Jalen Rose Leadership Academy Gets a New Home Thanks to Henry Ford Health

For the past 30-plus years, Jalen Rose has been making moves – on and off the basketball court – that has helped change lives. On May 19, 2025, he made another move that promises to reshape the educational landscape for Black youth in Southeastern Michigan.

The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA) has announced a transformative expansion thanks to a major donation from Henry Ford Health, declaring that the academy will soon relocate its high school operations to the former Kingswood Hospital facility in Ferndale near Royal Oak Township. The announcement was made during the 15th Annual JRLA Celebrity Golf Classic, a cornerstone fundraising event that draws attention to the academy’s mission and achievements.

This isn’t just a change of address for JRLA. It represents the next era of growth for one of the city’s most innovative and impactful educational institutions. Since its founding in 2011 by Rose, a Detroit native and retired NBA star, JRLA has become a beacon for academic achievement, particularly among Black students. Operating as an open-enrollment, tuition-free public charter high school, JRLA has consistently defied expectations, boasting a graduation rate that far exceeds city averages and a strong record of placing its scholars in colleges and universities across the country.

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Plus, watch a clip from Channel 7 News about the expansion: