Mother Hopes To Bridge Learning Inequalities For Harlem Kids

HARLEM, NY — When New York City schools transitioned from in-person to remote learning last spring, a Harlem mother couldn't overlook how much the switch heightened the glaring learning inequalities in her neighborhood.

Now, she's determined to do something about it.

Tanesha Grant and her group, Parents Supporting Parents New York, hope to raise $500,000 to distribute more than 1,000 laptops to students in need across Central Harlem and beyond.

So far she’s raised more than $67,000 and given out over 100 laptops thanks to a GoFundMe campaign she started with Pamela Stewart, another community organizer.

The mother of three told WPIX in an interview last September that she was motivated to start the campaign after her son and other students across the neighborhood were unable to use their New York City Department of Education-issued laptops for virtual learning because they were broken.

Broken equipment is nothing new for Harlem students, who are predominantly Black or Hispanic.

Grant told WPIX that her son waited two months for an iPad from his school that eventually arrived broken. Her daughter, who goes to a different school in Manhattan, only had to wait a week to receive her laptop.

The New York Times found in 2017 Harlem schools had declining enrollment and dwindling resources available for students and they academically flagged behind wealthier and whiter campuses.

These kinds of disparities grew worse when the pandemic forced students to stay at home since many of them live in low-income households.

“Since COVID-19, our children have been disproportionately traumatized by this virus, from losing loved ones, food insecurity and not having the tools to further their education,” according to Grant’s GoFundMe campaign. “This has been heartbreaking to us as a community.”

Grant hopes by giving students these laptops it can soften the pandemic’s impact on their lives. The laptops will enable them to not only complete their school work but all them to apply to jobs and fill out college applications.

In a separate interview with CBS News she said she wants the students who received the laptops to not only be successful in school but also in life.

“I just want my babies to know they can be whatever they want to be,” she said.

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