Delray Beach's Coco Gauff / Microsoft Campaign Now Lighting Up Times Square

DELRAY BEACH, FL – September 22, 2021 – Students from Delray Beach’s Achievement Centers for Children & Families (ACCF) are lighting up New York City’s Times Square in an ad campaign for Microsoft Teams featuring tennis star Coco Gauff. The campaign started running in Times Square during the U.S. Open and it will run through September 27.

The campaign with Ms. Gauff, featuring local kids from ACCF, first began airing in June in a national television campaign. At that time, Coco used Microsoft Teams to surprise the kids from ACCF with a special event. During the event, Coco helped students complete the new Space Jam: A New Legacy coding workshop, where they learned about game design. The kids were also able to ask Coco questions to learn more about the rising star from their community, including how she became a professional tennis player and what her favorite subject is in school.

As a professional tennis player and full-time remote student, Coco Gauff saw firsthand the ways that technology could benefit education. While completing classes alongside her rigorous training schedule, she was inspired to provide some of the same tools to students in Delray Beach, where she and her parents grew up. “This community has given me a lot, so it’s definitely important to give back,” she says.

Teaming up with Microsoft, Coco is helping to refresh the main computer lab and build two additional labs in Palm Beach County’s Achievement Centers for Children and Families (ACCF) with the donation of new devices—ensuring that their students will have updated technology available to pursue their own dreams.

“Maybe this can give a kid the opportunity to find their own passions,” Coco said before offering advice to the students. “Make your dreams as big as possible, because you never know how far they will go.”

“We are extremely thankful to have been chosen as the recipients for this collaboration. Our students were beyond excited to meet Coco virtually and have the opportunity to ask her questions and talk to her. The new computers and software will allow us to offer more assistance with homework help and even add a specialized program around coding camps for our Summer Camp program. We want to extend an enormous thank you to Coco and Microsoft for this generous contribution,” said ACCF CEO, Stephanie Seibel.

Achievement Centers for Children & Families provides high quality and affordable Out of School, Early Learning, and Family Support Programs to hundreds of low-wage families all year long. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACCF provided financial assistance for 70 families struggling to pay basic rent and utility needs. Last year, the organization provided more than 243,000 nutritious meals, including 19,000 meals through a summer food distribution, which included necessities like toilet paper, PPE, and cleaning supplies to children and families in need.

After a brief closure due to the pandemic in March of 2020, ACCF’S dedicated staff pivoted to provide in-person learning when all public-school sites shut down. ACCF launched a Virtual Learning Support (VLS) Program, a 10-hour program designed to assist students with a distance-learning environment while ensuring they had the tools needed to succeed, such as high-speed Internet and daily access to a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack. This program allowed working parents to continue to work, knowing that their child could receive the support in school that they may not have otherwise.

About Achievement Centers for Children & Families

At Achievement Centers for Children & Families children are involved in Early Learning (Toddler and Preschool), After School, Teen and Summer Camp programs that help prepare them for academic and social success and inspire them to discover their talents. Our families are served through our Family Strengthening and Economic Stabilization services which benefit the community by stabilizing families in crisis; supporting them to serve as the foundation of their child’s growth. Family strengthening services are embedded within our four core programs of Early Learning, Out of School, Teen and Summer Camp. ACCF serves hundreds of local children and families each year from three locations in Delray Beach; Nancy K. Hurd Campus, Village Academy, and Pine Grove Elementary. For more information, call (561) 266-0003 or visit www.achievementcentersFL.org