The Nissan Foundation has named the Two Mississippi Museums—the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History—as a 2024 grant recipient.
The $50,000 grant will help fund field trips during the 2024-2025 school year, defraying costs for admission, travel, and on-site lunches for students. The gift will continue to help bring thousands of students each year from Title I schools to the Two Mississippi Museums.
“We are grateful to the Nissan Foundation for their continued support of our field trip program,” said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “Students are our most important visitors. Nissan’s support creates opportunities for them to learn and interpret history free of charge at a state-of-the-art museum complex.”
“We’re honored to support the work of the Two Mississippi Museums,” said Chandra Vasser, president of the Nissan Foundation and Nissan’s first chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. “The Nissan Foundation is about building community by valuing diversity, and this field trip program from the Two Mississippi Museums brings that mission to life.”
In the 32 years since its conception, the Nissan Foundation has awarded nearly $17 million to more than 150 nonprofit organizations to support innovative programs that break down societal barriers and build inclusive communities through education and outreach. Grant recipients promote cultural diversity across a variety of arts, education, social, and public programs in seven U.S. communities where Nissan operates.
The Two Mississippi Museums opened on Dec. 9, 2017, in celebration of the state's bicentennial. Museum hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 9 a.m.– 5 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.– 5 p.m. The Two Mississippi Museums are located at 222 North St. in Jackson. For more information, visit the MDAH Facebook page or email info@mdah.ms.gov. To reserve or learn more about field trips at the Two Mississippi Museums, contact Candace Williams, group tours coordinator at the Two Mississippi Museums, at cwilliams@mdah.ms.gov.
The Nissan Foundation was created in 1992 as a thoughtful response to civil unrest that occurred near Nissan North America’s then-U.S. sales and marketing operations in Southern California following the Rodney King trial verdict. Nissan established a $5 million endowment to promote cultural diversity.