LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and STEAM:CODERS have partnered to
help bridge the digital divide in four schools located in
Los Angeles, Inglewood, Gardena, and Claremont. A donation from SoCalGas to
STEAM:CODERS will provide educational resources including science,
technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) programming, 140
high-grade laptops, and 120 hotspots to 1,115 K-12 students from underserved communities
across Los Angeles County. Thus
far this academic school year, as remote learning became the norm
in many school districts, SoCalGas has partnered with five
nonprofit community organizations to help bridge the digital
divide.
"Remote learning has highlighted the unequal access to
technology in our community and across the state," said
Assemblymember Chris Holden. "We are
inspired to see SoCalGas and STEAM:CODERS partnering together to
help bridge the digital divide. These partnerships will be
necessary to make sure all students get the education they
deserve."
"At SoCalGas we are proud to support local organizations whose
mission is to prepare underserved students and their families for
academic and career opportunities," said Andy Carrasco, vice president of communications,
local government, and community affairs at SoCalGas. "Together with
STEAM:CODERS, we will help bridge the digital divide and create
equal opportunities for students in Los
Angeles County."
"The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the magnitude of the
digital divide," said Raymond Ealy,
founder and President of the nonprofit educational enrichment
program. "We can't continue to provide our crucial STEAM
programming if kids don't even have such basics as access to
high-speed internet and computers. We've had to totally switch
gears."
STEAM:CODERS was launched in 2014 to meet the needs of
disadvantaged K-12 students throughout Los Angeles County who are interested in
developing STEAM-related skills, but who have limited or no access
to key resources like equipment, instruction, and internet access.
In addition to providing learning equipment to students, the
organization provides coding, robotics, Design Thinking, and
cybersecurity classes to students that challenge them to create,
innovate, and think critically.
SoCalGas' commitment to the communities it serves goes beyond
providing customers with affordable, safe and reliable natural gas
service. Since March, SoCalGas has donated more than $3.2
million to nonprofit organizations for COVID-19 recovery
efforts, which include providing educational resources to students,
supporting the region's workforce, feeding the hungry, providing
bill assistance to customers, and more.
For more information on SoCalGas's response to the COVID-19
pandemic, please visit www.socalgas.com/coronavirus.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution utility in the
United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service
to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying
clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's
pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to
Californians— about 45 percent of electric power
generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility in
North America, delivering
affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In
support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20
percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable
natural gas (RNG) by 2030. By developing renewable gas from our
state's abundant organic waste streams, we can help to meet our
climate goals sooner, while diversifying our carbon-free energy
sources, improving energy resilience and reliability, while also
creating additional renewable fuel and jobs for our communities.
SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery
infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers.
From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5
billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to
enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary
of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding
company based in San Diego. For more information
visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
About STEAM:CODERS
STEAM:CODERS inspires underrepresented and underserved students
and their families through science, technology, engineering, art,
and math (STEAM), in preparation for academic and career
opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.steamcoders.org.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company