LONGMONT - Nonprofit First Nations Development Institute received $20,000 from the Comcast Foundation to fund production of video public service announcements, plus $1 million worth of airtime from Comcast to broadcast the announcements' reach.

Headquartered in Longmont, First Nations serves Native American communities throughout the United States.

It works to improve economic conditions for Native Americans through technical assistance and training, advocacy and policy and direct financial grants in five areas: financial and investor education, combating predatory lending, business and asset development, strengthening nonprofit organizations and improving food systems and health.

"There is an urgent need in American Indian communities for the economic development work that we do, but we can only grow our reach, capacity and successes by building more public awareness and understanding of the issues involved with Native American communities," said Michael Roberts, president of First Nations. "This grant will be a huge step toward creating that heightened awareness and understanding, plus hopefully attracting more charitable dollars for our efforts."

First Nations hopes to launch its PSA campaign early this year in selected Comcast cable TV markets around the United States, after first producing the spots locally.