Coahoma Community College is calling upon its faithful alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends to help the 73-year-old institution return to the winner’s circle in 2022 and to claim the $75,000 cash prize in this year’s annual Home Depot “Retool Your School” Campus Improvement Grant program. This year, Coahoma is chasing its fourth-consecutive win.
The Clarksdale-based two-year Historically Black College and University (HBCU) is a contender for two grants totaling up to $120,000 in the competition. The key to winning is the full participation of all students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the College.
The Home Depot launched the “Retool Your School” grant program in 2009 to encourage and recognize innovative projects that provide improvements to HBCUs nationwide, according to the program website. To date, the program has awarded over 500 grants to qualifying HBCUs totaling $4.2 million.
In 2019, 2020, & 2021, Coahoma won grants totaling $200,000. The funds were used to construct numerous multipurpose outdoor spaces and to refresh a variety of areas throughout the CCC campus.
Grants are awarded based on the total popular vote that combines unlimited daily online voting at www.retoolyourschool.com/vote and social media “voting” that counts Twitter and Instagram posts that include the hashtag #RYSCOAHOMA. Coahoma is listed in cluster 2 for those who choose to vote online.
Marriel C. Hardy, chief communications officer, is thrilled with Coahoma’s current position and encourages all CCC supporters to keep voting until the end of the competition.
“We are so excited by the response made by CCC supporters in this year’s competition,” said Hardy. “Every year, we mark our calendars and make plans to fight hard in pursuit of an RYS grant. We’ve been so fortunate to win in 2019, 2020, & 2021. We hope to win in 2022 and “Go 4 For 4!"
Thirty campus improvement awards ranging between the amounts of $20,000 – $75,000 each will be awarded to each of the winning schools in the three clusters. The Campaign of the Year award can be awarded to a participating school awarded the CIA Grant. Schools outside of the thirty grant recipients may win Campaign of the Year. If they do, grant recipients will increase to thirty-one.
Hardy says one unique aspect of CCC’s participation this year is that the institution seeks the coveted Campaign of the Year Distinction.
“We have made elevated efforts to promote CCC in the competition and rally our supporters this year,” Hardy shared. “We have coined the phrase ‘Let’s Go 4 For 4.’ The campus team has enjoyed taking on this challenge and working to create a campaign that brings awareness, has a sense of whimsy, and showcases why Coahoma is deserving of the nod.”
A voting campaign’s success is judged by the level of participation from all College constituencies through social media and online voting. On a daily basis, supporters can use #RYSCOAHOMA on all their PUBLIC Twitter and Instagram account posts to cast their vote for Coahoma an unlimited number of times. In addition, votes can also be cast an unlimited number of times daily online at retoolyourschool.com. This year, the online voting challenge period ends on March 27, at 10:59 p.m. CST.
For official rules and regulations, click here https://retoolyourschool.com/rules/.