Lightspeed Systems to Receive Computing Credits and Technical Expertise for Advancing Equitable Mental Health, Wellness, and Education for Underserved Student Populations
Austin, Texas—November 27, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced that it has been selected as part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Health Equity Initiative, a $40 million, three-year commitment, supporting organizations developing solutions to advance health equity.
Through the initiative, AWS offers AWS credits and customized technical expertise to selected organizations around the world that want to use AWS services to improve health outcomes and health equity in any of the following areas: 1) increasing access to health services for underserved communities; 2) addressing social determinants of health; 3) leveraging data to promote more equitable and inclusive systems of care; and 4) advancing equity in diagnostics and screening.
“We are excited to collaborate with AWS to further enhance Lightspeed’s Safety & Wellness solution, enabling K-12 school districts to proactively identify students in crisis, and creating opportunities for early intervention and support, which research shows can improve health outcomes for kids,” said Brook Bock, Chief Product Officer at Lightspeed Systems. “Combining online activity monitoring and risk analysis with 24/7/365 human review and threat escalation, the Safety & Wellness solution enables schools to reach struggling students earlier and take life-changing steps to protect their community.”
Advancing Equitable Mental Health, Wellness, and Education for Underserved Student Populations
Lightspeed Systems has been a frequent collaborator with AWS to provide secure and scalable solutions for K12 education. This specific grant from AWS will advance Lightspeed Systems’ efforts to allow schools to better identify and support students in underserved and underrepresented communities with proactive outreach, support, and services for mental well-being and home connectivity.
With this grant, Lightspeed Systems will expand its Safety & Wellness solution to specifically serve all student populations in the following ways:
- Expand language monitoring within Lightspeed Alert™ so that concerning digital incidents are surfaced, independent of the native language spoken by students, supporting all students in receiving the help they need amidst the current mental health crisis.
- Identify students without reliable home internet, which may impede learning, slow identification of mental health or wellness concerns, and limit access to critical medical support so schools are able to provide hotspots and other access connectivity services.
- Provide schools with detailed activity reports on how segments of students are using key resources to best drive educational outcomes.
“AWS believes individual health outcomes should not depend on socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or neighborhood,” said Maggie Carter, Global Lead, Social Impact at AWS. “Cloud technology can help address inequities in global health to expand access to the services people need to live longer, healthier lives–no matter who they are or where they live. Through the AWS Health Equity Initiative, we look forward to helping Lightspeed Systems and other organizations worldwide use the power of cloud computing to advance health equity and improve health outcomes.”
To learn more about the AWS initiative, visit https://aws.amazon.com/health/health-equity.
About Lightspeed Systems®
Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.
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Media Contact:
Ray Hartjen
Lightspeed Systems
(925) 895-5441