Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, pledged a $10M donation. This was after Oakland and it's School District launched a campaign aiming to have internet access and a computer at home for every child.

The company CEO tweeted, "Funding immediately," and promised the said amount, and referencing the school district and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff's call for donations.

In addition, the Oakland Public Education Fund has donated an amount of $400,000 to the project, as well, while Salesforce, a San Francisco tech giant, has provided $200,000. Meanwhile, leading online sellers, "Amazon donated $100,000."

San Jose technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise and professional basketball team, Golden State Warriors, together with added a $125,000 donation, with additional pledges that have brought the total collected, amounting to $1.8 million, said the school district in a media release on Wednesday, prior to the official launch.

The Campaign's Objective

The campaign, with an objective of closing the so-called "digital divide" that prevents the low-income children from accessing the internet and computer which are now both essential for school success, is said to have a $12-million funding target, along with the main objective of providing each Oakland student internet access and computer.

Essentially, every student in this city needs both the computer and internet access today and even in the future. According to the Oakland Unified School District, 50 percent of the 50,000 public school students of Oakland do not have access to the internet or their own computer. 

In addition, Kyla Johnson-Trammel, the district superintendent said, as indicated in the media release that the Internet needs to be considered as a public utility like power, water, "and even a freeway system" for everyone to use.

Enthusiastically Accepting Dorsey's Donation

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the mayor said Schaaf and the groups she is working with on the project would eagerly accept the Twitter CEO's promised donation.

The funding should finance gadgets or devices for internet connection. This would provide connectivity to children without internet access.

More so, according to Seth Hubbard mentioned in an article, the executive director of tech Exchange, a project partner, the project will connect "households to low-coast broadband options." Tech Exchange is an East Bay group devoted to offering technology access to households.

The COVID-19 crisis, the news release stated, has aggravated the digital divide, with a lot of students incapable of fully accessing distance learning. 

On Thursday during a press conference, Johnson-Trammel said, the nation is now in a "health pandemic that is" currently triggering an economic crisis and is resulting in an even bigger "learning crisis."

The district superintendent added, there may have been families that afforded the internet a couple of months back, but then, some lost their job and would now need support.

Aside from the $10-million financial support, Dorsey promised to help the Oakland students, he also announced he would be donating more than $15 million to San Francisco's COVID-19 relief fund. 

Specifically, the promised funds would help immigrants residing in the city as they were set to receive financial support from Dorsey's donation.

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