According to the organization’s website, the funds will go towards remote learning initiatives, financial support for the Department of Education’s Temporary Housing program, and providing free meals for students and their families around the five boroughs. “This is something that I’m passionate about,” Bada$$ told The Root. “I have a huge vision for the future. I’m going to continue doing things like this. I want to always be giving back to kids like me who come from where I come from, just to increase their chances of getting to where they want to get to.” According to The City, 1 in 10 New York City students lacked stable housing during the 2018-19 school year. Staggering numbers of homeless youth in the city of New York prompted Joey to use his platform and position to help aid in the solution to the crisis.
With his donation to The Fund for Public Schools through the campaign, Joey hopes that his famous friends engage in the giving act. He tells The Root that fellow rapper Denzel Curry matched his donation, and gaining interest from YBN Cordae and fellow Brooklynites Flatbush Zombies. He says that being able to help others should not be viewed as a flex of wealth, but a flex of character, and hopes that his actions can inspire others to do the same.
“I think it’s a blessing to be in a position of abundance. I look at it like I’m ready to give back at any stage of my career, Diddy money or Joey Bada$$ money,” he explains to The Root. “It is deeper than money because with this platform, it becomes about awareness. It’s awareness alone that’s going to drive changes for the future more than money will…It’s something that I live by, you know? Even if I don’t have much, I’ll give something. If I can’t give the money, I’ll give my efforts or I’ll give my support.”
No stranger to the community outreach and activist, Joey who stepped onto the scene in 2012 with his debut mixtape 1999, he has been devoted to help his community and surrounding cities. Shortly after making a name for himself, in 2014, Joey donated $10,000 in music equipment and production to his former high school, Edward R. Murrow High School. In 2017, he held a donation drive with Pro Era and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma called Storm of Support and in 2018, he donated $10,000 to Communities United for Police Reform in New York City.
