William T. Cunningham

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Father William T. Cunningham (1930 – May 26, 1997), a Detroit native, began studies for priesthood in 1943 at Sacred Heart Seminary. Cunningham was a parish priest for five years, then in 1961 joined the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminary as an English professor. He was a columnist and book review editor of the Michigan Catholic. Cunningham and Eleanor Josaitis co-founded Focus: HOPE, a non-profit civil and human rights organization intended to help to resolve discrimination and injustice and to build a harmonious community on March 6, 1968, spurred by the destructive 1967 Detroit riot they witnessed. [1] Cunningham died of a liver infection following cancer surgery in 1997. [2] In 2005, members from the Church of the Madonna and its music director, William S. Harrison, honored Cunningham's legacy with the Fr. William T. Cunningham Memorial Choir, which has won both national and international choral competitions.[ citation needed ]

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Eleanor Mary Josaitis was the co-founder of Focus: HOPE. She was engaged in building the legacy of the civil rights organization. For many years, she was the Associate Director of Focus: HOPE. Upon Father Cunningham's death in 1997, she became the Executive Director, and later the CEO. In 2006, she turned over the day-to-day operation to a new leadership team in order to focus her efforts on fund raising. She died of peritoneal cancer on August 9, 2011 in Livonia, Michigan.

Focus: HOPE is a Detroit-based, non-denominational, non-profit organization whose aim is to overcome racism and poverty by providing education and training for underrepresented minorities and others. The organization is a public foundation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code.

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References

  1. Kresnak, Jack (16 November 2015). Hope for the City. Cass Community Publishing House. p. 18. ISBN   1942011156.
  2. Kresnak, Jack (16 November 2015). Hope for the City. Cass Community Publishing House. p. 417. ISBN   1942011156.