Frustrated By Political Red Tape, Chance The Rapper Donates $1MM To Chicago Schools

Earlier today, Chance the Rapper held a press conference at Westcott Elementary in Chicago to discuss the sorry state of public schools in his home city, as well as his plan to improve them. While many “do-gooder” celebrities will often use such appearances and stances to boost goodwill, Chance has proven recently that he’s willing to do the work to effect change in his city. He marched with black voters to polling stations on election day and just last week took a meeting with Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to discuss the measure necessary to allocate more funds towards Chicago’s schools.

While Chance left his meeting with the governor discouraged, saying the governor would only offer “vague answers” to the questions and plans Chance posed, the rapper decided to give the folks in attendance a little more certainty about where money would come from – by pledging $1 million to fund Chicago-area public schools.

The meeting was broadcast on Periscope and be viewed in the below tweet:

In the ad hoc press conference, Chance shared that the governor had followed up with him over the weekend but still failed to inspire much confidence that real change was at hand. Chance used this opportunity to again impress the gravity of the situation. Without allocation of more funds, Chicago will be forced to shorten its school year by 13 days, leaving kids of all ages at higher risk for exposure to criminal activity, never mind the education and lessons lost in those days.

If you’d like to take a page out of Chancellor Bennett’s playbook, you can make your own donation to Chicago’s public schools using this link.

While the $1 million gift to needy kids is a tough act to follow, Chance had no problem closing on a powerful note with a message directed at Governor Rauner in the wake of their fruitless discussions. His message?

“Do your job.”