AT&T and a non-profit in Dallas handed out laptops and school supplies this week as students prepare for the next school year. The event in Balch Springs was part of AT&T's "Connected Dallas Tour."
"This event is part of AT&T's $5 billion commitment to addressing the needs of the digital divide." says AT&T's Lisa Sherrod. "Today, these families are receiving these laptops, hoping they will use them as a resource to impact their daily lives.
AT&T worked with the non-profit, Dodd Education and Support on the project. The group says it works with other non-profits, community groups and businesses to "provide services and programs that engage, educate and elevate the under-resourced in Dallas communities."
"Opportunities like this are vital, critical and necessary in our community to help ensure success for those students," says Dodd Education and Support's Eureka Drayden.
Drayden says access to laptops and electronics have become necessary for students to succeed. She says students can learn how to do research and find information, but laptops are also important for their parents to communicate with schools, see their kids' schedules and follow their progress in class.
"You've got to have one," she says. "Even though it is a necessity, it is still a hardship for families to get the equipment they need to be successful," she says.
Sherrod says parents can use them to apply for jobs or take classes to gain skills that would make them more valuable to employers.
"The goal is, by 2030, to connect an additional 25 million people to high speed internet," she says. "You need internet for so many things, for telemedicine appointments, registering for school, all these things they need for day-to-day life."
AT&T gave 100 laptops to families in Balch Springs this week and 150 backpacks filled with supplies. The company also had events in Oak Cliff and Irving in the past week. Sherrod says the "Connected Dallas" events can ensure students have all the supplies they need at the start of the year so they can start their work.
"Many of the families here today, the kids are very excited about getting ready and having the tools they need," she says.
AT&T has three additional events scheduled over the next two weeks in Dallas and Rockwall. Families who have been preselected will receive backpacks and a laptop.
The company says it has given away 23,000 computers across Texas since 2021 and 30,000 across the country this year.
