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Kevin Hart and Meek Mill have teamed up with Michael Rubin to donate $15 million to schools in need of financial aid in Philadelphia.
The generous gift – the biggest bequeathed by any of the trio – will go towards assisting low-income students at private or religious schools in 110 areas in the Pennsylvanian city.
According to Philly Voice, the money will not benefit state-funded education.
They each have a connection to the city – rapper Meek, 34, and actor Kevin, 42, were raised in North Philadelphia, while Fanatics CEO Michael, 49, is the co-owner of the local NBA team, the 76ers – and have donated to education institutions previously and set out their mission.
In 2019, Michael said: “We care about education. I don’t know if you guys saw, Meek and I have been talking a lot about education. We’re actually gonna commit, between Meek and I in Pennsylvania, millions of dollars to Pennsylvania schools this year.”
Kevin previously donated $250,000 for better technology at the schools and $600,000 in college scholarship funds.
And in 2020, Meek and Michael footed $2 million for scholarship funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
William Hite, the superintendent of the district – an area with 65 per cent of students labelled as “economically disadvantaged” – warned on Tuesday (11.01.22) that they were incredibly short of funding, roughly $5,583 per student.
William – who is leaving the role in the summer – said: “Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the country. We have larger numbers of young people who don’t have access to early childhood services and who aren’t on grade level, those experiencing trauma, homelessness, are new to the country, have special needs, and those who need additional resources.”