Mitch Albom, well-known author, journalist and broadcaster, has donated $60,000 to College for Creative Studies (CCS) to benefit talented Detroit students.
What makes this donation more remarkable is his challenge to others to do the same.
"Talent is not the issue in Detroit. There are so many gifted young people. The problem is access and affordability," says Albom. "While I am excited about the work we are doing with the Detroit Dream Scholars Fund, I'd like to challenge my friends in the arts to make a similar commitment. Michigan is full of other authors, musicians, actors and visual artists who have been nurtured by this community. I'd like 11 of my friends from the arts and business communities to join me so that we can provide 'Detroit Dozen' scholarships to get a CCS education."
Since 1991, the Mitch Albom Dream Fund endowment at CCS has provided more than $115,000 in funding for more than 50 Detroit children to participate in the arts. The Fund supports scholarships for the College's summer art program for kids ages 6-14 and pre-college summer experiences for high school students. It also provided funds to complete the public art mural in the Cultural Center which was a project through the College's Community Arts Partnerships program.
Mitch Albom's new Detroit Dream Scholarship Fund will take a new approach by providing scholarships for students from Detroit to attend CCS as undergraduates. The "Detroit Dozen" will provide opportunity to twelve deserving students without financial means to attend CCS as undergraduates. Each scholarship recipient is required to work on a public art project in
the summer as a way of giving back to the City of Detroit.
The recipient of this year's scholarship is Sherelle Garrison. She is a graduate of the Detroit School of the Arts High School and she is majoring in Fine Arts at CCS. Other courses of undergraduate study at CCS include: Advertising, Illustration, Graphic Design, Transportation Design, Product
Design, Entertainment Arts, Art Education, Interior Design, Photography and Crafts.
To celebrate this year's scholarship, there will be a reception on Thursday, September 22 at Center Galleries, on the College's Walter and Josephine Ford Campus in the Cultural Center (301 Fredrick Douglas at Brush Street).
Held at 1:00 p.m., this event will feature a check presentation and more details about the "Detroit Dozen." For more information about scholarships at CCS, visit