Last year the 2022 Retool Your School Campaign sponsored by The Home Depot dispersed a $95,000 grant to Alabama State University. The university used the funds to purchase furniture items for the John Garrick Hardy Center.
This year, Home Depot has launched another Retool Your School campaign. The campaign’s primary goal is refurbishing and improving buildings and the overall quality of life across the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Since its inception, the Retool Your School Program in 2009, has awarded 184 campus improvement grants totaling over $5.2 million.
HBCUs students, faculty, staff, and alums must compete for the funds by voting for their university to receive the funds.
Home Depot launched the Retool Your School Campus Improvement Grant Program to award grants to HBCUs for campus renovations, repairs and enhancements. Over the years, the program has attempted to give back to HBCUs some of what they have so generously given to their students, alums and communities: a strong foundation and a renewed purpose.
Since 2009, Alabama State has won three improvement grants. They won two consecutively in 2020 and 2021. The grant in 2020 was $30,000, and the grant won in 2021 was for $95,000.
“The money from 2020 was to make some improvements to the alumni house,” said Audrey Parks, the director of Development at the university. “In 2021, there is a new gaming room that’s going to open up in the (John Garrick Hardy Center) student center, and a lot of the items you see in that room are from the Home Depot campus improvement grant.”
She continued.
“In 2020, it was an opportunity for us to do something for our alumni because the alumni house is a space where we want our alumni to come, our students who are also non-degreed alumni, to be able to come and hang out and be more engaged before and after they leave the institution.”
Regarding the gaming room, it was more of a gift to students.
“In 2021, we can’t keep doing things if we don’t include the students, our most prized commodity,” Parks said. “So in 2021, the decision was made to make the John Garrick Hardy Center a little more student-friendly and make it look like your home away from home.”
Despite the recent grant money won, Parks believes that there are still a lot of things around campus that need to be improved.
“We have so much money in deferred maintenance,” Parks said. “It’s hard to pinpoint one area. We have a broad spectrum of things that need to happen on campus. For us, the funds that we get from Home Depot don’t really put a big stamp on what we need to do, but it does help a little bit.”
The school already has ideas on where any future grant money could go if the university should win again.
“I can tell you unequivocally that we’re working with the current vice president of Student Affairs,” Parks said. “It’s going to be used for further improvement for students.”
However, a large group of students wished the money had gone to the dorms rather than a new game room.
“There’s a lot of maintenance that needs to be done for each dorm,” said freshman Jamaica Alfred. “I’ve noticed plumbing issues, and it’s easy for mold to get into our dorms.”
Freshman Enuel Addoquaye agreed that the dorms are in need of refurbishment but ultimately supports the room. “I like that they are putting money towards improving the lives of our students.”
Senior Chiquea Washington was far more critical of the decision to install a gaming room.
“I think the last thing Alabama State University needs is a gaming room,” she said. “There are a lot of problems that money could’ve gone towards. One being parking. I don’t believe in booting cars when there is limited parking.”
“There’s mold in people’s dorms,” said Barcleigh Brown, a junior, who also agrees that more parking should have been a focus for administration. “There’s more parking for alumni than there is for us. On game day, they cut us off.”
Brown said she will not be using the game room anytime soon.
“The game room is probably going to be for freshmen anyway.”