Hip hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has pledged to donate $1 million (GBP770,000) to a network of charter schools in New York.
Combs opened the Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School in his native Harlem, New York in 2016, providing free public education for children in grades six to 12, and now his generous gift to bosses at Capital Preparatory Schools will help them expand another location in The Bronx in September, 2019.
The education meccas will open for 160 sixth and seventh graders, but school officials are hoping Diddy’s dollars will help them reach their goal of 650 students in grades six to 11.
“I came from the same environment these kids live in every day,” a statement from Combs reads. “I understand the importance of access to a great education, and the critical role it plays in a child’s future. Our school provides historically disadvantaged students with the college and career skills needed to become responsible and engaged citizens for social justice.”
Combs began developing the idea for the schools several years ago, when he discussed his plans with educator Dr. Steve Perry, who founded the Capital Prep Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut.
Perry is overseeing the new Bronx institute’s development, and now Diddy is keen to turn Capital Prep into a global brand.
“I also wanna expand schools into different cities and countries,” he told U.S. breakfast show Today in 2016.
He isn’t the first star to ring the bell for a new school – in 2007, TV mogul Oprah Winfrey opened an all-girls boarding school, named the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, in South Africa, and fellow rapper Pitbull has also founded two charter schools to help provide education to impoverished families in Miami, Florida, and Henderson, Nevada.
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