Pascal Siakam is pushing to close the gender gap in tech.

The Toronto Raptors player recently gave out free laptops to young girls in the city, according to Complex Canada.

Helping Young Girls Have An Advantage In Tech

For his Coding For Champions initiative that’s under his PS43 Foundation and supported by Penny Appeal Canada, Siakam paid a visit to Regent Park’s Bill Graham Youth Centre — where he had the laptop giveaway. 

“I think for me, I’m always wanting to do something [positive], and I know that I’ve been blessed with a lot of opportunities, being in the position that I am,” he said, according to the outlet.

Being Driven By His Humble Beginnings

As of now, the youth program has committed over $400,000 for local, underserved students to have access to technology in an effort to combat Toronto’s digital divide.

“Look around, man. There’s cell phones [everywhere]. I think that for me, being from Cameroon, I know the difficulties in not having access to technology,” said Siakam. “And I know that also here [in Toronto] as well, in some of these communities, you go to certain families and there’s one computer for the whole family. I think that just knowing that, wanted to make sure that I show support. And if a kid has an opportunity now to do his homework on his own and he has his own computer, they get to learn their own things. I think it encourages kids even more to want to learn.”

Pascal Siakam x Kickback

The free laptops event is far from Siakam’s first instance of giving back.

As previously reported by AfroTech, the power forward and his foundation partnered with sneaker-based charity Kickback to donate $25,000 and sneakers to Toronto youth.

“The Kickback Foundation is incredible for both its local and global outreach,” said Siakam. “Coming from humble beginnings, where sneakers were scarce to find or have in Africa, I could not be happier to support a cause that exemplifies ambition at a high level and helps make sport, art, and life skills accessible to underserved communities. This allows youth to feel confident; this is what life is about; helping each other in as many ways as possible, especially our youth.”