Written by Tanya Terry
Featured photo: Comcast recently announced a $50,000 to the Greater Flint Health Coalition (GFHC), further strengthening Comcast’s ongoing partnership with GFHC. Photo provided by GFHC.
Comcast recently announced a grant donation of $50,000 to the Greater Flint Health Coalition (GFHC), which will support digital skills training for the GFHC’s Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) program, one of GFHC’s numerous programs. The FHEO program assists unemployed or underemployed residents in Genesee County by providing the necessary training and education to secure sustainable employment in the local healthcare sector.
“If you have money, you have all the access in the world,” said Jim Ananich, president and CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition.
He added: “If you have access to technology, you have a lot more advantages than other people do. We want to make sure people have equal access. FHEO is a great program we want to leverage as many resources for as possible. I’m very proud of all our programs.”
Ananich pointed out the FHEO program works well for people who have had issues with their job, simply want a new career or even have never had a career.
“If you’re getting a healthcare job, and especially if it’s a CNA, medical assistant or surgical tech kind of a job, you’ve probably went through our training program,” Ananich said. “EMT…a lot of folks have went through our program.”
Ananich explained the grant was used to help people in the community navigate technology, whether they are part of the FHEO program or not.
Ananich explained that GFHC approached Comcast about the grant money and were told the criteria stated the grant had to be used to address the digital divide. This ensures everyone in the community has access to the digital world we now live in, he stated.
The grant will fund digital literacy training, basic computer skills, interview preparation, resume development and revision, critical thinking and problem-solving, Microsoft Office utilization, and job search and employment preparation.
“We work with eight different sites in the community to train a number of digital health navigators. We’re training people to train people. So, we think this will have a lasting effect. Even after the money is gone, we’ll still be able to continue to train people and get access to the digital age. It’s so critical.”
Ananich stated if residents go into one of the sites the navigators are training at, they are not asked if they are in the FHEO program, nor required to be in it in order to learn the digital skills.
Craig D’Agostini, vice president of external affairs at Comcast, said the grant was designed to make sure residents in Genesee County have access to quality broadband, as well as that when they get the service they are able to use the service to improve their lives. He said that could mean getting more accessible healthcare through telehealth, being able to improve their economic conditions through online banking because they have access to broadband and having, in general, access to important information, including government information that could impact their lives.
D’Agostini pointed out Comcast gave a similar grant to the GFHC in 2023, which was also for $50,000, and was also given for the purpose of improving broadband access and the ability to use it.
Both grants were part of This grant is a part of Project UP, Comcast’s $1 billion commitment to providing digital opportunities and advancing economic mobility.
“It’s all geared towards making sure people are connected and that they’ve got the resources they need to succeed digitally to be successful, said D’Agostini. “You’ll see evidence of ProjectUp throughout the whole nation, where you will see these kinds of grants. It’s under the umbrella of ProjectUp.”
To learn more about ProjectUp, visit https://corporate.comcast.com/impact/project-up.
To learn more about GFHC and its programs, including the FHEO program, visit https://gfhc.org/.
