SoCalGas Partners with Southeast Community Development Corporation to Bridge the Digital Divide in South Los Angeles

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.

SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.