On Saturday, Lonnie Morris came home to Chester ready to share the most recent programming his foundation will provide in his native city. Morris founded the Lonnie Morris Foundation to make a difference in the place he grew up. “I’ve gone from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country.
I was able to expand and grow to one of the richest neighborhoods in the country, in the Bay Area,” he said. “What’s a better example than myself?” The message he wants to send? “That I care,” Morris said. Growing up at Third and Kerlin streets in the William Penn housing project, Morris was a football player at Chester High School, where he graduated in 1975 and went to Morgan State University, where his major was social science.
In 1986, he began his career as a probation and parole officer in Marin County, California, where he worked decades before his retirement. Since then, he’s started programs in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and California, with one about to begin in St. Louis with a focus on strengthening families by creating activities for parents and children to participate in together.
His college program takes students on tours of historically Black colleges. His Good Citizen Program fosters citizenship skills in elementary, middle and high school students by getting them to define their values and live up to them. This year, he’s starting a trip program in which families can go on three outings, as well as a Christmas gift program for those living i.
