A representative of the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center described the center’s evolution from a basement drop-in program to a contracted operator at the East Central Community Center. The presenter said the center’s food bank served more than 600 families (about 1,700 individuals) in the last month and described services including diaper distribution, senior programs (Meals on Wheels partnership), preschool and an after-school FAME program serving students from Francis Scott, Grant and Franklin schools.

The presenter said the center is completing work to become the city’s first resilience hub — a designated place for residents to access power for medical equipment, warm or cool shelter, showers, charging and emergency supplies during outages — and noted partnerships with the city, the Washington Department of Commerce and Avista. The presenter added that HVAC repairs remain an obstacle to expanding drop-in hours and that the center will host a large turkey distribution next Tuesday (1–6 p.m.) providing more than 500 turkeys.

Council members praised the center’s community role and asked about program demand; the presenter said seniors are currently the fastest-growing demographic and reiterated the intent to expand drop-in programming once heating/cooling is reliable.