Pressing Problems Deserve Powerful Answers: Verizon's 2013 Corporate Responsibility? Supplement Now Available Online

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This blog post resides on the Verizon Responsibility Blog and is written by Rose Stuckey Kirk, Vice President of Global Corporate Citizenship and President of the Verizon Foundation:

Today, Verizon released its 2013 Corporate Responsibility Supplement, and I invite you to take a look because this past year has been one of tremendous impact and breakthrough. At Verizon, we believe technology can provide powerful answers to the big challenges in our world, and last year – again and again – we saw the reality of this belief unfold in communities across the globe.

In the report, you will read stories of how we're working with leading nonprofit innovators to overcome challenges in education, healthcare and energy management, and how we're expanding access to advanced mobile and cloud technologies in underserved communities.

To close the achievement gap in science and math, we provided teachers at 24 underserved schools around the country with ongoing training and support on how to effectively integrate mobile technology into their instruction. The results are impressive: teachers reported that 37 percent of their students showed increased academic achievement, and 59 percent of teachers were individualizing instruction more. It's a powerful training model that works, and we're expanding the program to reach teachers in every state as part of a public/private-sector initiative announced in February 2014 by President Obama.

In healthcare, we are using technology to enhance access to quality care in underserved communities. In the U.S., healthcare costs nearly $3 trillion a year, and 75 percent of costs are due to chronic disease. Technology can dramatically improve productivity in this system; bring vast, immediate improvements to care; and transform people's lives for the better. For instance, by equipping Children's Health Fund buses in key cities with 4G LTE wireless technology and other health IT solutions, Verizon is helping to save 4,000 hours of administrative work a year, enabling medical staff to provide more effective, real-time care for underserved children and families.

Similarly, mobile and cloud technologies provide the tools for people and institutions to use energy more efficiently. We've teamed up with Pecan Street Inc., a Texas-based energy research group, on a home energy trial that will empower consumers in underserved communities to make smarter choices about their energy use.

Our report also highlights steps Verizon is taking to ensure we are acting responsibly in all our operations. Our progress includes an amendment to our Supplier Code of Conduct that explicitly protects workers' freedoms; the launch of a Transparency Report; and a $100 million investment in green energy.

I invite you to read more about how we are applying our technology to solve big challenges, accelerating social change and creating value for our shareowners and the communities we serve. Verizon's 2013 Corporate Responsibility Supplement can be downloaded (pdf) by visiting: http://vz.to/CSR2013.

The Verizon Foundation is focused on accelerating social change by using the company's innovative technology to help solve pressing problems in education, healthcare and energy management. Since 2000, the Verizon Foundation has invested more than half a billion dollars to improve the communities where Verizon employees work and live. Verizon's employees are generous with their donations and their time, having logged more than 6.8 million hours of service to make a positive difference in their communities. For more information about Verizon's philanthropic work, visit www.verizonfoundation.org; or for regular updates, visit the Foundation on Facebook (www.facebook.com/verizonfoundation) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/verizongiving).

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 103 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow 30 company with more than $120 billion in 2013 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 176,800. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are available at Verizon's online News Center at newscenter.verizon.com. The news releases are available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit newscenter.verizon.com/corporate/feeds.

SOURCE Verizon