Trojan Outreach | September 18, 2020

In response to coronavirus forcing hundreds of thousands of students in Los Angeles to take classes from home, Trojan Outreach has set up the Stay Connected Technology Fund to distribute 150 Chromebooks to schoolchildren throughout the county.
 
The gift is made possible by a private family foundation in Southern California, which is chaired by Brandon Hunt (USC Class of ’88).
 
“We saw a need in underserved and underprivileged areas,” said Hunt. “How do these kids, if they’re forced the do remote learning, how do they have access to the tools to do that?”
 
McCall Hall, the director of Trojan Outreach, explained that many students in Los Angeles still don’t have access to laptops due to school districts being outbid for technology resources.
 
Hunt noted that USC’s student-athletes were part of the reason he chose to partner with Trojan Outreach rather than donating the Chromebooks directly to the school district.
 
“We see this as an opportunity to not just buy the Chromebooks themselves but to have the student-athlete interaction to encourage the use over and above what the kids would be required to use them for,” Hunt explained. “We hope that in addition to the three hours a day the kids are required to use them, that in their down time they do reading on their own, interact electronically with the student-athletes, and all the great motivational tools that McCall and her group has put together to encourage these kids.”
 
Hunt continued, “I’m sincere when I say, for every dollar we donate, we get $1.50 or $2’s worth of good in the community.”
 
Local nonprofits can apply for up to five brand new Chromebooks for youth outside the Los Angeles Unified School District by submitting the form at the link below.