Verizon Foundation Awards $500,000 to 10 California Nonprofit Groups

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Verizon Foundation is giving $500,000 in grants to 10 nonprofit organizations working to improve the quality of life for Californians through job-skills training, health-care resources and domestic-violence prevention.

"The grants continue Verizon's long-term support for nonprofit organizations that do great work in the communities we serve," said Tim McCallion, Verizon's Pacific region president. "Our commitment to increase opportunities in these areas goes hand in hand with our deployment of new technologies, such as fiber-based broadband access and new choices in video programming."

The following organizations were awarded grants:

• Break The Cycle, Los Angeles - $100,000 to convert an existing domestic-violence prevention program into an interactive DVD for use in classrooms by teachers and youth-program leaders nationwide.

• Youth Connection of Ventura County, Camarillo - $100,000 to develop a parent-child study center that will prevent domestic violence by teaching parents positive ways to communicate and interact with their children.

• Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association, Ventura - $60,000 to provide in-home services to sick, handicapped, elderly and homebound residents of Ventura County who don't have sufficient insurance.

• Children's Hospital, Los Angeles - $50,000 to develop a Web site designed to increase pediatric residents' confidence and skills in detecting, assessing and helping children exposed to domestic violence.

• Interval House Crisis Shelters, Seal Beach - $50,000 to create a multilingual domestic-violence prevention Web site specifically aimed at residents of Long Beach and Orange County.

• Central City Neighborhood Partners, Los Angeles - $40,000 to support a Spanish-language health education and leadership training program for women in the underserved neighborhood of Westlake.

• Domestic Violence Solutions for Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara - $25,000 to fund a 24-hour emergency assistance program for domestic-violence victims throughout Santa Barbara County.

• Grace Resources Inc., Lancaster - $25,000 to fund the Live Circuit computer literacy and job development program for adults in the community.

• South Central Family Health Center, Los Angeles - $25,000 to upgrade an ongoing health-care program and support collaboration with a local school-based health center.

• Kern Assistive Technology Center, Bakersfield - $25,000 to provide video conferencing telemedicine services to outlying areas of Kern County.

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications. In 2004, the foundation awarded grants totaling over $70 million to charitable and nonprofit agencies that focus on improving literacy, computer and technology skills, and identifying domestic violence solutions. The foundation uses its technology network and the power of its people in the United States and abroad to develop partnerships that assist organizations serving the needs of diverse communities - victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities, 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.

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