LeBron James’ Ohio school gets $1M grant to build gymnasium

AKRON, OH – JULY 30: The Goodyear blimp flies over the I Promise School prior to the arrival of LeBron James on July 30, 2018 in Akron, Ohio. The School is a partnership between the LeBron James Family foundation and the Akron Public School and is designed to serve Akron’s most challenged students. Jason Miller/Getty Images/AFP

AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio school that receives funding from basketball star LeBron James’ foundation is getting $1 million from the foundation of a sporting goods retailer to build a new gymnasium.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports James, currently with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, announced the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation grant Thursday at his alma mater, St. Vincent St. Mary High school in Akron.

The gym will be built at I Promise School, a partnership between James’ family foundation and the Akron Public Schools. It opened last year with an enrollment of around 240 third- and fourth-graders designed to help at-risk children with a curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

James says the new gymnasium will provide children with “an opportunity to play and learn in a safe place.”