DETROIT (WOOD) — William Kitchen III, a Muskegon Heights man whose life has been transformed by redemption, will be among 38 recipients honored this Thursday with a Governor’s Service Award for outstanding community contributions.
Kitchen, 39, was just 14 when he was sentenced to prison for robbery and felony firearm charges. After serving 21 years, he has since become a passionate advocate for change and a leader in West Michigan’s efforts to support at-risk youth and individuals re-entering society.
Since his release, Kitchen has founded the Redemption Coalition, joined the Fresh Coast Alliance, and created a chess-based curriculum designed to teach youth impulse control and structure. He also organizes youth poetry slams and contributes to Black history events in the region. His work as a motivational speaker has reached more than 20 area schools, and he regularly visits the Juvenile Detention Center and works with the Michigan Department of Corrections.
To him, his advocacy is personal.
“There is someone who knows how to help you, but they would never know if they can provide you that service if they don’t hear it from you,” Kitchen said. “We have a saying: ‘Closed mouths don’t get fed.’ So, I started opening my mouth: ‘I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know where this is. I don’t know how to create this’… I would ask people, ‘Can you help me?'”
Kitchen’s efforts have helped hundreds of people, according to those at the Fresh Coast Alliance, an organization that assists individuals leaving prison or addiction recovery with housing, job training, and transportation. Joy Sparks, the group’s executive director, credits Kitchen’s ability to connect with people from all walks of life.
“William can say, ‘This is where you can belong. Here is a positive path for how you can fit in and be a part of something,'” Sparks said. “Just walking alongside kids who maybe feel like they don’t belong is a great spot for William.”
Kitchen attributes much of his success to modeling the message of hope and transformation.
“The key is to be able to model the message,” he said. “Anybody can tell you anything, any day, any given time. But to visually see the model of the message, they know that it’s attainable — they know that it’s reachable.”
Kitchen will receive his award Thursday at the Detroit Opera House, and his work will continue as he pursues a degree in social work and criminal justice at Grand Valley State University.