Companies That Are Impacting Children's Education Throughout the Pandemic

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Many school districts are making the tough decision to continue online education this fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To assist all students and minimize the fallout from not being in the classroom, private companies, individual donors, and local leaders are stepping up.  

In Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors announced this week that they would explore using county parks and libraries as learning sites for children in unincorporated areas. The goal is to assist children of parents who must return to work. 

"We have been able to run summer day camps at our County parks safely this year despite the pandemic," Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. "I hope we can use a similar model to utilize our parks to provide safe, supervised spaces for kids to do their distance learning while they can't be in the classroom."

County parks have Wi-Fi access, which will assist students from low-income families. Libraries have also been able to provide homework help, reading activities, and lunches throughout the summer. 

Private companies, whose leaders have chosen to donate funds from the earliest days of the pandemic, have contributed to education efforts as well. 

In March, Zoom gave K-12 schools in Japan, Italy, and the United States its videoconferencing tools for free to make it possible for remote learning to be considered a viable option. 

Since then, other technology leaders have donated laptops (Amazon, Apple, Google) or hot spots (T-Mobile, Verizon), funds (Amazon, HP, and more), or Cloud-based products (Box).

Nonprofits have expanded their efforts as well. Khan Academy, for example, offers daily productivity tips for children and their parents while PBS Kids offers daily activities for the country’s littlest learners. 

Although many donations were announced last spring, some companies have increased their donations. In June, for example, AT&T California gave more than $3.5 million to numerous causes including $550,000 in donations to the California Department of Education Foundation.

“In our city, we are working collaboratively to face the greatest challenges of the crisis head on and partners like AT&T have made a significant impact,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. 

As the school year gets underway in the coming weeks, the impacts of these donations and any that may follow will be essential to providing learning opportunities for all children.