The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi was born out of a cooperative project in 2000 to place an online computer in every DeSoto County public classroom. DeSoto became the first county in Mississippi to accomplish this goal as a pilot project for the state.
Following this model, Mississippi became the first state in the nation with an online computer in every public school classroom. After this success, a local steering committee met for more than two years, and the Foundation was incorporated in January 2002 to serve eight counties: Coahoma, DeSoto, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tunica and Tate.