TACOMA, Wash. – An influential Tacoma educator won the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award.
“There are those that who would have not received a higher education without her efforts,” said longtime Tacoma resident Darington Forbes.
His friend, Dr. Maxine Mimms, founded the Tacoma Campus in 1972, an extension of Evergreen State College.
“There was a conglomerate of folks who were, just by virtue of the cost of the private institutions, were locked out and Maxine took a bulldozer to that,” he said.
At the time, for many people of color and poor adults in Tacoma, the Tacoma Campus was the only affordable option for higher education.
“Traveling to Seattle or Olympia to obtain an education, it was a difficult thing in those times,” said Forbes.
“I’ve created a really beloved community, because there’s just absolutely nothing like Tacoma. It’s very bold, and it’s very diverse, and you have to be very bold to have a relationship with people that are different than you, and Tacoma offers that,” said Mimms
For decades, Mimms provided a diverse group of adults with an opportunity to better themselves.
“They are now in government, in medicine, in science, in the law,” said Forbes. “They’re involved in all aspects of this society, and they are encouraging others to get their degrees.”
That’s why Forbes nominated Mimms for the service award.
“As a young boy, I was devastated when [Luther King Jr.] was taken from us, because I saw so much hope in him,” Forbes said. “But I realized as a teenager that that hope could not die with him. He intended it to live in each and every one of us. “
He says he sees that hope in Mimms.
“Everyday wake up to imagining how you can make a contribution to make Tacoma and the State of Washington and the world a better place,” she said.
While Mimms says it’s hard for her to take all of the credit, she will receive this recognition with gratitude and humility.
“I guess I’m just delighted to be able to be seen as making a contribution to something that has made a difference,” she said.
