Press Release

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure Joins the Board of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance

May 04, 2015 02:30 PM Eastern Daylight TimeOVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure has joined the Board of Directors of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK Alliance), a new independent nonprofit organization aimed at eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps for African American and Hispanic boys and young men of color. President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the MBK Alliance launch event, which was attended by CEOs from Fortune 50 companies, entertainers, athletes, leading nonprofits, and current and former government officials.

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“We are honored to welcome Mr. Claure to the MBK Alliance Board of Directors. His leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to serving and inspiring young adults will be instrumental in our success.” Joe Echevarria, MBK Alliance Chairman

President Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper initiative in 2014 and challenged communities, businesses and nonprofits to expand opportunities for education, volunteerism, and jobs for all youth, including African American and Hispanic boys and young men of color. The program outlines important steps to connect young people to mentoring, support networks, and to enable the skills they need to work their way into the middle class.

“I’m a big believer in empowering young people with education and technology so they can change their lives and change the world for the better,” Claure said. “As a Latino and a Hispanic leader who has been successful in starting and growing companies, I understand the obstacles these boys and young men face. It’s an honor for me and for Sprint to give back as we join with My Brother’s Keeper. Everybody should have the opportunity to reach their full potential.”

To help MBK expand the availability of critical broadband resources, Sprint has pledged the following:

$1.4 million in wireless connectivity for New Jersey public schools

Sprint and the MBK Alliance will partner to provide Internet access to NJ Public School students of color for their after-school, weekend and summer programs.
Through ConnectED – a joint initiative with the White House and several leading corporations including Sprint that enables wireless connectivity outside the classroom – Sprint will provide 750 free lines of high-speed, broadband Internet connections to the selected NJ Public School students over a four year period.

$1.6 million in wireless connectivity for additional schools:

Sprint will also work with MBK to identify an additional ConnectED recipient to receive a total of 850 free lines of service over a four year period.

Sprint is committed to building strong communities and supporting programming for education, entrepreneurship and the environment. Sprint has a long history of providing telecommunications and Internet access services to schools and through a combination of Sprint Foundation and technology support, Sprint has provided more than $17 million toward K-12 education in the past 10 years. In 2014, Sprint was honored by The Civic 50 as one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the nation.

Claure has received numerous recognitions including being named as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2005 Claure, along with Rupert Murdoch, Nicolas Negroponte, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founded the ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD initiative, an organization focused on empowering the world’s poorest children through education by providing them with a rugged low-cost laptop.

About MBK Alliance

My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (“MBK Alliance”) aims to eliminate the gaps in opportunity and achievement for boys and young men of color – making the American dream available to all. In early 2014, the White House launched the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative to engage partners and stakeholders in that effort from both the private and public sectors. MBK Alliance is an independent, nonprofit organization created to advance progress in the private sector, and catalyze a national ecosystem of support to help boys and young men of color recognize their full potential through strategic evidence-based interventions. MBK Alliance is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

About Sprint

Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served nearly 56 million connections as of Dec. 31, 2014, and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

Sprint
Doug Duvall, 571-287-8153
[email protected]