70-year-old Ernestine lives alone in her home of 40 years. Ernestine worked as a law clerk for 20 years before severe back issues forced her into early retirement. For the past 11 years since Ernestine’s husband has passed, she has not been able to keep up with the repair work on her home.

Charter’s Spectrum Housing Assist program came to Ernestine’s rescue and with the help of nonprofit organization, Rebuilding Together, they made critical repairs to Ernestine’s home. The repairs made on Ernestine’s home included: concrete step repair, painting, landscaping, and safety items in the home.

Charter is committed to improving communities and impacting lives where our customers and employees live and work. Through their philanthropic initiative, Spectrum Housing Assist, Spectrum partners with nonprofit organizations and engages employees and community volunteers in order to provide critical home repairs across the United States.

Charter’s national nonprofit partner is Rebuilding Together, an organization that rebuilds homes and strengthens our country’s most vulnerable communities with critical home repairs, accessibility modifications and energy-efficient upgrades.

Charter has a strong presence in Indiana – and is committed to bringing this national initiative to life in communities in which we live and work. As of 2018, nearly 3,500 employees have rolled up their sleeves and volunteered more than 20,000 hours to improve more than 14,000 homes nationwide

INDIANAPOLIS – On May 4, 2019 approximately 1,000 Comcast volunteers came together to help revitalize neighborhoods in central Indiana.

Comcast Indiana Spokesman Mike Wilson spoke on the work they would be doing for Comcast Cares Day by saying,

“We’ll go out and help Boys and Girls Club, and Girls Inc. of Indiana and Easter Seals and go to a location and do any number of things like mulch work or helping with landscaping,”

Comcast is committed to service and volunteer work. During the 18th annual Comcast Cares Day, more than 100,000 volunteers participated all around the country.

FISHERS — Comcast Business hosted an event at the Indiana Internet of Things Lab on September 13, 2018. Comcast’s Internet of Things, kitchen edition included a very special guest, Robert Irvine. Irvine, a seasoned Food Network host, spoke on how the Internet of Things within the kitchen can transform the way chefs prepare food.

Comcast Business planned this event due to their investment in The Yard development in Fishers. The Yard is a $40 million investment bringing a new dining district, shopping, and the Indiana Internet of Things Lab into Fishers. Comcast, as the Internet partner for the Indiana Internet of Things Lab, wanted to provide a learning opportunity to new and experienced restauranteurs by providing them an opportunity to learn from a world renown chef who uses these technologies in the kitchen on a daily basis.

Indiana Internet of Things Lab founder, John Wechsler, spoke on the new opportunities chefs may be able to take part in with upcoming technology,

“There are many industries on the verge of being completely transformed by technology. It’s critical we raise awareness to engage our entrepreneurs in this transformation and with the culinary incubator at The Yard at Fishers District in full development, the timing is significant.”

Each year, Comcast NBCUniversal awards high school students around the country with their Leaders and Achievers scholarships. Since its origin in 2001, the Leaders and Achievers scholarship has awarded almost $33 million to high school students. Students awarded these scholarships must have engaged in community service, exhibited outstanding character qualities, proven leadership capability, and maintained a 3.0 average GPA.

Comcast NBCUniversal awarded $192,000 in 2019-2020 Leaders and Achievers scholarships to 72 students. These one-time scholarships for upcoming undergraduates amount to $2,500 to be used for education-related expenses.

The eight high school Hoosiers receiving scholarships from Comcast NBCUniversal can be found below.

Mary Beatty – Plymouth High School – Plymouth, IN
Jacob Forsythe – John Adams High School – South Bend, IN
Daniel Heredia – Hammond High School – Hammond, IN
Connor Kulp – Goshen High School – Goshen, IN
Chelsye Roberts – Thea Bowman Leadership Academy – Gary, IN
Fernanda Robles – Concord Community High School – Elkhart, IN
Faith Spencer – Hobart High School – Hobart, IN
Bryleigh Towell – Rochester Community High School – Rochester, IN

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association partnered with the Rural Broadband Caucus to host a panel in Washington, DC. This panel provided member companies the ability to share programs and initiatives they are implementing to expand broadband to underserved areas.

Representative Peter Welch of Vermont said, “If we’re going to make any progress in revitalizing rural America, then broadband is just bottom line essential.”

Our members who attended this panel spoke about programs they are implementing all across the country to improve rural broadband for Hoosiers.

Comcast spoke on their promise to make sure unserved areas are “tightly defined,” so that areas with little or no broadband access are targeted precisely.

Mediacom has now deployed one gigabit service to 98% of its service area. Mediacom has proven their capability to bring “small-town America” up to speed and vows to reach more rural areas.

Charter spoke on their trials using fixed wireless technology to bring broadband to rural America. Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Colleen King said, “We’re looking to see how we can use new wireless technologies to expand the reach of our network.”

Charter is currently working with the Federal Communications Commission to open up the potential possibilities for unlicensed spectrum, allowing providers to expand beyond the normal fiber network.

Indiana Congresswoman Susan Brooks Applauds Passage of Bill that Prevents Fraudulent and Abusive Robocalls

The Locking Up Robocallers Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill, passed out of the House of Representatives as a part of The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act. The House of Representatives passed legislation that protects Hoosiers privacy and personal data.

Indiana’s 5^th District Representative, Susan Brooks, is a co-sponsor of the Locking Up Robocallers Act of 2019 and is proud to be protecting Hoosiers. Congresswoman Brooks spoke on the passage of the legislation by saying,

“Today, the House passed a bipartisan bill to protect American consumers from pesky, dangerous and illegal robocalls that continue to scam hard-working Americans out of time and money. I’m proud the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act includes our bill because it is critically important to ensure those who perpetuate scams through unlawful robocalls are prosecuted and held accountable under the law.”

Sponsor of the bill, Congressman A. Donald McEachin of Virginia, said of the legislation,

“Today’s vote is a positive development for ending the robocall epidemic. Americans are sick and tired of unsolicited robocalls, which can be a nuisance or even predatory. The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act will help reduce the number of spam robocalls received and protect consumers. I thank my colleagues for voting it out of the House and I look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to help this bill become law.”

Robocalls are a danger to the public and put Hoosiers’ data safety at risk. The Locking Up Robocallers Act of 2019 directs the Federal Communications Commission to provide evidence of unlawful robocall violations to the state Attorney General and would require the Federal Communications Commission to publish and submit a report outlining the number and types of robocaller violations to Congress. This Act strengthens enforcement of current law aimed at ending the countless amounts of predatory robocalls impacting Hoosiers on a daily basis.