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Chaffey College has received $25 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
“Higher education is a proven pathway to opportunity, so we looked for two and four-year institutions [that are] successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved,” Scott wrote on her website Tuesday.
The community college in Rancho Cucamonga was overwhelmed when it learned of the donation, according to Henry Shannon, the school’s superintendent, and president.
“Headlines across the country detail the ripple effects that Mrs. Scott’s gifts have created in the philanthropic world,” Shannon said in a statement. “The ripple effects we will experience here at Chaffey College, and throughout the region, will be tremendous.”
Chaffey College plans to use the gift to help students who are the first in their families to go to college. It will also assist students of color, those from low-income families, and help pay for basic needs programs.
Scott and her husband Dan Jewett are part of Giving Pledge, which encourages extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. During the last quarter of 2020, Scott gave $4.1 billion to 384 organizations that helped people suffering from the pandemic, including food banks and legal defense funds, according to the statement.
Scott is an author and the former wife of amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos.
