Jamaica Student Selected for Inaugural Class of Spectrum Scholars

Charter Communications, Inc. today announced that Jamaica resident Kristalyn Billips was selected as one of 20 college juniors who will make up its inaugural class of Spectrum Scholars.

The company’s new, two-year educational and mentorship initiative is designed for underrepresented students with financial need. As a recipient, Kristalyn will receive a $20,000 scholarship, a Charter professional mentor, and the opportunity to explore an internship with the company.

Kristalyn grew up in Jamaica, Queens and graduated from Frank McCourt High School located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Growing up, Kristalyn and her younger brother were raised in a single-parent household by her mother and was heavily influenced by her mom, aunts, cousins and late-grandmother who always instilled the importance of humility and education to her. She attributes all their encouragement as her motivation and inspiration for attending Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Currently a Marketing major at Howard, Kristalyn has always been an avid lover of sports and sneakers, which only fed her admiration of marketing tactics that various major sneaker brands used and the athletes that endorsed them. This led to her decision to studying marketing in college and she hopes to have such an impact with her own creativity when she graduates from Howard in 2022.

“We would like to congratulate our first-ever class of Spectrum Scholars,” said Rhonda Crichlow, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for Charter. “This program is a wonderful investment in the development of our future workforce and furthers our commitment to invest back into the diverse communities we serve. We look forward to engaging with these college students this fall and introducing them to the many different career opportunities within our company.”

Said Kristalyn, “To me being selected as a Spectrum Scholar means being a strong, yet humble leader, while being someone who values education. While pursuing higher education, you become an open book to learning - whether that applies to learning about people or from books. Your mind is never completely closed off to any one idea. I thank Charter for selecting me as part of its inaugural class and the opportunity to expand my horizons through the mentorship and internship program.”

Spectrum Scholars were selected by Charter and its national nonprofit partners, The American Indian College Fund, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, UNCF (United Negro College Fund) and SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers), with some recipients affiliated with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Tribal Colleges (TCUs). Recipients have a variety of majors including business, finance, engineering and communications and were required to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in order to be eligible to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship recipients were introduced to the program via a virtual professional development series that began on October 1.

Spectrum Scholars is one of several philanthropic programs developed by Charter to support communities throughout its 41-state service area. Other programs include Spectrum Housing Assist, which recently met its goal of making 50,000 homes safer and healthier by the end of 2020; Spectrum Digital Education, through which Charter has awarded $6 million in cash grants and in-kind commitments to support broadband education, training and technology; and Spectrum Employee Community Grants, which supports Charter employees’ volunteer activities and so far has impacted more than 160 social and human services organizations in 25 states. Through the Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund, Charter has committed to investing $16 million to support loans to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in the company’s footprint, and to support Black and other minority-owned small businesses. More information on Charter’s Community Impact initiatives is available at https://corporate.charter.com/community-impact.

About Charter

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 30 million customers in 41 states through its Spectrum brand. Over an advanced communications network, the company offers a full range of state-of-the-art residential and business services including Spectrum Internet®, TV, Mobile and Voice.

For small and medium-sized companies, Spectrum Business® delivers the same suite of broadband products and services coupled with special features and applications to enhance productivity, while for larger businesses and government entities, Spectrum Enterprise provides highly customized, fiber-based solutions. Spectrum Reach® delivers tailored advertising and production for the modern media landscape. The company also distributes award-winning news coverage, sports and high-quality original programming to its customers through Spectrum Networks and Spectrum Originals. More information about Charter can be found at corporate.charter.com.