Rev. Jackson, Silicon Valley Leaders Donate $42,500 For Oakland Tech Scholarships
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Oakland's computer science and technology students got some much-needed financial support at Rev. Jesse Jackson's PUSHTech2020 Summit.
The April 19 event included a workshop with speakers from Google, eBay, Oracle and a dozen other tech companies in Palo Alto, and a computer science showcase at Oakland Technical High School.
Jackson raised $42,500 to support scholarships and Computer Science programs in the Oakland Unified School District.
Microsoft, Intel and 11 West Partners all matched a $10,000 donation from RainbowPush. Comcast donated an additional $2,500.
"I am extremely proud and honored to present this contribution to Oakland's students," Rev. Jackson said. "Nobody is more deserving. If their minds can conceive it, their hearts can believe it, I know they can achieve anything in the world. Keep PUSHing for success and excellence."
Oakland schools have set a goal that all PreK-through-12 students have access to rigorous computer science education by 2020. So far the number of OUSD students in CS-Tech programs has increased 1000 percent. Nearly half of those students are girls, a third African-American, and 38 percent identify as Latino.
"Because OUSD is located in the technology capital of the world, we know how much tech firms need highly qualified computer programmers and engineers," said Interim Superintendent Devin Dillon. "We are on the right track in exposing an exponentially growing number of our students to computer science, and we are confident that some OUSD students will be the tech leaders of tomorrow."
CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.