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Verizon Foundation Awards $250,000 to Partnership for Successful Schools

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Funding Will Support Volunteer-Based Literacy Program

NEW YORK – Lexington, KY-based Partnership for Successful Schools will expand its successful One to One: Practicing Reading with Students program to schools and communities in two other states thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation.

During 4-hour training sessions, volunteer coaches in the One to One program are trained to produce measurable, positive results for students who are struggling with reading. Coaches practice with students for 35 minutes each week in a simple 4-step format that emphasizes reading, writing, and building basic skills.

The grant from the Verizon Foundation will expand the program in New Jersey, Maryland, or Virginia. “The program collects reading assessment data provided by the school on participating students, both pre- and post-coaching. One to One has had an impressive record of moving struggling readers ahead toward reading proficiency, and that’s why we’re supporting its expansion into areas where we can leverage its proven approach for the benefit of many more students,” noted Patrick Gaston, president of the Verizon Foundation.

Out of 80 students in one participating school district, for example, 57 improved their reading skills by measures ranging from 11 to 453 percent. “Reading is the gateway to all learning for students,” said Carolyn Witt Jones, executive director of the Partnership for Successful Schools. “Through this innovative program, developed and now expanded through the Foundation’s generosity, we are able to provide struggling readers with the support they need to be successful in reading. One to One provides training to business and community volunteers who want to make serious, meaningful connections with schools and gives schools a committed, trained cadre of volunteers dedicated to helping students achieve. We are excited about opportunity to take the demonstrated results of One to One into the national arena with the support of the Foundation.”

Started in 2000, One to One: Practicing Reading with Students provides business and other community groups with meaningful involvement in schools. One to One recruits, trains, and supports adult volunteers to serve as reading coaches. The coaches, such as a group of Verizon employees from the company’s LiveSource Center in Lexington who served as the program’s first volunteers, meet on a one-to-one basis once a week with kindergarten to thirdgrade students who are struggling with reading.

The launch of the expanded One to One program will be supported by adapted print, Web-based, and electronic resources and will facilitate relationships with institutions of higher learning and their teacher-training programs to prepare teachers to work with community volunteers.

About Partnership for Successful Schools

For more than a decade, the Partnership for Successful Schools has been gaining frontline knowledge and experience in building effective relationships among employers, schools, and communities to create a stronger, smarter workforce. Now, the Lexington, KY-based organization is taking that work to the next level—and nationwide—with practical, real-world programs and strategies that help focus community and employer energy on school improvement efforts. Through its two anchor programs, One to One: Practicing Reading with Students and the Kentucky Scholars Initiative, and other efforts, the Partnership brings business and community into schools in innovative and meaningful ways.

About the Verizon Foundation

Verizon delivers technology that touches life. The Verizon Foundation uses that technology and its financial resources to improve literacy and K-12 education; help families victimized by domestic violence; and improve the delivery of health care. In 2005, the foundation awarded more than $74 million in grants to charitable and nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also supports Verizon Volunteers, one of the largest employee volunteer programs in the United States responsible for 2 million hours of community service since 2000 and $35.6 million in combined contributions to nonprofits in 2005 alone. 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 53 million customers nationwide; one of the most expansive wholly owned global IP networks; and one of the nation’s premier wireline networks, serving mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Based in New York, Verizon has a diverse workforce of more than 250,000 and generates annual consolidated operating revenues of approximately $90 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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