Ingersoll Rand Awards Grant to the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change

Funds will support the Hooks African-American Male Initiative

March 31, 2016- The Ingersoll Rand Charitable Foundation has awarded a grant of $20,170 to the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. Grant funds are designated for the Institute's Hooks African-American Male Initiative (HAAMI), which focuses on increasing the academic, personal and career success among African-American male students enrolled at the UofM. HAAMI was launched in spring 2015 to increase the students' retention and graduation rates.

The Ingersoll Rand Charitable Foundation grant is an extension of the company's partnership with the UofM, particularly the Hooks Institute and the Herff College of Engineering. Several local Ingersoll Rand/Trane employees, including Jim Crone, who is on the Hooks Institute advisory board, supported the grant proposal.

"Ingersoll Rand Charitable Foundation's Global Citizen Council commends the University of Memphis and the Hooks Institute for all they do in education and are in full favor of HAAMI and its goal of improving outcomes for students participating in the program," said Shannon Howell, community relations coordinator for the Ingersoll Rand Charitable Foundation. Daphene McFerren, director of the Hooks Institute, said, "Grant funding and private support are vital to the success of the Hooks Institute's outreach programs." FedEx also has provided funding to support HAAMI.

The Hooks Institute will highlight HAAMI participants at its annual gala on April 21 at the Holiday Inn at the University of Memphis. Marvin R. Ellison, a UofM alumnus and CEO of JCPenney, will be the honored guest and featured speaker at the gala. In 1996, UofM officials received approval from the Tennessee Board of Regents to create the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change in the College of Arts & Sciences. The mission of the Institute is teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change. The Hooks Institute archives include Hooks' personal papers, which are housed in the Mississippi Valley Collection in the University's McWherter Library. To learn more about the Hooks Institute, visit www.memphis.edu/benhooks.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Daphene McFerren
901.678.3974