Clarksdale Educational Partnership Reaches Goal
Higher education soon to come to Clarksdale and Coahoma County    At a press conference held Friday December 17th, the Clarksdale Educational Partnership Committee announced they had achieved their goal, set on July 8th of this year, to raise $750,000 to purchase the St. Elizabeth School property. This property includes the historic Cutrer Mansion which was facing demolition at that time.
   The result of these fund-raising efforts is that Delta State will now be able to purchase the property, which will house an educational partnership between Delta State University and Coahoma Community College, bringing higher education to the Clarksdale area.
   "We actually raised more than the $750,000," stated Jon Levingston, fund-raising chairman for the committee. He went on to explain that a Challenge Grant of $100,000, given by Attorneys Pauline and Mike Lewis, of Clarksdale, initiated a major part of the fund-raising effort.
   Tom Wacaster, executive director of the Meridian-based Phil Hardin Foundation also announced a $150,000 grant to be added to the purchase amount.
   "My involvement began in late June, about a week before the wrecking ball was due to swing. Prior to my involvement, with the deadline looming, organizations such as the Clarksdale Heritage Trust, the Mississippi Heritage Trust and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History had begun trying to raise people's interest in preserving the old Cutrer House, and began fund-raising locally for that purpose," said Levingston.
   Then the Clarksdale Educational Partnership Committee was formed, and within about a week they raised the money to secure a non-refundable deposit, including the $20,000 the MHT had already raised, and made a commitment to finish the project by Dec. 15. It was then that the CEPC began to try to facilitate the partnership between Delta State and Coahoma Community College.
   Levingston's interest was piqued when he realized that there was no single owner of the property who had a plan as to what would take place on the property once it was secure. In the previous three years many efforts had been made to save the property, but there had been no definite purpose for which it would be used.  "It's one thing to buy the property, but you really have to have a good plan, to move the project forward, whatever that project happens to be," said Levingston.
   He continued, "It occurred to me that it was essentially a 12 acre educational facility and that there was no higher education presence in Clarksdale and Coahoma County other than the community college. And while the Community College serves a great purpose, it is limited in what it can provide our area. Delta State was looking for a permanent home for continuing education classes they were currently teaching here, but we let them know there was a need for any increased services they could provide as well."
   As opposed to the controversy surrounding the possible opening of a branch of the University of Mississippi on the Coast, there is a real partnership between the two Delta schools. DSU is not creating another university, but rather complementing what the community college can provide, by offering what it does not provide.
   Levingston said that while he is pleased that the Cutrer house will be saved, the real essence of the project is the educational, cultural, and economic opportunities it will provide for Clarksdale and Coahoma County.
   Reaching this goal is an excellent example of many different organizations and people pulling together to do something that will impact the future of their community. And according to Levingston, another step has been taken in crossing the racial divide. He said, "The fact that a historically black college and a historically white college in the Mississippi Delta have come together in this manner to work together to provide this kind of educational opportunity is remarkable. We should all be proud." Back