“Much of Comcast’s community involvement is focused on creating opportunities for youth, and on helping build tomorrow’s leaders,” said Fred Graffam, regional senior vice president for Comcast. “Parents play a critical role in youth leadership development, and we’re pleased to partner with MSDE for the third year to recognize Maryland parents and their contributions to our children and to our future.”

The call for nominations was made during a special launch ceremony held at Annapolis Middle School, International Baccalaureate Middle Years programme candidate school, in Anne Arundel County. Two key parent involvement initiatives at the school were highlighted during the event: the Moveable Feast and Kids at Hope® program. While these programs are new to the school, they have already ignited excitement in staff, parents, and students.

• With Moveable Feast, school staff members bring the school into the surrounding community by hosting school-related functions at community centers. Past events have included a Back-to-School Night at the Eastport Terrace Community Recreation Center and a Hispanic Heritage event at Tyler Heights Elementary School where school information was also shared. The next event will focus on the student-led conferences and will be held at the Boys and Girls Club in Annapolis.
  
  
• Kids at Hope® is a researched strategy designed to help children succeed. It is about creating cultures, not about programs, using shared, consistent, inclusive actions based on matching individual missions with a shared belief that “all children can succeed – NO EXCEPTIONS.”

The Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Awards program was developed to shine a spotlight on parents who have demonstrated significant involvement in the following areas: Communication, Volunteering, Learning, Decision Making and Community Collaboration. The program’s theme, Choose Your Seat. Get Involved., illustrates the point that Maryland parents are involved in a wide range of activities to support their public schools and to encourage all parents to get involved whatever way they can.

“Comcast’s unwavering support of MSDE initiatives has been critical in allowing us to move ahead of the pack, particularly in parent involvement,” said Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick. “In a time of widespread financial challenges, Comcast has continued their support of positive initiatives for Maryland families.”

Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award nominees must be parents or legal guardians of children attending Maryland public schools, and cannot be employees of Comcast, MSDE, or the Maryland public school system. Twenty four semifinalists will be selected – one parent from each of the 23 Maryland counties and one from Baltimore City. Of the semifinalists, five finalists and one statewide winner will be named at an award celebration hosted by Comcast in the spring of 2010.

Nomination forms are currently available and can be downloaded at www.MarylandPublicSchools.org/pima. Nominations must be postmarked by Wednesday, January 20, 2010.

About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communication products and services. With 23.8 million cable customers, 15.7 million high-speed Internet customers, and 7.4 million Comcast Digital Voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast’s Eastern Division serves approximately 5.7 million residential and business customers across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC. The Eastern Division is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania and employs more than 20,000 people.