Boys & Girls Clubs Of The Peninsula Launches The My.Future Technology Initiative

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula and Comcast NBCUniversal held a celebration today for the launch of My.Future, a new technology initiative designed to teach Club members about our digital world and ignite their passion for technology.

Comcast NBCUniversal is the Presenting Sponsor of My.Future, which is available to the nearly 4 million youth served by more than 4,100 Boys & Girls Clubs, including the Club kids at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula. My.Future allows Club members to select from more than 40 activities that reinforce digital literacy, including areas of exploring the web, communicating with others digitally and building media. Additional experiences allow members to explore advanced topics, such as robotics, coding and game design.

To support the technology needs of My.Future, the Comcast Foundation provided the Club with $100,000 for state-of-the-art technology and equipment, including computers, tablets, smartboards, digital cameras, music studio tools and video-editing technology funded through 2014 Comcast Foundation grant.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula youth member Roman Loza along with Fallon Smith from Comcast SportsNet kicked off the event followed by remarks given by Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula Executive Director Peter Fortenbaugh, Comcast Foundation President Charisse Lillie, and the Mayor of Redwood City, Jeffrey Gee who took part in the celebration.

"Today's young people are digital natives, born into a world where technology is ever-present and constantly changing. In order to ensure great futures for all our youth, it is our job to keep up to date with technology," said Peter Fortenbaugh, Executive Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula. "With the support of Comcast NBCUniversal and launch of My.Future, our Club members will develop the technology skills needed to pursue promising careers and thrive in today's digital world."

"Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula makes a meaningful difference in the lives of kids every day by inspiring them to become productive, caring and responsible citizens," said Charisse Lillie, President, Comcast Foundation. "Comcast NBCUniversal is proud to partner with them to launch My.Future ― helping to bridge the digital divide and develop the computer scientists, engineers, software developers and programmers of tomorrow."

Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Comcast NBCUniversal also announced today that they have entered into a five-year national partnership valued at tens of millions of dollars in cash and in-kind to support the development and launch of My.Future. Additionally, through the new partnership, Comcast will provide in-kind support that will include national airtime for Boys & Girls Clubs of America's public service announcements to communicate the benefits Boys & Girls Clubs provide to youth most in need during out-of-school-time. My.Future is part of BGCA's Great Futures Campaign, launched in July to call attention to the crisis facing kids and elevate the role of out-of-school time in reversing negative trends and empowering more youth toward success through enriching after-school and summer programs.

By partnering with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Comcast NBCUniversal is harnessing the power of technology and the Internet to expand digital literacy and help conquer the digital divide. Since 2011, Comcast and the Comcast Foundation have dedicated more than $200 million in cash and in-kind support to fund digital readiness initiatives nationwide, reaching more than 1.75 million people through non-profit, digital literacy partners, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 

According to STEMConnector.org, STEM jobs in the U.S. are expected to grow nearly twice as fast as other fields by 2018. There will be more than 8 million STEM jobs in the U.S. by 2018, but 3 million of them may go unfilled because of a lack of people with required skills. The project-based learning experiences that are a part of My.Future will expose more young people to STEM-related activities to help address this large, unmet need.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of Peninsula
BGCP partners with schools and families to improve the full-year academic experience of low-income K-12 students in the East Palo Alto, eastern Menlo Park, and Redwood City areas of the Peninsula through expanded learning time programs.  Our goal is to help underprivileged students be on-track to graduate from high school, ready for college and career. 
In our communities, one-third of youth are not graduating from high school, 60% of students are not proficient in English language arts, and 50% are not proficient in math. BGCP is tackling our community's drop-out crisis by strategically bringing together schools, families, community-based organizations, government, corporations, community, and volunteers. Over the past seven years, 90% of BGCP's school-site members graduated from high school with a plan for post-secondary education or training. 
We serve 1,800 students at nine different sites, offering small group instruction and project-based activities with programs tailored to grade level priorities in literacy and STEM. We also provide case management for the students with the greatest academic needs. Our programs enable three hours of extended learning time every day during the school year and seven hours during the summer.  This totals 700 hours of instruction time per student per year, the equivalent of an extra 100 school days.

About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts.  Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

About the Comcast Foundation
The Comcast Foundation was founded by Comcast Corporation in June 1999 to provide charitable support to qualified non-profit organizations. The Foundation primarily invests in programs intended to have a positive, sustainable impact on their communities. The Foundation has three community investment priorities—promoting service, expanding digital literacy, and building tomorrow's leaders. Since its inception, the Comcast Foundation has donated more than $153 million to organizations in the communities nationwide that Comcast serves. More information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.comcast.com/community.

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