Spectrum awards grant to VPI

December 30, 2024

APPLETON – VPI, Inc. will receive a second round of funding – $40,000 – through Spectrum Community Center Assist, Spectrum’s five-year, $30 million philanthropic initiative aiming to revitalize local community centers and invest in job training programs in rural and urban underserved communities where Spectrum operates. 

Rhonda Crichlow – senior vice president and chief diversity officer for Charter Communications, Inc., which operates the Spectrum brand of products – said this investment brings Spectrum’s two-year total to $90,000 as the company renewed its partnership with VPI earlier in December.

“Community centers like VPI, Inc. are hallmarks of our neighborhoods, where people go for support, shared experiences and develop new job skills or find new employment,” Crichlow said. “Spectrum Community Assist will help VPI provide essential employment training and resources to help the greater Appleton community in a safe and revitalized physical space.”

Tim Riebau, president/CEO of VPI, said the organization will use the funding for its education and employment programs – bringing on additional staff, increasing service capacity and supplies and resources needed for employment training participants.

Spectrum also donated new laptops and dedicated a new training and technology room to support the organization’s training and technology programs, Riebau said, as well as provide First Ward Community Services its advanced 1 gigabit-per-second internet service.

“This grant from Spectrum has put VPI in a position to serve so many more individuals in our community that are in need of job skills and work opportunities,” he said, “with a secondary benefit of making our working community more inclusive and diverse.”