Sprint Launches Social Campaign, #Sprint2School, to Donate Backpacks and School Supplies to Students in Need in Chicago Public Schools

CHICAGO (BUSINESS WIRE), August 08, 2016 – Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings) is showing its community support by launching #Sprint2School, a social media campaign to help students in need gear up for back to school. For every retweet or tweet that mentions the hashtag, #Sprint2School, @Sprint4Chi will donate a backpack and school supplies to a student living in transitional housing.¹

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160808005253/en/

On Sept. 6, Sprint will be donating backpacks and school supplies to five Chicago Public Schools (CPS), which include:

• Gage Park High School
• Hyde Park Academy High School
• Manley Career Academy High School
• Percy L Julian High School
• TEAM Englewood Community Academy High School

“Our social campaign, #Sprint2School is all about bringing awareness into our community regarding the needs of our children,” said Jim Mills, Sprint president of Illinois and Wisconsin. “We’re using the connections we have to create a voice and speak up for those who can’t. When companies work as a team, we can accomplish much more than we can alone. In fact, our friends at Samsung have joined us and are donating school supplies for our campaign.”

During the 2014-2015 school year, nearly 400,000 students were enrolled in CPS, and 86% of those students qualify as low-income.²

“A strong start to the school year is crucial for academic success, and we are so grateful to Sprint for providing supplies to CPS students to continue their success in the classroom,” said Dr. Shawn Jackson, CPS Chief Officer of Leadership and Learning.

Sprint has demonstrated time after time its commitment to students in need in Chicago. In May, Sprint was presented with “Corporate Partner of the Year” award by Youth Guidance. Sprint has continuously exposed Chicago youth to positive role models with eye opening perspectives on the world of work.

Last September, Sprint kicked off the school year by taking 100 Working on Womanhood students and staff to a Chicago Sky WNBA game and dinner.

In December 2015, Sprint launched #Sprint4Change, a program created for students in need who are passionate about the arts. Sprint collaborated with the legendary House of Blues and Chicago Recording Company to make this a dream come true for young musicians. This unique learning experience helped students discover their passion and think beyond high school. Students met and learned from industry professionals like Danny Leake and Donald Lawrence and recorded and produced their own song.

To follow the campaign and to cheer students along, please follow @Sprint4Chi.

Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 59.4 million connections as of June 30, 2016, and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint atwww.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

¹ Sprint donation limited to 1,000 backpacks and school supplies. No purchase necessary.

² Stats provided by Chicago Public Schools website: http://cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Pages/Stats_and_facts.aspx

View source version on businesswire.com:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160808005253/en/