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The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation Wins National Verizon Tech Savvy Award

Posted on: Thursday, 1 May 2008, 18:00 CDT

BOSTON, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation's Technology Goes Home @ School Program at the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School has been selected as the national winner of the Second Annual Verizon Tech Savvy Awards.

Through the Technology Goes Home program, Boston public school teachers provide computer and technology training to students and their parents after school or on weekends.

Since its inception in 1999, more than 3,500 families in Boston have completed the 25 hours of training. The Frederick Middle School, in collaboration with the Digital Bridge Foundation, will have trained more than 200 families this year.

As the National Verizon Tech Savvy Award winner, the Technology Goes Home program at Frederick Middle School will receive a $25,000 grant to continue and expand the program.

"We have found that Technology Goes Home not only provides families with the opportunity to obtain 21st century skills, but also increases family engagement," said Debra Socia, principal of Frederick Middle School. "We find that increased parental involvement leads to increased academic success for the children."

The Verizon Tech Savvy Awards are a joint creation of National Center for Family Literacy, former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack and the Verizon Foundation. It is the first national award designed to provide an incentive for grassroots, community-based nonprofit organizations and schools to create programs that demystify technology for parents, enabling them to better guide their children in the use of new media.

"To truly improve literacy and education for young people, learning must stretch beyond the classroom and into community programs and homes," said Donna Cupelo, Verizon region president for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. "The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation's Technology Goes Home program exemplifies how technology can be a valuable tool in enhancing educational opportunities for students and their parents."

In addition, programs in Arizona, California, Minnesota and New York were also honored with regional awards.

Details of the selected programs will be added to the Thinkfinity Literacy Network to serve as an educational resource, highlighting best practices and approaches for technology literacy for people of all ages. Those resources can be accessed online at http://www.thinkfinity.org/literacynetwork.

Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation's free, comprehensive program and online portal to 55,000 educational and literacy resources for teachers, parents, students and community programs. Resources include standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans and engaging interactive activities provided in partnership with many of the nation's leading education and literacy organizations. Thinkfinity.org also includes the Thinkfinity Literacy Network, which includes research and evidence-based resources and practices for literacy for child and adult learners.

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through its signature program, Thinkfinity.org, and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2007, the foundation awarded more than $67.4 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in $25.1 million in combined contributions. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation's largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 3 million hours of community service since Verizon's inception in 2000.

For more information on the foundation, visit http://www.verizon.com/foundation.

The National Center for Family Literacy is the worldwide leader in family literacy. More than 1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL's work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. For more information, contact 1-877-FAMLIT-1 or visit http://www.famlit.org/.

Verizon Communications Inc. headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 67 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employed a diverse workforce of approximately 232,000 as of the end of the first quarter 2008 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com/.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Verizon

CONTACT: Philip Santoro, +1-617-743-4760, philip.g.santoro@verizon.com

Web site: http://www.verizon.com/http://www.thinkfinity.org/http://www.verizon.com/foundationhttp://www.thinkfinity.org/literacynetworkhttp://www.verizon.com/newshttp://www.famlit.org/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/618232.html

Source: PRNewswire

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