Our Story:

Background

MountainTop Institute is a 501 (c) 3 corporation. It was established in 1999 and began full time operation in 2003. Its founders, Bryant Rollins and Shirley Stetson, desire to make their 60 years of working on issues of diversity in major American corporations available on a broad basis to individuals and institutions in Jacksonville and elsewhere. Their vision is to work in Jacksonville with other organizations to help transform this city of 880,000 into a first tier world class city with regard to issues of race and other human differences.

The Institute mobilizes local and national resources, uses benchmark strategies and methodologies, and top talent to do its important work. Jacksonville is our Beta site; a laboratory for creative community-wide solutions to historic problems that derive from human differences. The Institute has created an impressive track record of successes with community groups in Jacksonville. The Institute also works with individual organizations and clients in other places around the country and internationally.

MountainTop Institute’s vision is to be housed in its own state-of-the-art conference facility with comfortable overnight accommodations for overnight groups nearby, providing a safe and healing space for individuals and groups to engage in the intensive work of personal reflection, community-wide reconciliation and organizational development and teambuilding. MountainTop envisions people from around the country and around the world coming to Jacksonville to experience and learn from these transformative processes and methodologies.

MountainTop’s derives revenues from three sources: (1) Program-related grants from public and private sector organizations; (2) Contributions from individuals, philanthropic organizations and others; and (3) Fees generated through consulting and training. These revenues flow through to support our work with community-based organizations, and for our public education efforts.

If your group or organization wants to do work on valuing human differences or would like to be more inclusive, please contact MountainTop Institute.