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Kentucky State University has been announced as a finalist in The Home Depot’s 2015 RETOOL YOUR SCHOOL Campus Improvement Grant Program. Designed to reinvigorate HBCUs, finalists are competing for $255,000 in grants for on-campus improvements and are now asking their communities and the public to help them win. The voting closes April 20, 2015.  During this period, supporters can visit www.retoolyourschool.com to vote. Supporters can also capture votes for their school by using #KentuckyState_RYS15 on their social media channels. Each use of a school’s Retool Your School designated hashtag counts as one social media vote.

This year, the Retool Your School Grant Program will award a total of $255,000 in grants to nine accredited HBCUs in $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 grant denominations. Based on student enrollment, schools will be categorized into one of three clusters — schools with 4,000 students or more, schools with between 3,999 and 1,201 students, or schools with less than 1,200 students.

Following the online voting, a panel of distinguished judges will also evaluate each school’s project proposals within the qualifying clusters. Judges will consider the depth of each proposal and the school’s ability to execute the project within the respective budgets of $50,000, $25,000 or $10,000, as applicable.

Proposals for all three grants must highlight how each project will make a lasting, positive impact on the HBCU campus. Retool Your School will announce the grant recipients May 12, 2015.