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OBAP introduces Black youth to the aviation industry, ultimately growing the workforce.

Dinner will be held on Friday, November 5 in the brand new Aviation Education Center at the College of Aviation campus located on the Battle Creek Executive

Nearly 30 years before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech from the nation’s capital, Army Lt. William Powell shared his own dream for America: one where Black people shed the shackles of racism and spread their wings to fly. The former Army infantryman fell in love with aviation during his stint overseas in World War I and in 1932 became one of the rarest people in the United States: a Black man with a pilot's license. Powell’s semi-autobiographical book "Black Wings," published in 1934, exhorted Black youth to seize the freedom and opportunity of air ...

Robert Silk In the wake of the protests across our nation last summer over systemic racism, airlines were among the many corporations pledging improvement in everything from hiring practices to diversity within management to company culture. Delta, for example, noted last June that Black employees made up 21% of its workforce but just 7% of its top 100 officers. The airline has committed to year-by-year improvements going forward.  American, too, called the Black representation within its senior leadership, "insufficient." The company pledged a slew of enhancements to recruitment and mentor...