08.27.04
AT&T Wireless to Help Nonprofits Improve Services; Company to Award Grants of over $140,000
AT&T Wireless to Help Nonprofits Improve Services; Company to Award Grants of over $140,000
REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 26, 2004–AT&T Wireless today announced it will award more than $140,000 in grants through its Community Connections Award program to six nonprofit organizations nationwide to help them use innovative wireless technology to better serve their communities.
AT&T Wireless teamed with NPower, a national nonprofit committed to putting technology know-how in the hands of nonprofits, to select the grant recipients.
“We believe that effectively applied technology can have a huge impact in helping nonprofits fulfill their missions,” said Sara J. Hebert, NPower executive director. “The AT&T Wireless Community Connections grants will help these organizations put the power of wireless communications to work to improve and extend services for families and children in their communities.”
The AT&T Wireless grant recipients include:
– Valle del Sol, Inc. (Phoenix, AZ) - A provider of behavioral health and social services, Valle del Sol staff members will use wireless Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) during home and school visits to access “real-time” patient data and resource referral information. Use of the wireless devices will increase efficiency and productivity for the organization.
– Child Care Resource Center (Van Nuys, CA) - To help overcome the challenge it faces in getting parents within its 3,000 square mile jurisdiction to travel to one of only two offices, the nonprofit will use laptops with wireless modems to go out into the community and provide parents with critical child care resource information such as health insurance, food programs, and childcare subsidies for eligible families.
– Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. (Miami, FL) - A leading nonprofit provider of social services, this organization plans to use web-enabled Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to improve the tracking of undocumented immigrant children who are at high risk of flight or abduction. House parents will log the status of the children in their care into a central database system via the wireless PDAs. Additionally, wireless phones will provide counselors with easily accessible language translation services.
– Detroit Parent Network (Detroit, MI) - An organization focused on improving parenting and family communication, members of this nonprofit’s Parent Leadership program will use 25 wireless Blackberry handheld devices to access parenting tips, web sites, and data while counseling other parents in community settings.
– Asian Community Development Corporation (Boston, MA) - A goal of the Asian Community Development Corporation is to provide access to social services and economic resources for linguistic minority communities. The nonprofit will use its grant for a program that enables bilingual community members to provide on-demand interpretation services via wireless phones to limited-English speaking community members.
– National Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross (Washington, D.C.) - In its efforts to help people prevent, prepare and respond to emergencies, this humanitarian nonprofit will provide members of its Disaster Action Team with wireless laptops to deliver essential disaster services on-site and in real-time and improve service to disaster victims. Additionally, the use of wireless technology will help the chapter increase client response time.
“The AT&T Wireless Community Connections Award will greatly increase our productivity and the quality of care for our behavioral health clients,” said Luz Sarmina-Gutierrez, president and CEO of Valle del Sol. Added Tonya Allen, executive director of the Detroit Parent Network: “We believe this investment from AT&T Wireless will help empower parents throughout southeast Michigan by literally placing a world of information in their hands so that they can share it with other parents.”
The AT&T Wireless Community Connections Award program was launched in March, 2004. Nonprofits nationwide were encouraged to submit proposals for their technology programs. The six grant recipients were chosen for their creative use of wireless applications.
“It’s exciting to see the innovation and passion these community groups have for finding new ways to use technology to accomplish their goals,” said Susan Ramsey, AT&T Wireless vice president of corporate philanthropy. “They’re blazing a trail for other nonprofits to see how wireless can help improve the delivery of services to their communities.”
For more information on the AT&T Wireless Community Connections Award program, visit http://www.attwscommunityconnectionsaward.org.
About NPower
NPower is a national network of local nonprofits that help other nonprofits use technology to better serve their communities. NPower programs serve thousands of nonprofits nationwide by providing a suite of high quality, affordable, unbiased technology services including assessment, planning, implementation, support and training. More information is available at www.NPower.org.
About AT&T Wireless
AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE) is the second-largest wireless carrier, based on revenues, in the United States. With 21.737 million subscribers as of June 30, 2004, and revenues of more than $16.8 billion over the past four quarters, AT&T Wireless delivers advanced high-quality mobile wireless communications services, voice and data, to businesses and consumers, in the U.S. and internationally. For more information, please visit us at www.attwireless.com.
Contacts
AT&T Wireless
Art Navarro, 562-468-6520
Wireless: 949-300-1329
art.navarro@attws.com
or
NPower
Emily deRiel, 206-957-7740
emilyd@npower.org