DRINK COKE NOT PEPSI PEOPLE! COKE GRANTS $7.2 MILLION TO ATLANTA UNIVERSITY CENTER!

The Coca-Cola Co. will donate $6 million to Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and the Morehouse School of Medicine, and will also give $1.2 million to the Robert W. Woodruff Library on the campus of the Atlanta University Center.
The historically black colleges are all part of the Atlanta University Center.

The beverage giant said the $6 million will help students where economic hardship threatens to derail the completion of their education. The $1.2 million for the Robert W. Woodruff Library will be used to upgrade IT infrastructure and to manage and provide access to archival documents, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. papers.

“The Coca-Cola Company will always look for opportunities to make a difference in the communities where it operates, especially in our hometown,” said Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, in a news release. “On behalf of our associates who call Atlanta home, we are proud to provide $7.2 million to these leading institutions of higher learning. We view this as an investment in the next generation of students who will pass through these campuses, continue their education and benefit from having Dr. King’s papers within arm’s reach.”

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) created and funded a $10 million Promotional Achievement Award Fund program for its U.S. based African-American employees as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement in 2000. The fund was operational from 2004 to 2008. During that time, employees accessed $2.8 million for education. The remaining money in the fund, as a term in the settlement, was designated by Coca-Cola to be distributed to eligible institutions in the Atlanta University Center.