com/mlkcenterindy/
SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY MLK CENTER
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH ) — WISH-TV is proud to partner with the MLK Center in Indianapolis as it prepares to celebrate 50 years in the community.
They are looking for help to fund more than $ 2 million in renovations to their building in Butler Tarkington, but leaders there say it’s the programs that happen inside the building that are the true heart of the MLK Center.
The MLK Center started in a barber shop back in 1973. Since then it’s location has changed, but the legacy never has and the leaders there hope it never will.
The decades of history is captured in photos, kept in a collection of albums inside the MLK Center at West 40th and North Illinois streets.
“I was born right around the corner on Berkley Road,” Devin Thomas said. “I can remember being a youth and coming to summer camp here.”
Devin Thomas’ face is one frozen in time in the pages of albums. He found himself while flipping through the pages.
“I knew that it was a place that I could come, hang out with my friends, went on field trips and learned a lot as a youth,” Thomas said.
Now he’s president of the board.
“The more that I’ve been involved, the more that I’ve seen the work that everyone here does, the more that I’ve been around the youth, the more I feel compelled to be around,” Thomas said.
It’s a full circle journey and one that’s inspiring Thomas and other leaders at the MLK Center to keep walking the path.
“Just to see where we’ve come from and to where we’re going, it’s exciting to think about the potential of where we could go,” Thomas said.
Charity Malone is a community builder at the MLK Center. During the spring and summer, she dedicates her time to the Tarkington Teen Work Crew, just one of the programs at the center.
“I love the kids,” Malone said. “I get to be myself and they accept me and I get to joke around with them, but at the same time if they are struggling with a decision or making a bad choice, I get to steer them back.”
It’s not just about putting kids teens to work each summer, but teaching them invaluable lessons and skills.
“To me, it’s like getting a head start. We’re giving you financial literacy, job readiness, you’re going to learn how to write a resume,” Malone said.
Thomas and Malone tell News 8 the building near West 40th and Meridian streets may be the tangible part of the equation, in need of repairs and renovations, but it’s what happens inside that is absolutely priceless.
“A lot of the effort in this place is unmatched so in order to reflect that effort, the programming, the wonderful people who work here every day, it only makes sense that the building take that next step as well,” Thomas said.
If the MLK Center can raise $1 million, the United Way will chip in another $1 million.
You can donate right now at wishtv.com/mlk. You can also give by texting “MLKCENTER” to 44321.
The Indianapolis MLK Center does many amazing things to benefit the young community, today we got the chance to learn about the achievements of their Best Buy Teen Tech Center from Douglas Morris, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center coordinator. We also heard from David Hamilton of Rowe & Hamilton Law about how they’re supporting the MLK Center and why it’s so important to them. Here’s more from them:
The MLK Center is running a Capital Fundraising Campaign from April 5th to the April 22nd. We invite you to join us in impacting lives and make an investment in your community, as we education youth, empower families and build community.
Our total goal is $2.2 million! When we raise $1,000,000 we can get a $1,000,000 matching grant from The United Way of Central Indiana Capital Committee. We’re nearly there. Your support will go a long way.
You can make a one-time gift or a monthly donation that will continue to support our needs in the future. You can also make a multi-year pledge that will count toward our United Way match, or Text ‘MLKCENTER’ to 44-321 to make a one-time gift.
For more information visit the links below:
THIS SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY THE MLK CENTER.
“Have patience if anything. It might sound small, but patience is the fastest key to life. A lot of our youth end up dying today because they just crash and burn thinking they know what they’re doing in their own lane and they don’t. … Have some patience, and your prosperity will come really soon,” said Anthony McCloud, a Junior Community Builder for the MLK Center-Indianapolis.
He joined us on Indy Style today along with Allison Luthe, executive director for the MLK Center-Indianapolis.
The MLK Center is running a Capital Fundraising Campaign from April 5th to the April 22nd.
This is a new program we started in January as part of a grant from the Central Indiana Racial Equity Fund and the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association.
The Junior Community Builders engage their peers from the neighborhood into MLK Center and let them know about the programs and supports offers.
The Junior Community Builders bring the voices of youth to MLK Center. Youth have to be at the center of finding solutions to gun violence and other issues that come up every day.
The Junior Community Builders are part of the Nonviolence Training Team, that we’re currently beta testing and will launch this Summer.
The Nonviolence Training program first started with our Executive Director, Allison Luthe and Community Builder, Charity Malone attending the Nonviolence 365 Training at the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta in 2019, to bring the lessons learned back to Indianapolis.
This is one way MLK Center is addressing systemic racism and oppression in our community by educating others and giving them new tools.
Check out one of their previous stories here.
Text “MLKCENTER” to 44-321 to donate.
For more information visit, mlkcenterindy.org, facebook.com/MLKCenterIndy, twitter.com/MLKCenterIndy and instagram.com/mlkcenterindy
THIS SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY THE MLK CENTER.
Most would agree– reading is the cornerstone of future little minds!
Today, we meet Allison Luthe, Executive Director, MLK Center, and Amber Brookins, book reader “Read to Lead,” and learn more about the MLK Center’s Capital Fundraising Campaign. Take a listen!
Website: mlkcenterindy.org
https://www.facebook.com/MLKCenterIndy/
https://twitter.com/MLKCenterIndy
https://www.instagram.com/mlkcenterindy/
Social Media: MLKCENTER to 44-321 to donate
SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY MLK CENTER
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There’s a new push to celebrate and improve on the MLK Center in Indianapolis.
Allison Luthe, the executive director of the center, was on Daybreak Monday.
She explained the original purpose of the facility, how it’s expanded over the past five decades and some of the improvements that are needed for the building.
“We provide programming for neighborhood youth, ages zero to 24 and their families, and so we are running out of space,” Luthe said. “We really need to fix up our building so that we can grow.”
She also talked about the projects total cost, how to donate and how much longer people can give to the project.
If you would like to get involved, you can donate here.