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MLK Community Development group defends neighborhood safety, outlines senior and youth programs
Summary
Irma Rogers of the Martin Luther King Community Development Corporation presented the group's year-round activities to the commission, disputed a TV report labeling the area high-crime with a three-year comparison showing the MLK/Cooper Road district ranked fourth-lowest of 13, and detailed senior services, tutoring and summer camps.
Irma Rogers of the Martin Luther King Community Development Corporation told the commission the nonprofit holds monthly meetings, runs senior socialization programs and supports tutoring and summer camps for underserved students. "This is not everything because things come up during the year," Rogers said as she handed out the organization's annual activity report.
Rogers presented a three-year crime comparison that she said shows the MLK/Cooper Road area ranks fourth-lowest among the jurisdiction's 13 districts, disputing a television report that had grouped the area into a "high crime" zip-code. "We're not a high crime zip code," she said, urging commissioners to consider the district-level statistics she provided.
Rogers outlined regular programs: monthly senior socialization (with speakers and meals for about 60–100 seniors and delivery to homebound residents), business classes funded through a recent grant, and a tutoring program with 15 tutors across six neighborhood schools coordinated by Dr. Kernine Williams. She said those programs helped raise one elementary school from an F to a D and supported a high school that earned a B and placed among the top 50 on the CLIP exams.
Rogers also recounted a past fiscal compliance issue: parish legal staff informed her that some grant funds should have been spent inside the parish after the organization supported out‑of‑parish student travel, leaving a small outstanding reimbursement of $167 that the group later addressed. "I called for a meeting on that too with my commissioner and her to straighten it out," she said.
A commissioner who has worked with the organization for many years praised Rogers' stewardship and invited MLK CDC to help strengthen neighborhood associations. Rogers described volunteer needs and fundraising channels and said the organization aims to keep long-standing community programs and publications running.
The presentation concluded with commissioners thanking Rogers for her work and accepting her reports; no formal action or funding vote occurred during the session.
