AUBURN HILLS — Chrysler Group LLC will donate 160 Samsung Galaxy tablets to United Way of Southeastern Michigan to help Detroit high school students become college and career ready.
Initially used by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to present the company’s five-year plan, United Way will reload the tablets with financial planning and educational tools. Subsequently, the tablets will be given to college-bound juniors and seniors at high schools that are part of the organization’s High School Turnaround Initiative. The tablets have a total retail value of more than $52,000.
“Chrysler Group understands that help has no timeline — that there are people who are struggling and could use a ‘hand up’,” said Mauro Pino, Vice President — Head of NAFTA Manufacturing/World Class Manufacturing, Chrysler Group LLC and Co-Chair Chrysler Group’s United Way Campaign. “With all of us working together and supporting United Way in ‘Advancing the Common Good,’ we know that there are lives that we can help improve not only today but also in the future.”
Guided by the belief that no child should go to a high school with less than a 60 percent chance of graduation, United Way set a goal in 2008 of turning around or shutting down 30 high schools in the region by 2018. These efforts will not succeed without community participation and ownership. As a result, the organization is using its investment process to foster robust, non-profit, business and community partnerships that will advance evidenced-based solutions and practices in Detroit schools.
“We are so grateful to Chrysler Group LLC for its donation of Samsung tablets for use by those students in our turnaround high schools who are preparing for college,” said Michael J. Brennan, president and CEO, United Way. “These tablets will be a crucial tool in assuring that our students are technologically savvy and primed for college-ready work.”
Chrysler has a strong history of supporting United Way. Over the past two years Chrysler helped sponsered events like “Battle of the Brands II” and The United Way for Southeastern Michigan 2012-2013 Community Giving Campaign, raising nearly $50 millon for the organization.
