LOS ANGELES, Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced a partnership
with the Southeast Community Development Corporation (SCDC) to
help bridge the digital divide in South
Los Angeles. A donation from SoCalGas to the nonprofit will
provide Chromebooks, noise-canceling headphones, internet hotspots,
and access to one-on-one tutoring to 100 students from various
schools. 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.
"The SoCalGas tutoring program is critical in the quest to
providing the needed academic support to our most vulnerable
students," said Denise Diaz, South
Gate City Council Member. "Higher-income families are
understandably providing their students learning pods and private
tutoring to meet their needs. Our students' success is
dependent on our community coming together to make available the
resources necessary to achieve educational equity. I am inspired by
the generous contribution of community partners such as SoCalGas
who are helping us achieve this goal."
"The customized online tutoring program will have lasting
positive effects on our elementary school students who had already
been struggling academically but now face many more barriers," said
Emma Hernandez, executive director
at SCDC. "We are thankful to have such generous partners like
SoCalGas who have made this program possible."
"Remote learning has been a challenge for many students this
past year, particularly those from low-income families without the
necessary resources and connectivity that help drive success," said
Andy Carrasco, vice president of
communications, local government, and community affairs at SoCalGas
and SCDC board president. "We are proud of partnerships with
organizations like the SCDC that are helping to overcome these
disadvantages and help prevent students from getting left
behind."
In addition to providing educational resources to students, this
initiative will also support eight California
State University Dominguez Hills students complete their
teaching credential requirements by participating in one-on-one
tutoring sessions. Each tutor will provide two hours of tutoring
per day, four days a week for a 26-week period.
"We feel fortunate to have these incredibly talented tutors who
are passionate about teaching join our team," said Mariana Rios, credentialed multisubject
teacher. "They come to us with first-hand knowledge of what's
is like to experience the social injustice of the digital divide
and they are excited to help close that gap."
The SCDC was created on the belief that community problems must
be solved by the community itself and is committed to utilizing
resources within the community. Through its 18-year partnership
with SoCalGas, the nonprofit has helped thousands of underserved
students achieve academic success through various programs.
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 $2.74
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' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most
innovative energy company in America, delivering affordable and
increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that
mission, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its
traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by
2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy
farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also
committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while
keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through 2019,
the company invested nearly $7
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 SCDC
The Southeast Community Development Corporation (SCDC) is a
community and economic development nonprofit focused on improve the
living standards of children and adults in the Southeast area of
Los Angeles County. For more
information, please visit www.scdcorp.org or call (323)
585-4579.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.