Jackson Free Press

Belhaven University recently announced a new First Responder Scholarship to help reduce tuition for first responders during the COVID-19 crisis, along with a no-cost opportunity for people to contribute to the new program.


Belhaven is partnering with Express Feedback for Good to launch a 30-day campaign to create up to $100,000 for the scholarship fund, which will offer first responders looking to enroll in Belhaven's adult degree completion, graduate or online programs a 20% scholarship for tuition.


Express Feedback for Good is a program that allows users to share opinions on companies and brands they care about.

Through Tuesday, May 26, every time a participant shares a piece of feedback through Express Feedback for Good, the company will donate $2 in support of Belhaven’s first responder scholarship.

For more information on Express Feedback for good, call 469-638-6930 or visit hundredxinc.com.

JSU Receives Grant for Mt. Olive Cemetery Preservation

The National Park Service recently awarded Jackson State University a $496,023 grant to preserve the historic Mt. Olive Cemetery on the university's campus. Dr. Heather Wilcox, director for Community Engagement at the Center for University-Based Development at JSU, applied for the grant in 2017 after Mt. Olive Cemetery made it onto the National Register of Historic Places.

Mt. Olive, constructed more than 200 years ago, serves as the resting place for famous African American figures in Mississippi such as Jim Hill and Ida Revels-Redmond. JSU will use the funding to repair all of the cemetery's headstones and mausoleums and recreate the pathways and original landscaping on the site.

The National Park Service has donated a total of $7.7 million in grants to 18 Historically Black Colleges and Universities for the preservation of historic structures on their campuses, and has awarded more than $60 million in grants to more than 80 HBCUs since the 1990s.

USM Partnering with Hospitals on COVID-19 Testing

The University of Southern Mississippi is partnering with health care providers at Forrest General Hospital and Hattiesburg Clinic on efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic through increased testing.

Researchers at USM’s Center for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Mississippi IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence will provide technical laboratory support and help transport samples to outside labs. USM will also help the clinics develop a workflow to perform up to 50 high-priority tests a day with a turn-around time of 24 hours or less.

The USM medical team tested COVID-19 samples at the university using its own viral transport medium and established that it was reliable and matched the Mississippi State Department of Health's test results, a release from USM says. While USM personnel will not receive patient data and are not involved in patient contact, clinical decisions or referrals, clinicians at Forrest General Hospital and Hattiesburg Clinic will prioritize samples sent to USM for testing, interpret all test results and handle all patient follow-up, the release says.