Breakthrough Greater Boston has been operating an out-of-school academic advancement program for underserved children in Cambridge since 1992, and more recently in Boston.
As technology has been becoming ever more important in education, programs like Breakthrough have found it a challenge to offer students technologies that are standard at more well-funded private organizations.
Breakthrough Greater Boston had been examining a few different avenues to find funding for technology like Google Chromebooks.
Recently, Breakthrough announced that it had raised $100,000 for the computers and other supporting equipment. A large chunk of that funding comes from one very generous benefactor: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Reportedly, Kraft gave $72,000 to help Breakthrough with the initiative; part of that was a challenge grant, matching $30,000 in funding from other benefactors.
As Elissa Spelman, the executive director of Breakthrough said, “Now, all our students have the same access to technology as other students.”