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Alcatel-Lucent Foundation donates 210,000 USD to organizations providing educational and career opportunities for young women and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Poland


WEBWIRE

Foundation for Poland and Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation first in Poland to receive Alcatel-Lucent Foundation grants; employees to provide mentoring and tutoring help

Warsaw - The Alcatel-Lucent Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), has provided funding for programs designed to give young women from disadvantaged backgrounds access to more educational and career opportunities.

The Alcatel-Lucent Foundation has granted The Foundation for Poland a donation of 140,000 USD and the Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation a donation of 70,000 USD. These two grants are the first awarded by the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation to charitable organizations in Poland. In addition to the financial support, Alcatel-Lucent employees are volunteering as mentors and tutors to support both programs being operated by these non-governmental organizations.

“Many of the young women these two programs serve come from backgrounds that could hamper their chances for development,” said Andrzej Dulka, head of Alcatel-Lucent in Poland. “Alcatel-Lucent is committed to being involved corporate citizens in the communities where we live and work, and this grant from the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation is one demonstration of that, as is the fact that our employees are volunteering to help make these programs a success. I hope the skills gained by the young people will give them opportunities they wouldn’t have thought possible even a year ago. That will be good for them and for Poland.”

The Foundation for Poland is using its grant to launch a two-year program – Women’s Act -- that provides programs and training for young women, ages 16 to 22 years old, to help them improve their social skills and career opportunities. The project consists of a series of complementary activities including training, scholarships and self-help clubs for young women. The project is designed to help participants build and develop pro-active and entrepreneurial attitudes, encourage them to take responsibility for their own lives, discover their potential and skills, and plan their individual career paths and professional initiatives. The program will accommodate 40 young women from Warsaw and Bydgoszcz and other Polish cities until 2011.

“It’s very inspiring to see how young women - already closed, unbelieving in theirs competences, full of fears – develop self confidence. They begin to believe in their own abilities, have a sense that they can live differently and achieve something,” said Agnieszka Sawczuk, director of the Foundation for Polish. “It is great that we can take part in their transformation”

Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation started its two-year program “Support for the Startup” aiming to build an effective support system for girls between the ages of 15 and 18 years old from the orphanages run by the Foundation to guide them as they begin to enter the labor market. Participants will receive specialized courses and training to help them master English and will attend motivation workshops. They will also receive psychological support and advice on life choices through skilled counselors available at orphanages run by Gdansk Foundation of Social innovation. The program is expected to work with eight teens in Gdansk until 2012.

"I am delighted that we can carry out the Support for the Startup initiatives” – said Malgorzata Gojlo-Kaligowska, coordinator of the project at Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation. “During the program its participants will get help developing the kinds of social and professional attitudes that will give them a better start in independent, adult life after leaving our homes for children.”

“One of the focus areas of the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation is on programs that help youth, particularly girls and young women, from disadvantaged areas have access to training to help them prepare for the business world,” said Béatrice Tassot, Executive Director of the Alcatel‑Lucent Foundation. “These programs are terrific examples of this effort, and I am sure that the young women and girls who participate will come out of these programs more confident, with skills that will help them in the business world and with a better understanding of possibilities ahead.”

About Foundation for Poland
The Foundation for Poland was established in 1990 as a branch of the Fondation de France, becoming one of the biggest grants making institution in Poland. In 1997 the Foundation was registered as an independent organization. The prime objective of the Foundation, in the changed socio-economic conditions, was to create adequate mechanisms and tools that would enable both private individuals and companies to support philanthropic goals of their choosing. Foundation for Poland focuses on providing services to charitable organizations and their supporters. Its goal is to create and develop various forms of social activities through which both private individuals and institutions can pursue their own philanthropic objectives. The Foundation seeks innovative projects and effective tools for solving social problems. For more information, visit Foundation for Poland on the Internet: http//www.fdp.org.pl

About Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation
Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation is a dynamically developing non-profit organisation created by people who work in different aspects of social assistance, gathering many people with positive attitude who want to make the word better. Its aim is to create positive changes in hitherto solutions to social problems. The organization implements into life the idea of social changes carried out with and for people. The foundation motto says: “New way of thinking gives new ways of perceiving”. Its directional actions: Homes for children, enterprising youth, local communities development voluntary work and education. For more information, visit Gdansk Foundation of Social Innovation on the Internet: external linkhttp://www.gfis.pl

About the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation
The Alcatel-Lucent Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Alcatel-Lucent and it leads the company’s charitable activities. With a focus on education and volunteerism, the Foundation’s mission is to support the commitment of Alcatel-Lucent to social responsibility by serving and enhancing the communities where its employees and customers live and work. To accomplish its mission, the Foundation manages grants, corporate contributions and employee volunteerism on a global level. It is defined as a “charitable”, non-governmental, non-profit, private organization that receives its income from the corporation — Alcatel-Lucent — whose name it bears. However, legally it is an independent entity and is governed by its own board of trustees that is separate from the corporate board of directors. For more information, visit: www.alcatel-lucent.com/foundation

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: external linkhttp://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.



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