RezaRitesRi.com

By Reza Corinne Clifton

This article appeared in the November 2nd edition of The Providence American Newspaper

From left to right: Thomas Duffy, co-founder and President of HoodRich Flight Foundation; Anthony Lugo a graduate of the Met who will be one of the first students; and Michael Clifton, co-founder and Vice President of HoodRich.

PROVIDENCE, RI - Pride, generosity, and love were all palpable on Wednesday evening October 25 when friends, family, and supporters showed up at upscale jazz club, the Hi Hat. It was in support of a newly-incorporated Providence non-profit organization called HoodRich Flight Foundation.

HoodRich is an organization co-founded by Providence residents, Thomas Duffy and Michael Clifton, and Cranston resident, Honorable William C. Clifton of the RI District Court—Michael’s uncle. The three are seeking to provide underprivileged Providence high school students with “the opportunity, resources, direction, and funding to obtain their private pilot’s license.”

The Hi Hat event, which even garnered an appearance by Providence Mayor David Cicilline, was “an effort,” explained the invitation letter, “to thank our current supporters and introduce ourselves to the Rhode Island community”.

Some of these supporters were reflected in the speaking program, which included contributions by Roger Knight of FedEx, Bob Berlyn of Horizon Aviation, and Mary Sylvia Harrison, president and CEO of Rhode Island Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. In an effort to introduce themselves with distinction, music was mixed by mobile DJ Daniel Pantalone of Bashment Sounds, and two vocalists performed a duet—Hope High School sophomore, Stephanie Montilla, and trained gospel singer and after school program coordinator Melissa Francois.

Associate Justice Edward Clifton of the RI Superior Court and Providence, RI’s Mayor David Cicilline

The introduction to HoodRich comes a year after the organization was formally established, in November 2005. They started the non-profit because of the shared concern of all three founders—who are also certified pilots—about “the lack of resources available to young people interested in aviation careers.” Duffy remembers facing this concern himself; it was the only factor which raised doubt in him when he first became interested in flying. Finances did not stop him, though.

Duffy was sixteen or seventeen years old, he recalled in an interview last summer, and had just lost his job at American Power Conversion (APC), when he decided to spend his last APC check to pay for a single lesson. It resulted in the feeling that a career in aviation was where he belonged, he explains.

Duffy had grown up in Warwick two or three minutes from T.F. Green airport, affected by two important influences: fascination with the planes that landed nearby; and the thrill as a five year old when he was first offered the chance to enter the cockpit of a plane during a commercial flight.

Clifton remembers a lot of excitement too.

He was first introduced to flying at a very young age by Judge Clifton, a fact that isn’t necessarily “a concrete memory,” but that “had more to do with the impact on a subconscious level.” This later played out through Clifton’s endless hours engaged in computer and video game flight simulation programs.

Later, at the age of 15, his mother’s best friend offered to take him to an introductory flight lesson. This was the beginning of Clifton’s decision that flying was a “passion [he] would possess” and a road he would definitely take.

Both young men are graduates of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)—2002 for Clifton and 2003 for Duffy—a school described as a premier University in the “science, practice, and business” and “unique needs of aviation, aerospace, and related industries.”

ERAU is now more than their Alma Mater. In January 2006, University officials “offered a commitment that our students,” outlined the invitation letter, “will be eligible for partial scholarships from this highly regarded aviation university.”

Michael Clifton’s sister, Kelly, to the far right, greeting some of the event’s attendees.

They have other partners too, like the participants in the speaking program—the Crusade, Horizon Aviation, and FedEx—and Times2 Academy. These partnerships are not uniformed; they are unique based up on what the organization does or can provide. Horizon, the only FAA-approved Part 141 flight school in the state, will help with the training based on the highest criteria—FAA standards.

Times2 has agreed to help provide classroom resources, while FedEx has agreed to offer an incentive to students who complete the HoodRich program and earn their private pilot’s license. The support from FedEx is related to one of the primary goals of HoodRich: exposing youth to the diverse types of careers available within the aviation purview.

The HoodRich “alliance” with The Crusade is especially unique. The organization distributes the grant program that has offered the fledgling organization a challenge grant, and it will be from the Crusade’s program that the first eight students in the HoodRich program will come.

Alliances and support have even come from the former Tuskegee Airman and State Representative, the Honorable George S. Lima, who himself has launched the Black Air Foundation—a program that will be offered to a younger set of students.

But Wednesday night was not only about announcing the support of established organizations and schools. The HoodRich event was also about a formal request for help—from individuals like the ones who lined the Hi Hat, and like those committed to ensuring that, as the HoodRich website states, “the sky is still the limit.”

For more information about the HoodRich Flight Foundation, visit www.hoodrichaviation.org or call Thomas Duffy, President of HoodRich, or Michael Clifton, Vice President, at 401-473-1141 or at 401-524-2358.

Reza Corinne Clifton is the first cousin of Michael Clifton, and a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

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