HispanicBusiness

EAST LANSING, Mich., June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to the devastating impact Prop 2 has had on equal opportunity in Michigan, a group of concerned education, business and civic leaders has formed a new organization to help promote diversity on the state's college campuses through privately funded scholarships and other opportunities. The organization is called The Imagine Fund.

It is a 501(c) (3) non-profit tax exempt organization whose mission is to provide equal opportunity to higher education for students based on their race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disabilities, and/or other cultural characteristics. While the framework for The Imagine Fund is being developed through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, last week the board of directors accepted a grant from the DTE Energy Foundation in support of its new development officer position, which allows the Fund to aggressively pursue its mission.

The fund promotes diversity and access in higher education through networking with donors to secure funding for scholarships that are specifically targeted to help promote diversity at Michigan colleges and universities.

In Nov. 2006, Michigan voters went to the polls and approved a ballot initiative prohibiting public colleges and universities from considering race, ethnicity and gender among other factors in college admissions.

A March, 2007 Michigan Civil Rights Commission report said that following the passage of Prop 2, public institutions in Michigan were prohibited from specifically targeting under represented and under served minorities for recruitment, admissions or hiring. However, private entities may continue to use those factors and other specific types of programs and scholarships aimed at increasing diversity and equal opportunity at state colleges and universities.

"When Prop 209 eliminated affirmative action in California, there was a huge, unrecoverable drop in black, Latino and Native American students at the two flagship campuses of the UC system," said Dr. Nanette Reynolds, president of The Imagine Fund. "The primary objective of The Imagine Fund is to help ensure that Michigan's public colleges and universities do not suffer the same fate."

The Fund's board members are: Willard K. Walker, David C. Hollister, C. Patrick Babcock and Paula D. Cunningham of Lansing; Attorney Cirilo Martinez of Kalamazoo and Dr. Orian Worden of Detroit. Mark A. Murray of West Michigan serves as an honorary advisor. For more information, contact The Imagine Fund, 866-933-3797 or http://www.theimaginefund.com/. The Imagine Fund

Web site: http://www.theimaginefund.com/