83 RD GRAND CHAPTER MEETING: RECESS HIGHILIGHT
community.
There is, in the United States of America, income inequality. It will exist in a free entre- preneurial society. What we cannot and will not tolerate is education inequality. And the Tangelo Park and Parramore programs will end education inequality forever. I want to change America one community at a time. God bless you all. Grand Polemarch Battles: Brothers, earlier in the week we were in Pine Hills, a predominantly and historically African-American community and we dedicated a learning lab and an after-school program.
We have sent about 400 Tangelo Park youngsters to college and we’re very proud of that. And here’s the announce- ment. Quietly, about a year ago we adopted an- other community here in Central Florida in the Parramore neighborhood, a com- munity six times the size of Tangelo Park. We have created the same program with an exception. At Tangelo there are a number of single- family homes, so within those homes we created the pre-school program, six children per home and certified caregiv- ers teaching the children. In Parramore, which is a more urban- ized community, we couldn’t do that. So together with Orange County Public Schools, we agreed to build a prototype school and we call that school PS 8. It will open in about two weeks. The school is pre-school through eighth grade. Our responsibility includes the pre-schoolers, all of the construction, all of the teachers, all of the fixtures, furni- ture, IT equipment—our responsibility. Upon graduation from the eighth grade, the youngsters all move to Jones High
School, which is in the neighborhood, same program. In fact, we’ve already distributed 59 full scholarships from Jones before we started the pre-school program. So we’ll now have a second model, a pre-school through eighth grade and then free col- lege for all of the youngsters who gradu- ate from high school from the Parramore community. So I did something that was a bit pre- sumptuous. Just about two years ago when I was invited by the King family to Atlanta to talk about our Tangelo Park program, Dr. Bernice King was sitting in the front row. I never prepare what I’m going to say, I just let God direct me. And I looked at her and I said, “Dr. King, can I have a dream?” What a pre- sumptuous thing to say in Atlanta to Dr. King’s daughter. But the place respond- ed very favorably and they said, “Yes, you can have a dream.” So I’m going to share my dream with you. My dream is that every under-served community in the United States of America will one day have a Tangelo Park program, free pre-school, free college for all of the youngsters in that
We furnished computers, the brick and mortar, the sweat equity—we're making a difference. And we just got word that Walmart has committed to the software that we need for another school, one of the early ser- vice projects, schools at El Bethel. So, we will be blessing that church, that school, it's a K through 12. And also, yesterday the Foundation, if you were there, gave out scholarships to at least 12 deserving students in this commu- nity. Over $2,000 per student. I think that's not bad for us. What do you think? And when men like Mr. Rosen can step up to the plate and make commitments in our communities, we certainly could do no less. So, thank you for all that you do. And God bless all of you. Thank you, Mr. Rosen. Grand Chapter then resumed its delib- eration of the matters before it. Here's to Brother Taylor. Here's to Kappa Alpha Psi ® Humanitarian Award Recipient Mr. Harris Rosen!
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