ORABSE Educator Awards 2025 - Michael “Chappie” Grice

Michael “Chappie” Grice…earned a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell College in Iowa and the Master of Arts in Teaching from Reed College in Oregon. While serving as board president for the National Council on Educating Black Children from 1994-1998, he was invited to design and direct the IRISE Initiative, a culture-rich, urban schools’ teacher development intervention, in the San Francisco public schools from 1996 to 2008.

He relocated to Portland in 2010 and currently serves as founder for the Urban Wings and Aerospace Leadership Club (www.urbanwings.club ) teaching aviation and leadership fundamentals to middle and high school youth. He is a co-founder for World Arts Foundation, Inc. and Director for the annual tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2024, they marked their thirty-ninth consecutive, annual production.

Retired educator, and grandfather, Mr. Grice works as a professional mentor and coach in education and youth leadership. He is known widely as an amateur golfer, film maker, and photographer and has produced four television documentaries including: “Mr. Title I: The Amazing Gus Hawkins” and “Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and the Northwest.”

In 2010, he was presented the National Human and Civil Rights Award in New Orleans by the National Education Association.