Best Buy Community Relations

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09 Oct: Best Buy volunteers help Phoenix students build laptops

As groups of students entered a Phoenix Convention Center meeting hall on Monday afternoon, 260 Best Buy volunteers cheered and gave high-fives.

The Best Buy employees were on hand to help the students build their own Kano laptop computers. The volunteer event helped kick off the company’s annual Holiday Leadership Meeting, where company leaders from across the U.S. come together to get ready for the holiday season.

Working with the kids “just makes you feel good, and it’s fun for us because we’re learning too,” said Jennifer Dieckhoff, general manager of a store in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.

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18 Sep: Best Buy Awards $2 Million to Local Tech-Ed Nonprofits

As students everywhere are getting back to school, we know that not all teens are receiving the tech education they will need to be successful in future careers.

To address this gap, the Best Buy Foundation, through our annual Community Grants Program, awarded more than $2 million to 414 nonprofit organizations across the country. The nonprofits we support provide teens from underserved communities opportunities to develop tech skills that will help them prepare for post-secondary education and careers.

Our field employees across the country were highly engaged in the grantmaking process, providing insights on the needs of their communities and making funding decisions.

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01 May: Best Buy Now Accepting Applications for Community Grants

Calling all teen-focused nonprofits! We’re looking for local partners who can help us reach our goal of helping prepare 1 million teens from underserved communities for tech-reliant jobs every year.

Our Community Grants program awards up to $10,000 to nonprofits across the country whose programs focus on tech education for teens outside of school. Programs should include hands-on learning opportunities and engage youth in experimenting and interacting with the latest technologies to build 21st century skills.

We know every community’s needs are unique.

Best Buy - Hawaii GSA

30 Mar: Creative Planning Gets Geek Squad Academy to Hawaii

Almost three years of careful planning and outreach paid off this week as 160 students at an elementary school in Hawaii enjoyed their first interaction with a Geek Squad Academy (GSA).

Students got to program robots, write code and more with the help of Best Buy and Geek Squad volunteers.

“You could just feel the excitement and energy when the kids entered the room,” said James Pineda, a Geek Squad Agent at Best Buy’s Honolulu store who helped lead robotics classes.

Best Buy - teen

25 Oct: Best Buy Making Major Investment in Teen Tech Programs

Early on a bitterly cold Saturday in January 2006, 30 eager teens gathered in Minneapolis’ North High School gym to make the first computers they’d ever own.

A handful of Geek Squad Agents arrived with desktop components. They patiently explained the inner workings and possibilities of what they and the students would build together. By the end of the day, each of those proud teens had an invaluable learning tool to take home.    

That event marked the beginning of a Best Buy movement to help underserved young people.

Best Buy - volunteer

19 Oct: Best Buy Racks Up 5,200 Volunteer Hours in September

It started as a day of service. Then it turned into a week of giving back. Now, September is Best Buy’s “Month of Service,” during which we boost our volunteer efforts to make a big impact across the country.

Our employees planned 283 events last month, and 2,000 donated their time. They amassed a whopping 5,200 volunteer hours with local nonprofit organizations.

Here are a few great examples of the work our teams did in their communities:

  • We volunteered at Liberty House, a housing community for veterans transitioning out of homelessness in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Best Buy - Los Alisos

04 Oct: Best Buy Volunteers Help 400 Students Build Computers

Jasmine Lankford opened the small orange box and removed the contents of the Kano computer kit. It contained an HDMI cable, speaker, wireless keyboard, HD display, battery and, most important, an instruction book.

Then, the eighth-grader spent the next hour building her own PC, step by step. “I love this. This is so awesome,” she said with a huge grin. “I’ve made my own computer!”

Jasmine was one of 300 students at Los Alisos STEM Magnet Middle School in suburban Los Angeles who built Kano computers Tuesday afternoon with help from more than 100 Best Buy employees from across the country.

Best Buy - hurricanes

14 Sep: Best Buy Brings Tech Support to Areas Affected by Hurricanes

Best Buy and our employees are helping residents in areas hit hard by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma stay connected with one another and their loved ones.

After basic needs have been met, communicating with family and friends, as well as having internet access to begin the recovery process, is the next essential. That’s why we’re partnering with relief organizations, such as the Salvation Army and American Red Cross, to bring technology to storm-ravaged communities. Best Buy’s product and monetary donations have totaled more than $1 million to date.

Best Buy - institute

16 Aug: Best Buy Donates $100,000 to Support Institute for Minneapolis Teens

Best Buy announced Tuesday that it has donated $100,000 to Project SUCCESS through the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee Legacy Fund.

The donation supported the launch of the Project SUCCESS Institute, a learning center equipped with state-of-the-art technology to help Minneapolis teens complete courses for school credit, develop tech skills and earn certifications. Project SUCCESS works to improve middle and high school students’ academic achievement and future career success through hands-on experiences. Annually, the organization serves nearly 13,000 students.

“At Best Buy, we are committed to helping enrich people’s lives through technology.

Best Buy - DonorsChoose.org

10 Jul: Shop on BestBuy.com This Summer and Donate to Schools in Need

Summer is just heating up, but it’s already time to start to thinking about heading back to school.

Best Buy is teaming up with DonorsChoose.org this back-to-school-season to help underserved schools receive much-needed technology for their classrooms. We know that youth from underserved communities often lack access to technology at home, and that goes for schools in those communities, too. Learning how to use technology is essential to preparing the next generation of talented people our country needs to compete in the global economy.

Best Buy - Career Academies

04 Apr: Best Buy’s investment in Minnesota’s youth promises big dividends

Best Buy has long supported the use of technology to improve and enrich lives, especially those of teens who don’t have ready access to technology tools and training.

As part of that effort, Best Buy is a proud funder of Career Academies, an educational program in Minneapolis-St. Paul that on Tuesday announced it’s expanding to provide opportunities to even more students throughout Minnesota.

In Best Buy’s home state of Minnesota, only 44 percent of people over the age of 25 hold a post-secondary degree or credential.

Best Buy - nonprofits

09 Mar: Best Buy Awards Nearly $2 Million to Teen-Focused Nonprofits

Technology has become ingrained in our society, and it’s not hard to fathom that more than 75 percent of jobs over the next decade will require tech skills. However, many teens do not have adequate tech education to be prepared for jobs of the future.

At Best Buy, this opportunity gap is where we have decided to focus our community giving and signature community programs.

We’re committed to keeping our communities strong. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because we rely on our communities to provide a talented workforce.