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With the island of Oahu in the middle of a new lockdown, Covid-19 cases surging in our state, and continued leadership turnover, our community needs support to survive the crisis of our lifetime. This is especially true for kids and families, and our vast digital divide continues to put students in groups of haves and have-nots when it comes to access to quality academic learning and social-emotional supports. Other states are rising to this challenge by supporting parents financially as they try to bridge the gap and make sure their children do not fall behind in a disrupted school year. Hawaii should do the same.
Please sign this petition to urge Governor Ige to support the families of Hawaii to get financial support to bridge the gap.
Where is the money?
Hawaii has already received millions of dollars of support from the federal government, most of which needs to be spent by the end of 2020. The CARES Act included nearly $10 million for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, and we think that money should be used right now to help Hawaii’s families.
How could this work?
Oklahoma has used their GEER Fund to create the Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet initiative, a new initiative that will connect up to 5,000 low income Oklahoma families with $1,500 grants to purchase materials for students ahead of the 2020-21 school year.