As students stuff their backpacks with pencils and textbooks, preparing to re-enter the classroom for a new school year, Comcast is committed to supporting this season of learning. In the upcoming months, as a part of Comcast’s 10-year $1 billion commitment to promoting digital equity, our partnerships with nonprofits throughout the PNR will bring resources, joy, and connectivity to communities in need.
Thirsty? Look no further than Lemonade Day!
On August 10, Portland turned into a sea of yellow for Lemonade Day, a youth entrepreneurial competition operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Portland Metro that brought lemonade stands with sweet drinks for sale to the streets. The event, supported by Comcast, was grounded in a simple mission: to empower today’s youth to be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
Participants received access to the Lemonade Day curriculum, a comprehensive, digestible guide to creating budgets, setting profit-making goals, serving customers, repaying investors, and operating a business. It was an opportunity to learn youth entrepreneurship, business skills, and financial literacy, ultimately bringing these skills to life through teamwork.
Terry Johnson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Portland Metro, praised the participants. “The creativity that our youth bring to Lemonade Day is really inspiring – we’re talking about 8- to 10-year-olds. The marketing strategies, the logos, the jingles that they use when people come up to their stands, are all really quite cool to see.”
Lemonade Day highlighted the inspirational stories of Portland youth, particularly in the touching ways they utilize their earned proceeds. Last year, some participants used the money to help parents put gas in the car, and others contributed to rent payments—in Terry’s words, “problem-solvers within their own contexts,” a testament to the event’s care, intentionality, and positive community impact.
“Seeing kids being able to create something for themselves…I think it’s really powerful,” Terry said proudly.
Checking Backpack Prep Off the List with Tools for Schools
On August 14, Comcast partnered with Tools for School, an organization dedicated to educational equity in the Portland Metro area public schools. Since 2003, Tools for School has provided free school supplies to under-resourced students and classrooms. In 2023, 36 schools in the Multnomah and Washington Counties received supplies needed to thrive in an academic environment, of which 10,000 students received their back-to-school supplies and backpacks.
Comcast is thrilled to support Tools for School by helping build back-to-school kits with new, grade-specific supplies that students can utilize in the classroom. This will promote educational equity and lift the Portland area.
Gearing Up for the School Year: New Laptops for Springfield Students
On August 24 in Springfield, Comcast teamed up with One HOPE for its annual Project HOPE Back-To-School Giveaway event. More than 100 families came out to partake in the fun and celebrate the kick-off of the new school year. Comcast joined the event, playing games, sharing resources to help families prepare for the year, giving away eight laptops, and donating $1,000 to support One HOPE’s mission.
During the event, families received essentials for the new year, from backpacks and school supplies to new shoes and socks, while kids celebrated by getting their faces painted, their hair cut, and playing games. The event also provided information on Internet Essentials, a program Xfinity offers through Comcast that provides low-cost internet service to eligible households, expanding digital equity throughout the PNR.
Project HOPE is a two-day outreach event that each year brings together more than 100 churches, businesses, and organizations to support approximately 3,000 students and their families, along with four school districts, at five Kids Fair Giveaways in the Eugene, Springfield, and Junction City areas. On the first day, churches prepare the grounds and facilities of schools for the new year. The next day, the back-to-school giveaway prepares students to start school in September.
Comcast recognizes the invaluable impact of education; we are proud to raise a generation of learners, thinkers, and doers, expand access to communities in need, and bring smiles to students across Oregon. Whether sipping on a cool drink on Lemonade Day, stuffing backpacks for Tools for Schools, or providing students with the technology they need in this digital era, back to school means bright futures for students and no dream too big.
For more information on our educational initiatives and to explore additional resources, please visit our Corporate Education page.
