Jackson Free Press

Jackson State University recently received a $150,000 endowment from The P3 Group, Inc., the largest African American-owned real-estate development firm in the United States. The P3 Group also donated $150,000 to Florida A&M University.

The funds will provide scholarships to students enrolled full-time at JSU and who demonstrate a financial need that other scholarships and financial aid options cannot meet, a release from JSU says. The P3 Group will fund the endowment over five years through 2025 at $30,000 annually, with qualifying students receiving $2,000 per semester.

Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., The P3 Group's works with foundations, schools, cities, counties and quasi-governmental agencies throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. The Brown Foundation Community Development Corporation, the philanthropic arm of P3, provided a one-time $10,000 donation to the Sonic Boom of the South marching band earlier in the 2021 season.

MSU Receives Grant for Public School Teacher Training

The Mississippi State University Meridian Division of Education recently received $2 million in federal grant funding through the Mississippi Teacher Residency program in support of its efforts to train public school teachers to fill more than 3,000 current vacancies.

Launched in 2018, the MTR program is a free, two-year program designed to recruit underserved college students to work toward their degree in elementary education and Mississippi teacher certification, a release from MSU says. The Mississippi Department of Education administers the program, in which participants receive full scholarships, testing fees, books and mentor stipends for the academic year.

MTR includes training alongside a mentor teacher, testing support, professional development, ongoing assessment and a commitment to teach in a geographical critical shortage school or district serving low-income children, racial and ethnic minorities and children with disabilities that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted.

Thirteen students graduated from the first two cohorts at MSU-Meridian in 2021. New districts joining Jackson Public Schools in the MTR program include Choctaw County, Kemper County, Lauderdale County, Louisville Municipal, Meridian, Starkville Oktibbeha and Union.

USM Receives Funding for Mississippi Teacher Residency Training

The Mississippi Department of Education recently announced a two-year, $2 million donation to the University of Southern Mississippi to support Mississippi Teacher Residency in critical shortage areas. The donation is part of a larger $9.8 million program that will cover tuition and expenses at five Mississippi universities for up to 240 individuals seeking a graduate degree in elementary and secondary education, a release from USM says.

USM has been engaged in training teacher residents at the undergraduate level in partnership with the National Center for Teacher Residencies. Teacher residency includes opportunities to open and close the school year, conducting parent-teacher conferences and professional learning communities focused on supporting residents as they transition to in-service teachers.

The expansion of USM’s residency program will allow 30 new teacher candidates to become educated and trained at no personal expense along with full-tuition scholarships, stipends, textbooks, testing fees and professional mentoring. New graduate-level teacher residents engage in comprehensive coursework and clinical classroom experiences.

For more information about USM’s educator preparation program, visit usm.edu/education. For more information on MDE’s Mississippi Teacher Residency program, visit mdek12.org.