Detroit’s Tuskegee Airmen National Museum is getting a large grant to expand its investment in the future.
The museum received a $500,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to attend its youth program. It’s part of the FAA’s $10 million effort to educate students on careers in aviation.
The program’s alums have become engineers, airline, military and drone pilots, and the grant will help the museum develop even more young talent.
“We’re showcasing the Tuskegee Airmen, so if they can do it, you can do it,” said museum president and CEO Brian Smith. “In fact, they’re standing by, hoping you will do it.”
That’s what the program was founded on and what the youth who participate hold on to.
“At the age of four, I knew about them (Tuskegee Airmen),” said Southfield Christian senior John Dilligard. “My favorite people to learn about. They look like me, they flew for their country, and they liked it.”
Dilligard started in the museum’s program in 2016. In the fall, He plans to study history and aeronautics at Liberty University in Virginia. Full-circle moments like Dilligard’s are what Smith cherishes the most.
“We actually have fewer African American pilots today than we did in World War II,” said Smith. “And we talk about the aerospace industry and even fewer.”
The museum is currently training 20 children; the next class will have 30.
“We want to reach more young people, and this grant will help us do that,” said Smith. “Looking for students and high school age, people of color in the Metro Detroit area.”
For more information on the museum and the programs they offer, click here.