Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation

Congratulations to our 26 amazing, inspiring, and deserving Class of 2026 Rosa Parks Scholars!!! Each scholar received a $3,000 scholarship to assist with college expenses.

Since our inception, we have awarded more than $3.1 million for tuition, books and fees to more than 1,600 high-achieving Michigan high school seniors. Scholarship winners may also apply for two paid summer internships at The Detroit News to learn about journalism.

To all of these future physicians, educators, engineers, bankers, therapists, pilots, entrepreneurs, artists, and leaders in a variety of fields, we are so proud of you! We wish you all the best as you continue your academic journeys to colleges and universities across the country and beyond! Check out these photos from today's scholarship luncheon.

Congratulations to our Class of 2026 Rosa Parks Scholars!!! We can't wait to honor you at our scholarship luncheon tomorrow. In the meantime, check out this year's incredible recipients in today's Detroit News.

Read more here: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/06/09/2026-rosa-parks-scholars-creating-opportunities-for-more-to-shine/90380055007/

The Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation welcomes Dawn N. Ison as its newest trustee.

Ms. Ison is a purposeful, forward-thinking, strategic leader whose vision and ex*****on have resulted in significant positive outcomes for the Eastern District of Michigan community.
She is also an experienced, highly skilled litigator with extensive defense and prosecution trial experience and over 30 years of litigation experience at the federal, state, and local level. Ms.
Ison is a daughter of Detroit, a product of Detroit Public Schools, and a proud graduate of Spelman College and Wayne State University Law School.

She has served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, as well as being nominated by President Joseph R. Biden to serve as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Since leaving that office in January 2025, Ms. Ison has been volunteering with programs that empower and train youth and law students, keynote speaking, performing legal consulting services in association with McGuireWoods LLP and Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, among many other meaningful endeavors.

We are honored to have Ms. Ison on board as we award this year's Rosa Parks Scholars.

Congratulations to Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation Trustee Dr. Ike McKinnon on receiving this honor!

Hall of Fame Award of Character: Detroit educator Dr. Isaiah ‘Ike’ McKinnon turns pain into purpose Dr. Isaiah 'Ike' McKinnon, a Michigan instructor, receives the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Award of Character.

Happy Birthday, Rosa Parks! It's the 113th anniversary of the day Mrs. Parks was born back in 1913. All of us at the Rosa Parks Scholarship foundation are proud to help carry on her legacy by providing annual college scholarships to our community's bright and hardworking young leaders.

Mrs. Parks lived through an era of racial violence and worldwide upheaval. She saw and endured many wars (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars); a deadly Flu pandemic; the Great Depression; McCarthyism and the Red Scare; the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs. She was recognized by presidents and world leaders for her role in advancing racial justice and human dignity and was the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda after her death in 2005.

Rosa Parks was a devoted activist whose lifelong devotion to the cause of justice and racial equality makes her one of America’s — and the world’s — greatest change agents. We celebrate her today and every day!

The Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation joins the community in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day and encourages participation in commemorations, educational events, and/or community service. These activities also help to advance the importance of continuing Rosa Parks’ legacy, especially in light of current struggles for civil rights and dignity occurring here and around the world.

Celebrating MLK Day with presentations, plays, rallies and more Here are some of the MLK Day events happening in and around Detroit.

Rest in peace.

Claudette Colvin, who refused to move seats on a bus at start of civil rights movement, dies Civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin has died. She was 86. Her 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement.

Exciting news!! Please join us in congratulating Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees Assistant Treasurer Benita Miller on her new appointment. Mayor Mary Sheffield announced today Benita will help lead a new city department focused on homeless and family services.

This is great news for the city! We know Benita will do outstanding work in this new role.

Click here to read more from the Detroit Free Press: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2026/01/12/mayor-mary-sheffield-detroit-fight-poverty/88107673007/

Happy New Year! The 2026 Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation application is officially open.

https://rosaparksscholarship.org/scholarship/apply/