Actor Sean Penn's nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort Friday announced it received a $10 million donation from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's Start Small initiative to open more COVID-19 testing across the U.S. and the Navajo Nation.
CORE stated it has set up a dozen COVID-19 test sites across California over the past five weeks and completed 100,000 tests for free through its partnerships.
"CORE is an inspiring force for good. Not only in what they're doing by increasing our testing capacity, but also by how they're doing it," Dorsey said. "The open-source approach and work to be a model for others is exactly what this country and world needs right now."
Co-founded by Penn and CORE CEO Ann Lee, the nonprofit's testing sites have already opened in Atlanta, Detroit and will soon serve New Orleans and the Navajo Nation, focused on serving vulnerable and underserved communities, including low-income groups and communities of color, as well as first responders and essential workers, the nonprofit stated.
"CORE is grateful to be among the worldwide organizations in which Jack Dorsey is entrusting with his faith and partnership,'' Penn said.
Dorsey announced his #startsmall initiative on April 7 to fund global COVID-19 relief, pledging $1 billion of his Square equity.
CORE opened its first free drive-through COVID-19 testing site in Los Angeles on March 30 under the leadership of the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Fire Department.
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The nonprofit is now assisting with the management of testing sites across California including Malibu, Oakland, Bakersfield and Napa County, according to CORE.
