Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have partnered to give back to children in Atlanta. According to Atlanta News First, the two music industry executives linked with Dallas Austin to bring an Innovational Learning Center to Frederick Douglass High School. The program, which is called the “Iovine and Young Center,” offers the students a different learning model where they can focus on technology and leadership. Both Dr. Dre and Iovine introduced the program on Tuesday (August 29).
Students will be able to enroll in the program next school year. Caleb Mitchell, a sophomore, said he hopes to sign up in 2024, saying, “I think it will help bring out [the] potential of students and help them engage more… I think this will provide more opportunities for us.”
Iovine spoke at length about the incentive to create an alternative model of learning to these young people. He said they all have “superpowers” that need activation.
“We believe we’re going to give these kids an advantage, a different type of education,” he said. “So, you all can sell these kids, go out there and say you want these kids. Because the modern job needs these kids. That’s why.”
The Frederick Douglass High School, which counts Killer Mike, Kilo Ali, Lil Jon, T.I. and former mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as distinguished alum, will be the second high school Dre and Iovine have invested in over the years.
As previously reported by AllHipHop.com, they created a magnet program within Compton High School in 2022. Dr. Dre personally dished out $10 million of his own money to help fund the $200 million renovation the campus.
“Me and Dre think big,” Iovine added. “We think everybody in the world’s going to learn like this well, maybe! We never thought everybody in the world would wear our headphones, but they did.”