--Bill Strickland
According to MacArthur Fellowship “genius” award winner BillStrickland, a successful life is not something you simply pursue,it is something that you create, moment by moment. It is arealization Strickland first came to when, as a poor kid growing upin a rough neighborhood of Pittsburgh, he encountered a high schoolceramics teacher who took him under his wing and went on totransform his life.
Over the past thirty years, Bill Strickland has been transformingthe lives of thousands of people through the creation of ManchesterBidwell, a jobs training center and community arts program. Workingwith corporations, community leaders, and schools, he and his staffstrive to give disadvantaged kids and adults the opportunities andtools they need to envision and built a better, brighterfuture.