Connect with us

Education

Toyota executive Chris Reynolds honored at Cass Tech

MICHIGAN CHRONICLE — Things have changed quite a bit since Christopher Reynolds attended Detroit Cass Technical High School 40 years ago.

Published

on

By Branden Hunter

Things have changed quite a bit since Christopher Reynolds attended Detroit Cass Technical High School 40 years ago. The old nine-story building he attended classes in was torn down in 2011, his former teachers are all gone, and his old Cass Tech gear does not fit quite the same.

But one thing remains consistent; Cass Tech is a world-class educational facility, producing world-class students, prompting the current staff at the downtown Detroit high school to declare January 16 as “Chris Reynolds Day.”

Reynolds, 56, is the Chief Administrative Officer, Manufacturing and Corporate Resources for Toyota Motor North America, the highest ranking African-American auto executive in the world. He is responsible for the North American functions of manufacturing operations, accounting and finance, human resources, government affairs, corporate communications, corporate ztrategy, social innovation/diversity and inclusion, and legal, among others.

As a high-ranking auto executive, returning home to Detroit to attend the North American International Auto Show is something Reynolds does every year. He did not know that this particular trip to Detroit would see his former high school honoring him, but it was a proud moment.

“This probably means that I’m getting old,” Reynolds laughed, as he sat in the Sharon Allen band room inside Cass Tech’s new state-of-the art facility. “But what it really means is that I’m part of a continuum, seeing that Cass Tech didn’t stop after me. It thrived, you have all these great students who are doing wonderful things and are so full of potential, and that gives me the feeling that it’s a great legacy to pass on. It’s special to be a part of this Cass Tech legacy.

Reynolds entered high school in 1975 as a 12-year-old. He had skipped first and fifth-grade and was entering a diverse school, with well over 4,000 students. Reynolds admitted that he was not a popular jock in high school. Instead of playing football or basketball, he majored in science and arts and participated in the radio, tv, and speech club. Academics came first in his home, having an older brother that attended Cranbrook.

“Walking into Cass Tech this morning, I told one of the coaches that I didn’t play sports for two reasons,” Reynolds said. “For one, there was no sport that I could play at 12-years-old and my parents always made it clear that as opposed to me playing sports, they’d rather have me in the library reading books. You can always pick up the sports later.”

Reynolds had a full day visiting Cass Tech. He addressed an auditorium full of former and current Technicians, heard from the Cass Tech orchestra, took a tour of the six-story building, and a luncheon was held in the media center to honor one of Cass Tech’s most accomplished alums.

He attended Kalamazoo College after Cass Tech, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science with honors in 1983.He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986. In 2007, Reynolds began working for Toyota as its lawyer nationally and before you know it, he was promoted as its global lawyer.

Prior to joining Toyota, Reynolds was a partner at the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius in New York City, where he also worked as manager of the New York office’s labor and employment law group. He served as a member of the firm’s advisory board and as chair of the firm’s diversity committee.

Earlier, Reynolds served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, and as a law clerk for Judge Damon J. Keith, U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit in Detroit. Reynolds said Judge Keith has been like another father to him.

Not bad for someone from Woodingham and Margareta streets in Detroit.

“Mr. Reynolds is being extremely humble in what he does and his accomplishments to date,” said Leon C. Richardson, president and CEO of Chemico Systems. “You all are in the presence of greatness and Chris is a leading example of what you all can do as well. He’s the highest ranking African-American automotive industry and that’s a huge statement. He came down the same path as you all and you, too, can do this.”

Reynolds’ ability to relate to the students at Cass Tech is what allowed him to garner their full attention. He grew up in the Bagley neighborhood on Detroit’s west side near Seven Mile and Livernois and was the youngest of eight children: four by his mother and four by his stepfather. His stepfather worked at the Ford River Rouge Plant and his mother was a registered nurse.

He currently lives in Dallas, but his roots are here in Detroit. His life accomplishments and love of Detroit and Cass Tech rubbed off on many of the students he encountered, from the junior in ROTC who plays tennis and Reynolds recommended that she attend Kalamazoo College, to the students in the marketing class he gave a short marketing lesson to on Toyota, and the student he made sit up in the auditorium to listen to his speech.

“This was an amazing experience to have a man with such wisdom and experience come back to your school to talk to you,” said Cass Tech senior Quinton Howard, who plans to attend Wayne State University to study accounting. “Similar to Mr. Reynolds, I have family that works in the automotive industry and it feels close to home to have him here. It’s my passion to serve and I want to return the favor to Cass Tech students in 40 years, just like he is doing today.”

Cass Tech is a proud community and family atmosphere. Its unofficial motto is, “Cass Tech Number One, Second To None.” The 112-year-old institution demands excellence from all of its students, which is why its alumni base includes the likes of Diana Ross, Big Sean, John DeLorean, David Alan Grier, Della Reese, Esther Gordy, Terry Foster, Kwame Kilpatrick, Jourdan Lewis, and so many others.

Even when he goes for a run, he wears his Cass Tech football shirt with his name on the back, and people all over the world are familiar with the green and white of Cass Tech.

“If you can graduate from Cass Tech, you can do anything,” said Reynolds.

This article originally appeared in the Michigan Chronicle

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bay Area

Five Years After COVID-19 Began, a Struggling Child Care Workforce Faces New Threats

Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”

Published

on

UC Berkeley photo.
UC Berkeley photo.

UC Berkeley News

In the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 166,000 childcare jobs were lost across the nation. Significant recovery didn’t begin until the advent of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization funds in April 2021.

Today, child care employment is back to slightly above pre-pandemic levels, but job growth has remained sluggish at 1.4% since ARPA funding allocations ended in October 2023, according to analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley. In the last six months, childcare employment has hovered around 1.1 million.

Yet more than two million American parents report job changes due to problems accessing child care. Why does the childcare sector continue to face a workforce crisis that has predated the pandemic? Inadequate compensation drives high turnover rates and workforce shortages that predate the pandemic. Early childhood educators are skilled professionals; many have more than 15 years of experience and a college degree, but their compensation does not reflect their expertise. The national median hourly wage is $13.07, and only a small proportion of early educators receive benefits.

And now a new round of challenges is about to hit childcare. The low wages paid in early care and education result in 43% of early educator families depending on at least one public support program, such as Medicaid or food stamps, both of which are threatened by potential federal funding cuts. Job numbers will likely fall as many early childhood educators need to find jobs with healthcare benefits or better pay.

In addition, one in five child care workers are immigrants, and executive orders driving deportation and ICE raids will further devastate the entire early care and education system. These stresses are part of the historical lack of respect the workforce faces, despite all they contribute to children, families, and the economy.

Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”

The economic impact was equally dire. Even as many providers tried to remain open to ensure their financial security, the combination of higher costs to meet safety protocols and lower revenue from fewer children enrolled led to job losses, increased debt, and program closures.

Eventually, the federal government responded with historic short-term investments through ARPA, which stabilized childcare programs. These funds provided money to increase pay or provide financial relief to early educators to improve their income and well-being. The childcare sector began to slowly recover. Larger job gains were made in 2022 and 2023, and as of November 2023, national job numbers had slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, though state and metro areas continued to fluctuate.

Many states have continued to support the workforce after ARPA funding expired in late 2024. In Maine, a salary supplement initiative has provided monthly stipends of $240-$540 to educators working in licensed home- or center-based care, based on education and experience, making it one of the nation’s leaders in its support of early educators. Early educators say the program has enabled them to raise wages, which has improved staff retention. Yet now, Governor Janet Mills is considering cutting the stipend program in half.

“History shows that once an emergency is perceived to have passed, public funding that supports the early care and education workforce is pulled,” says Austin. “You can’t build a stable childcare workforce and system without consistent public investment and respect for all that early educators contribute.”

The Center for the Study of Childcare Employment is the source of this story.

Continue Reading

Activism

District Delegates to State Democratic Party Central Committee Meeting Celebrate Election Victory

Delegates and elected officials were excited for the future of the Democratic Party and making its focus on 1) creating more affordable housing, 2) supporting education, 3) helping working families, and 4) protecting the environment and addressing climate change, with a focus on practical and realistic policy efforts that could have a meaningful impact. 

Published

on

Front row: Megan Imperial, Genice Jacobs, Bobbi Lopez, Courtney Welch, Janani Ramachandran, Hercules Councilmember Dilli Bhattarai, Sarah Bell, Laura Babitt, Ashlee Jemmott, and Shawn Danino. Rear row: Ben Gould, Sam Davis, Victor Flores, Zac Bowling, Nate Hanson, Teddy Gray King, Cathy Adams, Neil Tsutsui, Sam Gould, Lauren Wilson, and Nick Pilch. Courtesy photo.
Front row: Megan Imperial, Genice Jacobs, Bobbi Lopez, Courtney Welch, Janani Ramachandran, Hercules Councilmember Dilli Bhattarai, Sarah Bell, Laura Babitt, Ashlee Jemmott, and Shawn Danino. Rear row: Ben Gould, Sam Davis, Victor Flores, Zac Bowling, Nate Hanson, Teddy Gray King, Cathy Adams, Neil Tsutsui, Sam Gould, Lauren Wilson, and Nick Pilch. Courtesy photo.

By Ben Gould
Special to The Post

Winners of the February 2025 Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEM) for Assembly Districts 14 and 18 met on Sunday, March 16 to discuss priorities for the California Democratic Party convention in Anaheim coming up in May.

The winners for Assembly District 18 are Genice Jacobs, Bobbi Lopez, Shawn Danino, Ben Gould, Zac Bowling, Nate Hanson, Cathy Adams, Sam Gould, Lauren Wilson, Ashlee Jemmott, and former Oakland School Board Director Sam Davis.

The winners for Assembly District 14 are: Sarah Bell, Neil Tsutsui, Hercules Councilmember Dilli Bhattarai, former Berkeley School Board Director Laura Babitt, former Piedmont Mayor Teddy Gray King, and former Albany Mayor Nick Pilch.

They were joined by Oakland Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, Emeryville Councilmember Courtney Welch, and BART Director Victor Flores to help celebrate their victory.

Delegates and elected officials were excited for the future of the Democratic Party and making its focus on 1) creating more affordable housing, 2) supporting education, 3) helping working families, and 4) protecting the environment and addressing climate change, with a focus on practical and realistic policy efforts that could have a meaningful impact.

Continue Reading

Activism

Golden State Warriors Program Is Inspiring Next Generation of Female Engineers

Breaking down barriers and biases that deter young girls from pursuing STEAM subjects is essential for creating a level playing field and ensuring equal opportunities for all. By challenging stereotypes and promoting a culture of inclusivity and diversity in STEAM fields, experts believe young girls can be empowered to pursue their interests and aspirations without limitations confidently. Encouraging mentorship, providing access to resources, and celebrating girls’ achievements in STEAM are all crucial steps in creating a supportive environment that fosters success.

Published

on

Front Row: UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team Back Row: Girls, Inc. Participants. Photo courtesy of the Golden State Warriors.
Front Row: UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team Back Row: Girls, Inc. Participants. Photo courtesy of the Golden State Warriors.

By Y’Anad Burrell

The Golden State Warriors and e-commerce giant Rakuten are joining forces to inspire the next generation of female engineers through Building STEAM Futures, part of The City Calls campaign.

Organizers say the initiative is founded on the idea that science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) are crucial fields for innovation and progress, and empowering young girls to pursue careers in these areas is more important than ever. Studies consistently show that girls are underrepresented in STEAM fields, resulting in a gender disparity that limits potential and hinders diversity.

Breaking down barriers and biases that deter young girls from pursuing STEAM subjects is essential for creating a level playing field and ensuring equal opportunities for all. By challenging stereotypes and promoting a culture of inclusivity and diversity in STEAM fields, experts believe young girls can be empowered to pursue their interests and aspirations without limitations confidently. Encouraging mentorship, providing access to resources, and celebrating girls’ achievements in STEAM are all crucial steps in creating a supportive environment that fosters success.

On Saturday, March 8, International Women’s Day, the Warriors and Rakuten hosted 20 middle school girls from Girls Inc. of Alameda County at Chase Center’s Above the Rim for a hands-on bridge-building experience. The young girls from Girls, Inc. of Alameda County had an opportunity to design, build and test their own bridge prototypes and learn the fundamentals of bridge construction from the Engineering Alliance and the UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team.

This STEAM experience for the girls followed the first session in January, where they took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, learning about its design and construction from industry experts. The City Calls campaign, tipped off with the unveiling the Warriors’ new bridge-themed City Edition jerseys and court design earlier this year.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.