Chance the Rapper says he'll donate $1 million to Chicago public schools

The Grammy Award-winning artist is from the Windy City.

ByABC News
March 6, 2017, 4:14 PM

— -- Chance the Rapper announced today that he plans to donate $1 million to Chicago public schools. This comes after he met with Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner about school funding last Friday.

The Chicago-born rapper will donate the funds to the Chicago Public School Foundation, he said today during a press conference at Oliver S. Westcott Elementary School on the city's South Side.

"Today I'm proud to announce that I am donating $1 million to CPS to support arts and enriching programming," the rapper said to applause. "I'm excited to share that this donation was made possible by my fans."

Chance's donation came after he met Friday with Gov. Rauner about funding relief for Chicago public schools, the third-largest school district in the U.S. The governor vetoed $215 million in pension relief last year, saying that the funding should've been coupled with larger pension reforms.

After their meeting, Gov. Rauner tweeted about it.

".@chancetherapper and I talked about the imp. of getting more money for all school children in Illinois, especially low-income children," he wrote Friday.

Still, Chance the Rapper described that 40-minute meeting as "disappointing" on Monday, saying the governor only had "vague" answers.

Immediately after the sit-down, the Grammy Award winner tweeted: "Chicago Public Schools and I did not lose today. Please don't let that become the narrative. Monday morning I'll have a plan."