MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropist formerly married to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, donated more than $2.7 billion to various schools and organizations citing work to close wealth gaps and racial disparities as reason for donation.
Of that, $30 million went to Long Beach City College to fund its programs and initiatives that address inequities in low-income communities of color, according to a school press release.
The donation is the single largest donation the college has received in its nearly 95-year history, according to LBCC spokeswoman Stacey Toda, and one of largest single-donor gifts given to any California community college.
“The award was given in recognition of LBCC’s leadership and transformative work in responding to the College’s changing demographics, closing equity gaps and work in racial justice,” stated the press release.
The money will be used to fund programs aimed at improving student success rates and addressing racial discrimination, according to the school.
One notable program the school implemented to address racial and wealth discrimination was a free bus pass pilot program. In partnership with Long Beach Transit, the program provided a free bus pass to help students from low-income communities who could not afford to ride the bus to school.
In a blog post Tuesday, Scott, who in 2019 pledged to give half of her wealth to charitable organizations, wrote that she wanted to donate to organizations in higher education, groups protecting religious and ethnic minorities and organizations centered around the arts.
Alongside LBCC, other local institutions Scott donated to include Pasadena City College, Homeboy Industries—which focuses on rehab for the formally incarcerated—and the L.A. Arts Endowment Fund.