Renee Fluker is a Metro Detroit leader who had a vision for how young people can live up to their full potential decided two decades ago to help them thrive beyond their circumstances.
As the founder-president of the Midnight Golf Program (MGP) in Detroit, she has made major strides in positively impacting the future of at-risk youth through a structured, 30-week curriculum from September-May.
Simply meeting for three hours, twice a week has helped young people learn about educational preparedness, life skills training, adult and peer mentoring, and professional golf instruction, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Since its inception in 2001, over 1,400 young people have completed the 30-week golf and life skills training that comprises the Midnight Golf Program.
To date, about 800 students are enrolled in over 100 different colleges and universities across the United States.
Fluker told the Michigan Chronicle that she started the organization after being inspired by her son who played golf in high school.
“He would complain that no Black kids know how to play golf,” he said, adding that he asked her once in college to come up with a way to help Black kids learn to play golf, which she did.
“The goal now is to teach them golf and get them in college and the thing now is ‘college career and beyond,’” she said, adding that about 100 students a night come to their programs held multiple times a week at Marygrove. Fluker added that the program resumes in late January and in addition to helping youth with practical, soft skills in preparation for college and professionally, they are fed a boxed dinner during their meetings.
MGP started as a safe streets initiative (along with the now-defunct Midnight Basketball program), and MGP’s renowned academic enrichment and professional polishing program focuses on helping students in college and career development and beyond.
A major component of Midnight Golf’s College Success Team is to assist students in finding the right college fit. Annually, they take to the roads across the nation and visit colleges and universities in just a few days.
Known as a networking sport, just simply knowing how to play golf can lead to open doors, job opportunities, and rubbing shoulders with the who’s-who. This popular sport, however, is still dominated by white men primarily. CNN reported that in the United States, 82% of all golfers are white, while 25% of junior golfers (aged 6-17) were not white; also, about 25% of people who played on a golf course for the first time in 2017 were not white.
The game of golf is used to introduce discipline, strategy, and career-boosting skills because being comfortable out on the course comes in handy when a young professional is networking to navigate their way to the top.
MGP’s very own founder Fluker knows firsthand the work that the program and her team provide to youth who otherwise may have never been introduced to the sport.
Fluker said that her MGP board has “a lot of good people” across different sectors in the region who help her to make decisions that positively impact the students even during COVID-19. Despite disruptions and setbacks, MGP and Fluker continue to lead the program as students come back for more.
“We started back up we never stopped.”
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