2020 has been rough for all of us, but it’s been especially hard on students. Now that it’s fall, most of America’s students have gone back to school via online classes, in-person learning or some mixture of both. While online classes are intended to keep children safe from COVID-19, it does bring new challenges to the classroom.
And odds are these challenges will be felt more intensely by underprivileged students. Remote learning often means children from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds will have a harder time. Many of these students don’t have the same access to computers, high-speed internet or adult supervision as their wealthier peers.
Amazon recognizes this problem and is stepping in to help. On Wednesday, the e-commerce giant announced that it’s donating $2.7 million to help students in the Puget Sound region.
This donation is part of Amazon’s Right Now Needs Fund, which aims to provide schoolchildren and their parents with the supplies they need to remove barriers to education — ranging from computers to school supplies, clothing, food and shelter.
Of this amount, $1.4 million will be donated to Bellevue LifeSpring, which will help students across all 28 of Bellevue’s school districts. The other $1.3 million will be donated to The Alliance for Education, which will go to 104 Seattle schools. Together, these donations will improve the learning experience for thousands of students.
Amazon’s Right Now Needs Fund was established in 2018 and has already provided assistance to Seattle Public Schools students across 17,000 instances. The fund has already distributed over $500,000 to students this year — a chunk of this money went toward addressing things like food insecurity and housing assistance.
“The start of this school year is difficult for many families in need across the Puget Sound, and we want to provide more students from underserved communities with what they need to be successful while learning from home, whether that’s new technology, healthy meals, or a lifeline to call in a pinch,” David Zapolsky, Amazon general counsel and SVP and Alliance for Education board member, said in a statement. “We value speed, flexibility and scale when we build and operate. Our Right Now Needs Funds help schools exercise these same values to support students in the community, and we’re excited to extend this support to Bellevue with our support of Bellevue LifeSpring.”
