When Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs passed away last week from complications following a battle with pancreatic cancer, many debates sparked regarding Jobs’ dedication to the larger community outside the field of business. Critics pointed out that Jobs not only was not a fan of charities, he specifically cut all of Apple’s philanthropic programs in 1997. Jobs claimed that although he preferred to keep philanthropy out of his business, he did make some private charity donations.
What was less publicized, however, is that Jobs’ wife, Lauren Powell Jobs, is not only an active philanthropist, she actually co-founded an organization called College Track. College Track helps low-income high school students, most of whom are African-American or Latino, prepare for college through a program of intensive after-school study and one-on-one mentoring.
Powell Jobs began tutoring and advising minority students in the 1990s, and the founding of College Track involved significant private donations from the Jobs family. Powell Jobs did not just stop at financial backing, though – she continued to mentor students directly, up until the time when her husband’s failing health prompted her to take an indefinite break from her work. She has continually been known for her uncanny ability to bond with students, some of whom had begun to believe that no one would ever understand them or their problems.
With the passing of Steve Jobs, Lauren Powell Jobs stands to inherit a staggering amount of money, and given her tendency toward charity in low-income communities, it stands to reason that College Track, and in turn the Latino community, will benefit greatly.
Many bloggers and personalities in the online community have also called for their readership to donate to College Track, with some offering a donation match as an incentive. The charitable foundation associated with salesforce.com, for example, has agreed to match reader donations up to a total of $500,000, a shockingly generous figure. This combined with reader donations would bring their total donation to $1 million.
For high school students who are motivated to go to college but do not have the resources, College Track is a significant help. Given that there has been so much negative news recently regarding hispanic students affected by the recent law changes in Alabama, it is wonderful to hear how so many of College Track’s beneficiaries are members of the Latino community, and how a nation mourning the loss of one of its most successful visionaries is banding together to make a difference where it is needed most.
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