Jaden Smith and LyftUp Announce Partnership to Provide $50K In Ride Credits to People Who Need Access to Healthy Food, Clean Water, And Jobs
Following his parents’ lead in becoming a philanthropist, Jaden Smith and the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation have joined forces with LyftUp to donate $50,000 in ride share credits to help connect underserved communities to healthy groceries and clean water with reliable transportation.
The contribution will be shared between two nonprofit partners one of which is the I LOVE YOU Restaurant, founded by Jaden Smith to provide high-quality vegan meals to the homeless in communities across the country. The other is his 501cTHREE climate innovation organization which provides clean water to those in Flint, MI.
“I’m proud to be partnering with Lyft on their LyftUp initiative. Together, we'll be providing rides to communities who need them most,” Smith said in a statement provided exclusively to BET.com.
“In Flint, these rides will be used so community members can access clean, fresh water through our 501CTHREE.org partners. In Los Angeles, we'll focus on providing rides to grocery stores, clean water and jobs for the residents of Skid Row through our I LOVE YOU community partners. We believe in the power of transportation, and that access to a ride can mean access to an opportunity.”
This is a continuation of efforts made last month in a LyftUp partnership with actor Michael B. Jordan and the Outlier Fellowship Foundation who worked together to provide recent college grads of color living in underserved areas with access to free rides to job interviews, internships and other employment opportunities.
Launched in January 2020, LyftUp programs have connected communities in need with different types of resources all year. Most recently, the program partnered with When We All Vote and Vote.org to get people registered and access to free rides to polling locations on Election day in certain cities and enlisted the help of popular celebs including Cardi B, Lebron James, and DJ Khaled on its national voting initiative.
