Alabama Bright Lights: Shelley Stewart offers students ride on ‘Choice Bus’

Alabama Bright Lights – Shelley Stewart and the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Shelley Stewart was 6 years old when he watched his mother murdered at their Rosedale home.

Shelley Stewart created the “Choice Bus” to convince young people to stay in school. (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
Mattie C. may have died, but she never really left Stewart.
Stewart ran away and was a homeless child for a few years. Later, he lived in the basement of a family home, and became drawn to school. He did well and graduated to become a successful radio DJ, hanging out with stars like B.B. King, Nat King Cole and Otis Redding.
During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the outspoken radio star became a target for the Ku Klux Klan. They spray-painted his studio with death threats, but the young Stewart continued the fight. Then he started o2ideas Advertising Agency in Birmingham, partnering with Cy Steiner, and the rest is history.
o2ideas quickly became one of the leading advertising agencies in the country. The partnership between an African-American and a Caucasian was unusual at the time, but it worked.
At Stewart’s office overlooking what used to be a lake – now Lakeshore Drive in Homewood – he pointed toward the scene outside his window and said:

Shelley Stewart named the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation after his mother. (contributed)
“I used to catch catfish from this creek when I was a homeless kid.”
Now, the homeless kid is CEO of a multimillion-dollar firm. The key to this incredible transformation, he said, was “Education.”
Education combined with what happened next would lead Stewart to his current mission. During his life, Stewart has had what some folks might call “a guardian angel” watching over him.
“Mattie C. looked after me since that day in Rosedale. Her lovely spirit has guided me and protected me,” he said. “One day when I was 65 and working at o2ideas, she said to me: ‘You have not done what I asked you to do. I want you to teach, share a message of education.’”
Stewart looked out of the window with a faint smile as if he was summoning her spirit upon the memory, then added:
“I was not a teacher. I questioned her, but she insisted. A few days later, the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation was born.”

Shelley Stewart looks at the design of the “Choice Bus.” (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
Mission: The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation was created to help educators, community leaders and other interested groups reduce the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate through relevant and effective tools and resources.
Stewart visited a few prisons and quickly made the connection between dropping out of high school and incarceration. Now he promotes staying in school and out of jail with the Choice Bus, which is half classroom and half jail cell. The Choice Bus has been visited by 15 million children in 49 states.
Stewart speaks all over the country, including to thousands recently at the National AARP Conference in Miami. He continues to carry on the mission of the foundation with documentary films, speaking opportunities and other programs.

Shelley Stewart stands in the wrong end of the “Choice Bus.” (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
“We don’t try to compete with other educational foundations. What Mattie C. provides are tools to fight poverty and lack of education. The Choice Bus is a tool, the ‘Inside Out’ documentary is a tool. We provide tools that people can use to improve their quality of life. We are a grass-roots effort. We appeal to the masses, not the classes.”
From a homeless kid, to a business leader, to an education promoter; Mattie C. is smiling.
Alabama Bright Lights captures the stories, through words, pictures and video, of some of our state’s brightest lights who are working to make Alabama an even better place to live, work and play. Award-winning photojournalist Karim Shamsi-Basha tells their inspiring stories. Email him comments, as well as suggestions on people to profile, at karimshamsibasha@gmail.com.