For a lot of us, the crisis in our nation's schools feels overwhelming and the problems too big for any one person to make a difference.
But the other night it didn't feel that way. My daughter and I had a gift card from Donors Choose and found a teacher who needed help buying a projector for her classroom and we gave her the last hundred dollars she needed to make it happen -- you can't imagine the big smiles on both our faces helping out in such an immediate, tangible way.
Over 100,000 Waiting for 'Superman' viewers had a similar experience, armed with DonorsChoose.org gift cards (those people have donated over $1 million of their own money to projects at DonorsChoose.org). And today, you can have that same experience times two!
Thanks to an unprecedented effort in Los Angeles, we're going to achieve an even larger and more concentrated level of citizen engagement. This partnership includes the Wasserman Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, the LA Mayor's office and LAUSD; it will fund hundreds of LAUSD public and charter schools through a two-year, $4 million campaign called DonorsChooseLA.org. Through this partnership, an entire city will be called to take action to improve their local public schools.
Over the next two years:
- Every donation to an LAUSD classroom project will be doubled.
These are not small numbers! This grant could achieve the most broad impact of any education grant ever made in Los Angeles.
Give it a try -- go online, check out DonorsChoose.org, and this new initiative, and feel what it's like to have an immediate impact on a teacher who needs your help today.