Comcast Cares Day brought more than 150 volunteers together at Hillside Community Center in Colorado Springs — and some exciting news for the city’s youth, as well.
During the event’s opening ceremony, Rich Jennings, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Mountain West Region, presented the city with a $25,000 grant in support of its Olympic City USA youth development initiatives.
“Today we are announcing we are a proud supporter of Olympic City USA and its community programs,” said Jennings. “These programs are designed to bring youth together with athletes and members of the Olympic and Paralympic community and experience the unique opportunities and benefits of living in Olympic City USA.”
The purpose is to foster innovation, inclusion and opportunity.
Mayor John Suthers thanked Comcast for its contribution, calling it incredible support for the city’s young people. He detailed several of the projects that would be supported by the grant including scholarships for youth athletic programs, support for school field day events, and funding to send United States Olympic athletes into local classrooms to motivate and inspire students.
Colorado Springs officially gained the moniker Olympic City USA in 2016. It is home to multiple Olympic entities including 23 National Governing Bodies of Sport, the United States Olympic Committee, the under-construction United States Olympic Museum and the Olympic Training Center, which welcomes 10,000 athletes each year. The city has sought to leverage its unique proximity to its many Olympic assets to provide a positive environment for its young people to thrive.
David L. Cohen, Comcast Corporation Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer shared insight into the company’s decision to award the grant to the city of Colorado Springs.
“Comcast believes in the strength of public-private partnerships. Neither the government nor a private company can do it all alone,” Cohen explained. “The grant we have provided today is a perfect demonstration of that partnership. We want to help Mayor Suthers grow this program and meet the goals of exposing every young person in Colorado Springs to the Olympics and the Olympic movement in some way.”
Comcast prides itself on its commitment to making an impact in its local communities through investments like the Olympic City USA grant. The purpose is to foster innovation, inclusion and opportunity. Since 2001, the company has donated over $25 million in grants to local non-profits and six million service hours to local community projects. This year, Comcast estimated that more than 100,000 volunteers participated in Comcast Cares Day, working on approximately 1,200 projects across 23 countries.
“Our slogan for Comcast Cares day is ‘making a difference in our communities’ and all of the programs that we support in our company are effectively cheering for those who get left behind,” said Cohen.
At Parkside Community Center, the volunteer roster included Olympic gold medalists Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando, twin sisters who played hockey for the U.S. Women’s National Team in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Their team took the gold in overtime after a goal by Monique tied the game and a goal by Jocelyne cinched the win. The two athletes have been traveling the country as Comcast Ambassadors, working to further its efforts to promote volunteerism, gender equity, digital equity and other initiatives. During Comcast Cares Day, they worked alongside employees from the company’s local call center and other areas of Colorado, preparing Parkside’s gardens for summer planting and applying fresh coats of paint to its gym and pavilion.
“We’re really passionate about giving back, especially to the youth,” said Jocelyn. “We want to create opportunities for kids that might not be available otherwise.”
“We enjoy helping to level the playing field,” said Monique. “It’s been a lot of fun to use our voices to help others and we appreciate that Comcast has given us a bigger platform to do that.”
