Verizon Wireless Offers $30,000 in Domestic Violence Grants to Nonprofits in Maryland, Virginia and DC

LAUREL, Md., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless company, is seeking grant proposals for domestic violence prevention and education projects in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Qualifying nonprofit organizations are invited to apply for competitive grants totaling $30,000, made possible through Verizon Wireless' national HopeLine(R) phone-recycling program.

Grants are being offered to enable agencies, shelters and other domestic violence advocacy groups to introduce or expand programs, add equipment or enhance facilities to better serve clients. A total of six grants of $5,000 each will be awarded; project proposals must be postmarked or e-mailed by September 9, 2005. The grants will be announced in the fall of 2005, timed to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

"Domestic violence awareness and prevention is Verizon Wireless' chief community focus," said Patrick Devlin, president of the company's Washington/Baltimore/Virginia Region. "It is our hope these grants will provide funding for innovative programs to prevent domestic violence and to help protect victims from their abusers and assist them in re-building their lives."

Last year in the Washington/Baltimore/Virginia region, Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program awarded $30,000 in grants through the competitive RFP process. The funds supported a wide variety of programs for domestic violence victims including a $2,500 award to D.C.'s Deaf Abused Women's Network to provide text pagers for loan to victims and establish computer work stations with access to videophones. In Maryland, a $2,500 grant supported the Family Violence Program at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore for a series of educational sessions designed to reduce dating violence and bullying among middle school students. In Northern Virginia, The Safe Places Residential Program used $2,500 in grant funds to purchase SAFE (Starting Anew Fit & Empowered) chests for domestic violence victims including cookware, dishes, utensils and small appliances for families moving into transitional housing.

Verizon Wireless will give strong preference to grant proposals that: * Emphasize the benefits of the new or expanded program or services * Include an implementation plan with a defined beginning and ending timetable * Define measurable results.

To qualify for funding, an applicant must be designated a public or private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a valid Internal Revenue Service tax ID based in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia. For an application and additional information, please call 202-966-8779.

The Verizon Wireless HopeLine program collects no-longer-used wireless phones and equipment in any condition to be refurbished, recycled or sold. The proceeds are then used to purchase wireless phones for victims of domestic violence or donated to support domestic violence prevention organizations; and the remaining phones are recycled in an environmentally friendly way. Since 2001, Verizon Wireless has collected more than two million wireless phones to benefit domestic violence victims. In 2004, consumers donated more than three-quarters of a million phones to HopeLine, up more than 35 percent from the previous year. The program has donated more than $800,000 to shelters and organizations for domestic violence prevention programs and victims' services and more than 11,000 phones with airtime and other features.

All 1,900 Verizon Wireless Communications stores nationwide participate in the HopeLine program.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 45.5 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone . Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To receive broadcast-quality video footage of Verizon Wireless operations, log onto http://www.thenewsmarket.com/verizonwireless.