MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Comcast, the selected broadband expansion partner of the Monongalia County Commission, awarded $15,000 each to two non-profits Wednesday. The grants are part of Project UP, Comcast’s $1 billion commitment to advance digital equity through programs and community partnerships.
The Morgantown Area Partnership and West Virginia Women Work each will receive $15,000 to connect people to the Internet in an effort to open learning and training opportunities that allow people to achieve career and economic success, according to Kevin Broadhurst, Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs of Comcast’s Keystone Region.
“We have shared goals of improving people’s digital literacy,” Broadhurst said. “Helping them gain the skills they need to get the jobs that are going to improve their lives and increase their economic mobility.”
The Morgantown Area Partnership will use the funds to maintain and expand a resume bank that was originally created by the Monongalia County Commission, hold digital equity training, and resume writing classes.
“We realize the resume writing bank and the digital literacy skills aspect of that is something that aligns with what we like to see,” Broadhurst said.
The second $15,000 grant has been awarded to West Virginia Women Work. The organization helps women gain the skills to enter the workforce and works with companies like March-Weston, Comcast, EQT, Equitrans, Marathon, and the state Department of Highways On the Job Training Program.
“We run students through soft skills—resume writing and things like that—and we also run them through the trades,” West Virginia Women’s Work Chief Financial Officer Dara Britton said. “They get a week of plumbing, a week of electrical, and a week of construction.”
Britton said their partner organizations worked hard to keep them going during pandemic shutdowns, and post-pandemic they have some of the largest classes ever. This grant will help them better serve students at their construction pre-apprenticeship program in Morgantown or their manufacturing pre-apprenticeship program in Charleston.
“Thanks to our private funders, we were able to come back, and we are bigger and better than ever,” Britton said. “We have our biggest class in Morgantown that we have ever had.”
Putting opportunities into the hands of as many people as possible with the goal of giving them tools to improve their lives is the community footprint Comcast wants to leave.
“We do think that when the entire community is improved and their economic prospects are greater, we think that’s great for our business and the community in general,” Broadhurst said.