CeeLo Green, Augusta HBCU gift tablets to students

Grammy Award-winning artist CeeLo Green is putting his money where his mouth is.

At Paine College’s recent Fall Convocation, students applauded when the Goodie Mob singer made a surprise announcement in a prerecorded video: he and the Augusta school had teamed up to gift all its Pell Grant students a free Android tablet with a year of free connectivity through Moolah Wireless, The Augusta Chronicle reported. Students enrolled in other federal programs, such as public housing or the National School Lunch Program, may also be eligible for the device.

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CeeLo’s gift follows the trend recently started by another Atlanta area rapper, T.I. On Aug. 15, the rapper (and investor in Moolah Wireless) helped distribute Moolah tablets to students at Atlanta’s Morris Brown College.

For Paine College, T.I.’s work at Morris Brown was instructive.

“We said, ‘OK, Atlanta has T.I. We have CeeLo,’” Paine College trustees board member J.R. Henderson told The Chronicle. “So we picked up the phone and called CeeLo Green and said, ‘You know something? We want to do exactly what we saw another college do.’”

The partnership was a natural fit. Last year, Green was appointed the college’s distinguished artist-in-residence. Since then, the multitalented artist has served as a mentor for students and has performed at the college’s Presidential Scholarship Gala in support of school fundraising efforts.

According to state Sen. Lester Jackson, a Paine trustee, Green’s significant contribution to the campus goes far beyond money.

“His name, attached to Paine College, is a worldwide recognition that Paine College is here and existing. But, what’s more important is his influence with these young people,” Jackson told The Chronicle. “They know now that he’s given up his time, unselfishly, not for money, not for glory, not for fame, but because he cares.”