Jackson State University students and staff are working to make the capital city a safer place to live, learn, and play.
The JSU Office of Community Engagement partnered with Pecan Tree Park Neighborhood Association to provide 150 Jackson residents with free Ring doorbell cameras. The project was made possible through a $50,000 Home Depot Retool Your School Community Projects Grant aimed to give residents increased surveillance and accessibility.
“We’re extremely grateful to have secured the resources from Home Depot to cater to the needs of our community. We hope that by having access to the Ring cameras, that our neighborhoods surrounding JSU will feel more joy about keeping their properties pristine,” said Dr. Heather Denné, director of community engagement at JSU. “We’re thankful for Home Depot, Pecan Tree Park, and each citizen who allowed us into their homes.”
To address concerns raised by community members, the doorbells were distributed to residents 65 and older living within a 10-mile radius of the university. Participating neighborhood associations and partners included Gowdy Washington Addition, Jayne Avenue, Matthews Estate, Westland Plaza, Poindexter Park, and The Center for Social Entrepreneurship.
The doorbells feature high-definition video with low-light capability, two-way audio for easy communication, motion detection, and real-time alerts. In addition to the security aspect, the donations delivered a working doorbell to many homes that no longer had a way for visitors to announce themselves outside of a knock.
“It’s a great help to those who probably can’t afford it. Anything that can help us see what’s going on around us is a real blessing,” west Jackson resident and 81-year-old Emmitt Powe said. “It makes me proud, and I appreciate those that decided to make this gift to the senior citizens.”
Five students who led the charge to deliver the doorbells received $2,000 stipends to train residents on how to use the technology. Brandon Newton, Canhao Wang, Khaylah Rose, Travis Robinson, and Kwadwo Amponsah Ampofo created a one-page printout with clear instructions that were handed out alongside introduction and installation.
Ampofo, a computer science graduate student from Ghana, said the experience gave him a renewed sense of how powerful community can be.
“I’m not exactly the social butterfly, and this project meant visiting people in their homes and helping them one on one,” he reflected. “That felt intimidating at first, but then, I thought about my own grandmother back in Ghana. If someone were doing something like this for her, how grateful would I be? That was all the motivation I needed.
“It reminded me how beautiful community can be, and how powerful small acts of service are. Someday, I hope to do something like this for my own community back home.”
JSU became the first HBCU to receive all three Retool Your School grants – the Campus Improvement Grant, Innovation Lound Grand, and Community Project Grant – in 2024. The funding has supported several other local projects, including updates to a student lounge and public park.
