14 Oregon Nonprofits Awarded $115,476 in New Grants from Verizon

Grants Support Education, Literacy, Work Force Skills, and Technology Applications

December 16, 2005, BEAVERTON, Ore. - The Verizon Foundation has awarded $115,476 in grants to14 Oregon nonprofit organizations providing educational and technological services to their clients. The foundation has contributed a total of $195,476 to organizations statewide this year.

“Verizon’s commitment to literacy, technology and work force training go hand-in-hand with our company’s deployment of technology to benefit customers,” said John Gustafson, Verizon Northwest director of external affairs. “These grants offer expanded opportunities for those served by these organizations.”

The following organizations have received grants:

Beaverton Education Foundation - $5,000 to support the BEF Mini-Grant program for teachers, which provides Beaverton students additional classroom learning and enrichment opportunities. Teachers are able to design their projects to best offer their students computer-based learning projects and advanced science studies that utilize recent technological advances.

Centro Cultural de Condado de Washington County - $10,000 to support the Adult Literacy Program, which will provide adult basic education, basic computer training and English as a second language for low-income, rural Latinos in western Washington County. Currently, Centro has 200 students who register each term for twice-weekly tutoring classes. Students are also introduced to the Ellis Program, a multi-media program that involves them actively in the learning process on the computer. The use of computers in teaching basic education has proven to be very successful in helping students find family-wage jobs.

Community Action Organization - $8,000 to support the Learning Circle (TLC), a mobile training program for childcare providers in Washington County in which they learn to use appropriate skills and techniques to nurture literacy development. Books and related teaching materials for training sessions are provided.

Mt. Hood Community College - $9,500 to recruit and support survivors of domestic violence as they complete the Transitions program and successfully enter college training programs that will lead to economic independence. Funds will be used to support a domestic violence advocate, who will use Internet technology to send community resource and college skills information to participants. They will meet regularly with the advocate, who will track their academic performance, persistence and goal completion.

Newberg School District - $12,000 to provide funds for hardware, software and instruction time to integrate graphic and visual technologies into existing curriculum. A master teacher will be trained in visual literacy and will, in turn, teach other teachers to use the latest teaching technology.

One Economy - $12,000 to help the agency augment online content offerings, supporting victims of domestic violence. There will be a special focus on Latinas. The Hillsboro/Washington County Beehive is an online tool for information and referral. It will provide focused health care, career development and independence-building skills for families using emergency services, such as food or utility assistance. Over 50,000 families will be helped each year.

Oregon Newspaper Foundation - $2,500 to provide, under the Newspapers in Education Program, The Observer newspaper in La Grande to classrooms in the Union and Wallowa County area at no charge. This will help teachers to enrich instruction, improve literacy and provide Web-based curriculum-centered content for students.

Pacific University -- $2,500 to underwrite Verizon’s co-sponsorship of the next Tom McCall Forum, to be held in February 2006. The annual forum is a major fund-raiser for Pacific and helps provide scholarship aid for students who otherwise could not afford to attend the university. Every year, the forum brings to Portland two of the top political thinkers in the U.S. to debate public policy issues. The speakers at the next forum will be columnist and author Patrick Buchanan and Tom Daschle, the former U.S. Senator and Democratic leader.

SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) - $ 8,576 to expand and enhance SOLV’s interactive Web site, which will assist SOLV in reaching its goal of providing 200,000 volunteer opportunities annually. As visitors become informed and inspired, the result will be an increase in the number of active volunteers, as well as in the number of individual financial supporters.

Southwestern Oregon Community College Foundation - $ 9,900 to assist SWOCC in offering new distance-learning opportunities to students on the South Coast and transforming and expanding the way the college delivers education in the area. Funds will support technical support for students accessing the distance-learning network and provide and improve outreach to people in the area who have only a limited command of English.

Tigard Turns The Tide Parent and Youth Group - $10,000 to provide funds for the Griffith Skate Park, named in memory of the late Jim Griffith, former mayor of Tigard. The park will provide a safe, drug-free and alcohol-free environment for all to enjoy, especially youth.

TACS (Technical Assistance for Community Services) - $15,000 to bring the community online through the Domestic Violence Integration Project. It proposes to develop a dynamic Web site and an intranet for domestic violence service providers, thus creating an immediate means for determining the availability of needed services, such as shelter beds, mental health services, or emergency food provisions.

Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation -- $2,500 to help underwrite Verizon’s sponsorship of the Oregon Wine and Art Auction in Yamhill County in July 2006. The event is a major fund-raiser for the foundation, which supports the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Clinics. The foundation strives to ensure that everyone in Washington and Yamhill counties has access to basic health care. Special emphasis is given to migrant and seasonal farm workers and others with barriers to health care access.

Vision Action Network - $ 8,000 to support the Washington County Kindergarten Readiness Initiative. The project’s goal is to engage key stakeholders on ways they can, as a community, support and enhance the county’s kindergarten readiness activities. The agency plans to convene a community summit to share information about current kindergarten readiness activities and best practices and develop strategies to enhance kindergarten readiness activities.

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications. In 2004, the foundation awarded more than 26,000 grants totaling over $70 million to charitable and nonprofit agencies that focus on improvingliteracy, computer and technology skills, and identifying domestic violence solutions. The foundation uses its resources in the United States and abroad to develop partnerships in technology and connect them with organizations serving the needs of diverse communities, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, and the economically and socially disadvantaged.

The foundation also supports Verizon Volunteers, an incentive program that last year encouraged Verizon employees to volunteer 528,000 hours in their communities and provided $37.6 million in combined contributions to charitable and nonprofit organizations. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizon.com/foundation.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), a Dow 30 company, is a leader in delivering broadband and other communication innovations to wireline and wireless customers. Verizon operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving 49.3 million customers nationwide, and one of the nation’s premier wireline networks, serving home, business and wholesale customers in 28 states. Based in New York, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 215,000 and generates annual revenues of more than $71 billion from four business segments: Domestic Telecom, Domestic Wireless, Information Services and International. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

Contact Information

Kevin Laverty

Verizon Communications Inc.

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