“No matter how successful any automaker here becomes or how many local jobs they’ve created, this region will never return to economic prosperity if the high schools continue to turn out students with no marketable skills,” said Reuss, speaking at the 11th Annual Global Automotive Summit. The two-day conference, sponsored by the Rainbow Push’s Global Automotive Project, was held at the MotorCity Casino.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH, lauded GM’s commitment to supporting minority-owned dealers and suppliers and its renewed pledge to education. Rainbow PUSH is co-sponsoring the annual scholarships that will go to Detroit students enrolled in colleges across the country and support a variety of majors, including engineering, theater and journalism.
Local Detroit officials says GM’s sizeable philanthropic gesture is a positive sign that the worst economic strife in the automaker’s history has passed.
“This is a very, very hopeful sign that perhaps we’re turning the corner in getting the attention of the larger corporate community,” said Steve Wasko, a spokesperson for the Detroit Public Schools that is among the most beleaguered in the country.
GM has been a major contributor to the arts, civic organizations and multicultural issues for decades. But in 2009, the GM Foundation suspended millions of dollars in donations, including gifts to the Detroit Symphony, Orchestra, the Detroit Opera House and the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.
–terry shropshire
