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Rosa Parks Institute wants to establish chapter here
Monday, August 06, 2007
By Clayton Hardiman
chardiman@muskegonchronicle.com
The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development came to Muskegon this summer for a visit.
Organizers say they would like to stay.
Mitch Dennison, president of a Grand Haven marketing firm and vice president of the board of the Parks Institute, said program officials want to establish a branch in Muskegon next year.
Additionally, both leaders of the Rosa Parks Institute and Owasippe Outdoor Education Center say they are interested in establishing a home for the institute on the Owasippe camp property in Blue Lake Township.
Called Camp Rosa Parks, the proposed camp would provide the Rosa Parks Institute with a presence on the property as a partner with the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center.
Dennison announced intentions to establish a branch here at the Institute's Pathways to Freedom finale celebration Friday evening at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Muskegon.
Pathways to Freedom is the core program of the Detroit-based organization, commonly known as the Rosa Parks Institute. Each year, over a five-year period, the program takes young people on a historical journey from the underground railroad to the civil rights movement and beyond. It promotes life and self-empowerment skills to encourage students to model Rosa Parks' work in human rights.
Each year, the curriculum focuses on international, national and regional territory. This year, a dozen students, mostly from Michigan and Ohio, spent two of those weeks in West Michigan, staying at Grand Valley State University and studying issues surrounding the environment, health, history and media in Muskegon and Holland.
Dennison said he was amazed at the reception the program received in Muskegon.
"A lot of the things we did were very last-minute," Dennison said. Yet, he said, GVSU, the Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center, St. Paul's Church and other local institutions were cooperative and welcoming, Dennison said.
But that is not the only reason Dennison said he is excited about establishing a branch in Muskegon.
"I grew up in Muskegon," said Dennison, who graduated from Reeths-Puffer High School in the 1980s.
At the celebration event Friday, student participants shared what they had learned through speeches, skits, interviews, dance and song.
Pathways to Freedom happened this year in spite of fundraising challenges, he said, thanks in large part to the contributions and determination of supporters across the country.
Until this past year, "I had no idea what the folks at Rosa Parks Institute were involved with," Joe Sener, chairman of the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center, said in a prepared statement. "Now I do, and it is very special."
Sener called the Rosa Parks Institute "a partner with the OOEC" in the future of the Owasippe Scout Reservation property.
The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center has been hoping to buy the wilderness property from the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts for adult and juvenile camping. However, a Holland-area investment group has made a $19 million offer to buy the property, and the Chicago council has sought rezoning of the property to allow up to 1,278 homes.
The matter currently is the subject of an ongoing court battle.
Dennison said officials would begin meeting as soon as today to begin planning for next year's Pathways to Freedom. Establishing a Muskegon branch would help create ways to use local resources in the Pathways program, he said. It would also help reserve spots for Muskegon young people in the program, he said.
The most immediate need is for volunteers to serve on a local board, Dennison said. Volunteers can indicate their willingness by contacting Dennison at (231) 740-4236 or by calling the Rev. Dennis Remenschneider at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 722-2112.