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Common surprised a group of New York students by donating $10,000 to help their teachers buy supplies for their classrooms.

The Academy Award winner partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom and Burlington Stores to give back to Renaissance School of the Arts in Harlem.

The rapper-actor shared with the Chicago Tribune, “I always felt like one of my biggest duties and purposes is to hit the youth with something that’s inspiring, hit young people with something that can motivate them to be in their greatness.”

He visited the school along with his mother, Dr. Mahalia Hines, an educator and member of the Chicago Board of Education.

Dr. Hines recounted the times she had to spend her own money on materials that were essential to her students’ learning.

“A lot of the materials you needed to teach, we weren’t given the money to do it so you just went out and bought your own. If you had to have notebooks … you bought them because there were many lessons you definitely would have not been able to do without them,” she said.

Teachers are undervalued and it’s great to see Common giving back to educators!

TELL US: Should teachers be required to buy their own classroom supplies?

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