The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation came to bat with a $10,000 grant for Brotherhood Crusade’s COVID-19 Community Rapid Response Fund, it was announced Thursday.
The money will help families in the most under-served communities adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, directly providing internet access and technology hardware for 5,000 low-income households in South and East Los Angeles while schools remain closed in compliance with coronavirus stay-at-home rules.
“We are grateful to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation for this grant,” Brotherhood Crusade President and CEO Charisse Bremond Weaver said. “The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s mission is bigger than baseball, envisioning a city where every young Angeleno, regardless of neighborhood, has the opportunity to thrive. This donation will allow us to provide technology for youth with computers, hotspots and headsets that will continue to level the playing field and help our youth thrive.”
Brotherhood Crusade, which was founded in 1968, is determined to carry on its life-changing programs and provide resources to families and individuals in need, especially through these challenging and difficult times, she said.
The grant was provided from the Dodgers and Dodgers Foundation COVID-19 Relief Efforts, a fund created to raise money from fans, players and partners to support vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, lack of basic needs and significant anxiety during the pandemic.
“Our nonprofit partners have shared the significant lack of internet access and devices for youth and families as they try to engage in distance learning and community programs,” Dodgers Foundation COO Chaitali Gala Mehta said. “By supporting amazing community leaders like the Brotherhood Crusade, we hope to narrow the digital divide that exists in our low-income communities and that has been exacerbated during this pandemic.”