Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Twp. get $50,000 grant for tech program

Thanks to a $50,000 grant, members of the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township may be able to take their computer skills to a new level.

Awarded by the Comcast Foundation, a charitable entity of Comcast, the grant will go toward expanding My.Future, a technology training program that gives users a chance to build upon their skills week after week, said Curt McReynolds, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township.

"It allows our club members to advance their computer skills and allows them to be able to keep up with some members in the community that are a little more affluent and have more resources at home," McReynolds said. "What this grant will allow us to do is support greater resources for the program."

The grant will be used for purchasing new equipment, such as tablets, printers, digital cameras, music studio tools and video editing software, according to a news release from Comcast. Additionally, it will allow club staff members to be better trained in the program.

The club has offered a version of the program for several years, McReynolds said, and it can be used by members at all grade levels, from elementary school to high school.

In addition to programs for technology beginners, he said, My.Future also offers programs in robotics, coding, graphic design and online journalism,

"Our goal is to really expand it out and try to reach more kids with more sessions of the program," McReynolds said.

Comcast partners with the Boys and Girls Club organization on a national level, but the Dundee Township chapter is one close to the heart of Chris Nelson, director of government and regulatory affairs for Comcast.

Nelson, also the village president of West Dundee, has been on the club's board of directors since 2010 and said he has witnessed firsthand the positive influence the club can have on participating kids.

"It has made it possible for me to advocate for (the club) to receive one of the more substantial grants the Comcast Foundation makes on an annual basis," he said. "My team and I here (at Comcast) worked really hard to obtain it for them. We're very proud of it, and I'm glad I work for a company willing to invest our time and monetary resources."

Comcast has granted about $70,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township over five years, Nelson said, but there has never before been a donation as large as this one.

"Knowing this particular chapter as well as I do, I know it will be well utilized," he said.