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.
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company
