Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has received a significant donation from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to help the District and Comcast bridge the digital divide for students and their families.

The 20-year old, Atlanta-based firm that specializes in building, operating and advancing global markets through information, technology and expertise, has donated $1.3 million to the Get Our Kids Connected campaign – a partnership between APS and the Comcast Internet Essentials program, launched earlier this month. The goal of the initiative is to solicit financial support from individuals and organizations to sponsor low–income students and their families with high-speed internet service and computers for their personal ownership.

For $300, contributors can give the gift of connectivity, which will provide students with a laptop and an internet connection for 14 months. Trinity HealthShare, a 501(c)(3) non-profit health care sharing ministry, was the first major donor with a $50,000 contribution to kick start the campaign, followed by generous donations from United Way and Atlanta Tech Village. Now, Intercontinental Exchange has answered the call to donate as well.

With the ICE gift, APS will be able to get closer to getting thousands of APS children connected at home and equipped for distance learning.

“In these extraordinary times, when we'd expect kids in our communities to be studying hard in their classrooms, we recognize that in so many cases the home is the classroom, and homes need high speed connectivity and equipment to thrive through distance learning,” said Brookly McLaughlin, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability for Intercontinental Exchange. “Atlanta is the home of Intercontinental Exchange, and we're honored to be able to play a small part in helping deserving students and their families get online to get the best education possible and make the most of the rest of the school year, and beyond."

“Words cannot express how excited we are to receive this extraordinarily generous gift from Intercontinental Exchange,” APS Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen said. “We are so grateful to Intercontinental Exchange for the donation, as well as Comcast, and dozens of other corporate and individual donors, for partnering with us on the Get Our Kids Connected campaign. Our corporate community time and again demonstrates dedication to helping APS provide a quality education for the children of our city.”