Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is donating 10,000 Chromebooks to Mecklenburg County students and their families.
Distribution begins on Thursday with the help of E2D, the city of Charlotte, the county, Novant Health and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. More than 90% of the recipients are racially or ethnically diverse, BofA said. The bank is also promising 10,000 employee volunteer hours this year for tutoring and mentoring students.
The Chromebooks are an approximately $6 million investment from the bank, said Kieth Cockrell, Charlotte market president at BofA.
"We thought that we could provide some leadership here," Cockrell said. "We really do believe that we're in a position, through this coalition that we're building, to potentially be the first city in the U.S. to virtually eliminate this digital divide."
Cockrell said the goal is to distribute the Chromebooks before the school year begins. Thursday's distribution event is a way to test the process. There will be two weekends in August reserved for outdoor events to distribute the rest, he said. BofA volunteers will be onsite to offer financial help to the families.
Other groups will be there to provide access to jobs programs and health education, including on-site Covid-19 vaccines and back-to-school immunization appointments, courtesy of Novant.
The initiative is targeting 69 schools, including five Title I high schools and their feeder schools, in lower-income areas.
Earnest Winston, CMS superintendent, said the district identified about 16,000 households needing internet access as of the 2020-21 school year. The school system already provides devices for students during the school year. Use is restricted to educational purposes, and the computers are returned for the summer.
Last year, the CMS Foundation raised more than $1 million to purchase 6,000 hotspots for students. It has since raised $3.6 million to cover one year of internet service for students without access, according to the website.
"It provides equitable opportunity for all students," Winston said. "There was a point in time when internet as well as technology was considered a luxury. That is not the case anymore. It is a necessity."
Cockrell said BofA is having discussions with other corporations to contribute hardware and/or volunteer hours.
BofA's donated computers were purchased just before the pandemic, said Pat Millen, co-founder of E2D, a nonprofit that provides laptops, digital access and training. The Chromebooks' use will not be restricted, meaning families can use the devices for other tasks, such as job searches or banking.
E2D employed students in its labs to get the computers ready to donate. They have to be returned to default factory settings and be scanned into a system to track warranties, Millen said. He said about six months' worth of work was condensed into a two-month time frame.
The nonprofit typically distributes about 3,500 computers per year, Millen said, although that number has essentially quadrupled with BofA's donation. It took more than six years for E2D to hit its first 10,000, he said. After August, E2D will have distributed 28,000 computers into Mecklenburg County since 2013.
Millen said he wants to see the momentum continue. Last year, E2D received computers from more than 35 companies in the Charlotte region, even some that were hesitant about donating them. He said BofA's donation covers 20% to 25% of families still behind the digital divide. He thinks, with more partnerships, every household in need in Mecklenburg could have a computer by the end of 2022.
