Add as a preferred source on Google


Companies, Ed Tech Organizations Band to Help Families Through Hotline

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 04/16/20

Nearly 90 companies and education technology organizations have joined a growing volunteer effort to help families and teachers affected by school closures. People who call or text (855) 264-2051 can get "concrete help or advice" in any number of areas:

  • Emergency childcare;

  • Finding meals;

  • Financial support;

  • Getting computing devices;

  • Tutoring;

  • Psychological help;

  • Tech support; and

  • Remote learning.

So far, according to SchoolClosures.org co-founder Manisha Snoyer, some 85,000 people have visited the website, and the organization has taken calls from families and teachers "all over the country." Snoyer is also the co-founder of Modulo.App, an "experimental project" that supports parents as they involve themselves in their children's education.

The program has 150 volunteers. Participating organizations include Class Dojo, Donors Choose, Intuit, Khan Academy, Revolution Foods and Salesforce. The hotline is staffed by volunteers with experience in education and social services, according to Snoyer.

Snoyer said the initiative is "growing every day as new volunteers and organizations reach out to see how they can be of support." That's evolving, she noted, "as we learn more about what parents and teachers need and create new projects to support them."

More information is available on the School Closures website.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • robot brain with various technology and business icons

    Google Cloud Study: Early Agentic AI Adopters See Better ROI

    Google Cloud has released its second annual ROI of AI study, finding that 52% of enterprise organizations now deploy AI agents in production environments. The comprehensive survey of 3,466 senior leaders across 24 countries highlights the emergence of a distinct group of "agentic AI early adopters" who are achieving measurably higher returns on their AI investments.

  • rear view of students in a classroom

    Edthena Launches AI-Powered Classroom Observation Tool

    Professional learning platform Edthena has introduced Observation Copilot, an AI tool for principals designed to streamline the process of writing up framework-aligned teacher feedback from classroom observation notes.

  • conceptual graph of rising AI adoption

    AI Adoption Rising, but Trust Gap Limits Impact

    A recent global study by IDC and SAS found that while the adoption of artificial intelligence continues to expand rapidly across industries, a misalignment between perceived trust in AI systems and their actual trustworthiness is limiting business returns.

  • abstract network, cloud and data concept image

    New Report Examines How Enterprises are Scaling AI Initiatives

    Cloud infrastructure is central to the shift from AI experimentation to AI integration, according to a report from Cloudera on enterprise AI adoption.