On April 11th, Alcorn State University received $80,000 from the Home Depot Retool Your School grant program. The funds will go toward improvements to the James L. Bolden Campus Union.
This marked the 15th year Home Depot Retool Your School program helping Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with career development opportunities and the improvement of the overall aesthetics of their campuses. To date, the program has contributed $10 million in financial support to HBCUs nationwide. The Retool Your School Improvement program is expected to help over 30 HBCUs with support ranging from $40,000 to $150,000.
The program was designed where alumni, faculty and staff could vote limitlessly for their college or university beginning on Monday, February 26th and ending on Sunday, March 24th to win the grant money for the improvements. There were 3 clusters of HBCUs, and Alcorn was in Cluster 2 along with South Carolina State University, Benedict College, Tuskegee University, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Coahoma Community College and Fort Valley State University. Alcorn finished 3rd with 221,653 votes which made them eligible for the $80,000 grant.
Mass Communications major Martiyona Carter stated, “I am so proud and thankful to the people who voted so that we can receive the funds to improve the Union and to Home Depot for their generous support.”
(Photo credit: 66thmadampres_alcorn/Instagram)