Amazon has made another investment in Detroit students’ futures, awarding the Detroit Public Schools Community District Foundation $25,000 to boost back-to-school readiness. The funding, directed through the district’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) department, will help provide clothing and essential resources to students who might otherwise start the year without them.
The donation, announced Thursday at Davison Elementary during the district’s final Summer on the Block activation, drew more than 200 people. The event featured remarks from DPSCD Board Chair Bishop Corlotta Vaughn, Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti, DPSCD Foundation President and CEO Kerrie Mitchell, Assistant Superintendent of Family and Community Engagement Sharlonda Buckman, and Ian Conyers, Amazon’s Head of Community Affairs.
“This reality impacts student attendance and therefore their achievement,” said Dr. Vitti. “We continue to be encouraged by more and more partners stepping forward, such as Amazon, to fill economic gaps for our families and their students through funding to provide school uniforms and basic needs, such as toiletries, to them. These investments in our families and students are allowing the District to narrow the gap in attendance and achievement between us and the State of Michigan.”
The additional $25,000 pushes Amazon’s total financial support of DPSCD to $200,000, part of a five-year partnership that has also included investments in STEM education and family engagement efforts. For district leaders, the timing aligns with their push to keep narrowing gaps in attendance and achievement. Last school year, DPSCD reduced chronic absenteeism by 10 percent, progress they credit in part to targeted investments in preparedness.
“Our families continue to face one of the highest levels of concentrated poverty in the nation,” Vitti said. “When students don’t have what they need, they are more likely to miss school. We can’t afford to lose those days of instruction.”
Buckman, whose department will oversee the distribution of resources, said the additional funding will ensure more families are “day one ready” for the first day of school. “By fulfilling the critical gaps of families and students who are most in need, we help to ensure they start the year equipped and ready, thanks to our Foundation and Amazon,” she said.
Mitchell described the donation as another example of how the foundation turns partnerships into measurable progress. “When companies like Amazon invest in our mission, they empower us to execute on the District’s top priorities — ensuring students are equipped, engaged, and ready to learn. This kind of strategic support not only meets an immediate need, it helps build a stronger future for Detroit’s children,” she said.
Conyers said Amazon’s ongoing support reflects a belief that corporate partnerships should have staying power. “Over the past five years, Amazon has been deeply committed to the next generation of Detroit students. This additional $25,000 builds on our broader financial, STEM, and family engagement support with DPSCD. We’re proud to be part of a solution that helps families prepare for the school year,” he said.
Thursday’s event closed out the Summer on the Block series, a district-led effort to bring resources directly into neighborhoods rather than requiring families to come to central locations. The activations are part block party, part information fair, and part supply drive — offering families a chance to meet school staff, get questions answered, and leave with concrete tools for the year ahead. For many, it’s also a reminder that the district and its partners are paying attention to the realities families face outside the classroom.
Research supports the district’s focus on attendance and preparedness. Students who show up every day, on time, with the tools they need, are three to five times more likely to perform at or above grade level in reading and math. Leaders say that’s why direct support — from uniforms to hygiene kits — is essential, not optional.
The $25,000 will be used strategically. FACE staff know which schools and neighborhoods have the greatest needs and will work to ensure resources are distributed equitably. That targeted approach is meant to both relieve immediate financial stress for families and remove practical barriers that can keep children out of school.
Since its inception, the DPSCD Foundation has raised more than $30 million to enhance educational opportunities for Detroit students. Its partnership with the district ensures that funding aligns with what educators and families say will have the most impact. That often includes academic enrichment, technology access, wellness initiatives, and — as this latest gift demonstrates — the basic supplies that lay the groundwork for learning.
The importance of giving back to Detroit students and families has taken on added urgency as federal funding cuts loom. Leaders say that without community investment, many children will start the year already behind. For them, the question isn’t whether these supports matter — it’s who will step up if local partners do not.
The message from district leadership was consistent: when partners invest in families, they are investing in academic outcomes. With the school year about to begin, the hope is that momentum from last year’s gains will carry forward, supported by resources that make it possible for more students to be in their seats, ready to learn, from day one.
This gift, while specific in its purpose, is emblematic of the kind of multi-year, multi-pronged partnerships that district leaders say are essential to sustaining progress. As the last Summer on the Block event wrapped up at Davison Elementary, with families leaving carrying bags of supplies and information about the coming year, the connection between community support and classroom success was clear. The work of closing gaps in attendance and achievement is far from over, but for hundreds of Detroit students, the path to a strong start just got a little smoother.
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