The relationship between the Flint (Michigan) Board of Education and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation began in 1935 with a $6,000 grant. The relationship between the two organizations has made Flint the national laboratory for community education programs. Through the years, the Flint community schools have requested and received Mott Foundation grants totaling over $100 million that have enabled them to develop innovative programs and to offer an impressive array of educational, cultural, social, medical, and recreational opportunities based on the needs of the residents. Today everyone of the 52 schools in Flint is a community school. Thousands of educators from all over the world have visited Flint to study community education firsthand. Current estimates are that 40 percent of American public schools now offer some variation of community schools. In large part, this is due to the influence of the Flint experiment. (Author/MLF)