The Gap's philanthropic contribution

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/us/edison-project-gets-aid-to-open-new-schools.html


This article is from 1998 but I found it very interesting since it struck so close to home. The Edison project was founded 18 years ago on the premise that a private corporation could provide a better education and make a profit while spending the same amount as most states do per pupil. Its own studies have shown improvement in the reading and math scores of its students. Many of these schools are on contracts with local school districs while some are charter schools. This would not have been made possible without big conrtibutions from large organizations. The Gap makes a big Philanthropic contribution by giving 25 million dollars to support and help fund The Edison Project. This money went on to help schools in California hire Edison and allowed them to open up new schools. ''It makes Edison possible where it wouldn't be,'' said Christopher Whittle, the media entrepreneur who founded the company in 1991. This article was very interesting to me since I have actually attended one of these schools. I never would have imagined that The Gap would have funded this company. The Gap believes in community building and that is exactly what these schools are. A lot of these schools are placed in an underrepresented area were there are a lot of minorities or low income families, or at least that's what it seems like simply because these types of schools would not be placed in neighborhoods with incomes above 60,000. This article shows how The Gap is in support of the community, it cares about children and believes in education first. From my personal experience I would say that this money could have been spent on something else maybe on a program that actually helps students and actually has improving reading and math but that is just my opinion. In the end The Gap truly cares about the community giving money to fund schools and to help communities grow is what this company is all about.