Responsibility Blog - Page 2

Verizon's Mark Keam writes about how his family survived the Korean War and emigrated to the U.S. thanks to the efforts of our Armed Forces, and how Verizon makes serving our veterans a top priority.

Verizon Foundation President Rose Stuckey Kirk blogs on our $ 1 million matching donation drive to fund American Red Cross relief work for people suffering in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

You can help by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Verizon will match customer text-to-donate contributions to American Red Cross relief efforts up to one million dollars. Earlier, Verizon Wireless announced it would waive text message fees for four text-to-donate campaigns, and match employee disaster-relief contributions 2:1.

Kathy Brown blogs on Verizon's approach to the creation of shared value and the challenge of creating solid measurements that encompass the full value of our products shared with the larger community.

Guest blogger Samantha Yakal-Kremski took part in the Healthy Masculinity Summit that kicked off the Healthy Masculinity Action Project, a two-year, grassroots initiative that aims to educate men and boys about non-violent masculinity and teach them how to take the message to neighborhoods across the country.

Our own Rose Stuckey Kirk, president of the Verizon Foundation, spoke to students and faculty at the University of Maryland’s Center for Social Value Creation recently about how Verizon is aligning its business strategy with the needs of society.

Blogger Tracey Webb does a terrific job covering Kirk’s talk to business school students and faculty on her blog BlackGivesBack, discussing in detail the Verizon Foundation’s emphasis on projects that leverage the use of technology to address social issues.

At a Verizon Recycling Rally today West Chester, Pennsylvania, we surpassed our goal of collecting 1 million pounds of e-waste -- and we're aiming to collecting another million pounds by 2015.

On the 20th anniversary year of the EPA's Energy Star program, Verizon's Chief Sustainability Officer James Gowen blogs on our commitment to Energy Star and our new goal of earning Energy Star certification for 100 percent of eligible Verizon Wireless retail stores at least once.

Guest blogger Larry Plumb writes about a first-of-its-kind smart-grid privacy seal program from TRUSTe and the Future of Privacy Forum for companies using consumer energy information. It is an example of a successful industry effort to develop voluntary, enforceable codes to protect privacy while enabling innovation in an emerging sector of online commerce.

As part of our work to support National Preparedness Month, we’ve collaborated with FEMA and the Industry Council on Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT) to develop the National Preparedness Month Digital Toolkit 2.0. It's designed to help you get critical information via mobile devices before, during and after a disaster.

Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, blogs about the launch of “A Platform for Good,” a unique interactive website designed to help change the national dialogue about kids and technology, and to promote conversations between teens, their parents and teachers about using the power of the Internet and social media for good.

Charlotte, North Carolina is a fascinating example of what can be done with the right combination of business brawn and academic brains, collaborating and innovating for the good of society. Regional clusters of these innovative, collaborative companies can create the kind of shared social value that can help kick-start the American economy. And Verizon has a role to play in this bold reinvention.

The Verizon Wireless Trade-In Program has collected more than 1 million phones in less than a year, keeping the equivalent of 140 tons of e-waste out of landfills and 436 tons of carbon dioxide out of the environment. To mark the occasion, Verizon will sponsor the planting of 1,000 trees in Northern California’s Klamath National Forest.

From TVs to toasters, employees and community members found a home for hard-to-recycle items, at our latest Recycling Rally Days in Ashburn, Va., and Basking Ridge, N.J.

So far this year, and our total recycling efforts have collected more than 310,000 lbs. of material -- the equivalent of 25 charter buses kept out of landfills. And we're on our way to collect more than 1 million lbs. this year.

The introduction of ESRB ratings to the Verizon Apps store is the fruit of a broad industry coalition and represents the latest in a long line of innovations that help families manage the content they get online.

In 12 schools around the country, a new Verizon Foundation partnership is giving teachers advanced skills on tablet computers and netbooks to better engage their students. Verizon's Justina Nixon-Saintil was there at one Maryland middle school to see how a little technology training can make a big difference.

Our newest “eco-phone,” the Samsung Intensity III, features a shell made of 80% recycled plastics, an energy efficient charger, and comes with an eco-calculator app. If you’re looking to minimize every aspect of your carbon footprint, this may be the phone for you.

On Monday I spoke at a conference for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Their Safety Net “Training of Trainers” event marks its 10th year, so I was happy to join the celebration – and I brought a robot to help.

Safety Net does great work providing education on technology abuse and online safety, particularly to people who help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

An innovative education pilot program in Georgia celebrated a successful launch last week. Funded in part by a  $250,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation, Young Readers & Early Adopters aims to improve reading and comprehension for K-2nd grade students in low-income Latino communities and incorporate technology into classroom instruction. When the first batch of kids in the pilot program graduated, Verizon's Julie Smith was on hand to meet these students and was struck by how technology in the smallest hands made a big difference.

An interesting take on a study of the energy-saving possibilities of household broadband use asks the question: "Will we all become dehumanized zombies?"

Now that Internet Safety Month is past, I wanted to share a list of 75 fun family activities that encourages the innovative use of technology, enhances summer learning and helps families connect. We've also collected our Internet Safety links and resources for your use. Feel free to share these with your friends and family.

Summer is in full swing, so how can parents keep kids active and learning? Verizon Thinkfinity has a collection of free educational online games from Verizon’s educational partners that will make learning fun. From preschoolers to high schoolers, there’s something for everyone.

Our summer intern Lindsey Rayford attended our Internet Safety Month webinar “Help Seniors Use the Internet Safely” and blogs about how it might help a senior in your life get online. A Live Meeting replay of the webinar is available until Aug. 27.

As an employer of more than 12,000 veterans of the armed forces, we realize both the benefits of employing our nation’s heroes and the importance of supporting them when they are called to serve.

We actively recruit military personnel transitioning to the civilian workforce and our Emergency Military Leave benefits are second to none. We do this not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it makes smart business sense. Veterans have superb leadership skills and great adaptability.

Verizon Wireless' Jackie Moran gives us an update on how our Crisis Response Teams have worked to strengthen our wireless network capacity in areas devastated by wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Our teams remain in near-constant contact with local authorities so that our network will help firefighters, the U.S. Forest Service, and residents affected by the string of fires throughout the region.

Verizon’s longstanding support for domestic violence prevention efforts earned an invitation to the White House unveiling of a public service announcement on teen dating violence. Verizon Wireless’ Elva Lima shares her thoughts on the event and our commitment to using our technology to address important social issues.

There is a lot of buzz in San Diego about the Verizon Foundation working with the International Society for Technology in Education to provide educators at 12 underserved schools with year-long professional development that will prepare them to use mobile technologies to support digital-age learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Guest blogger Yolanda Ramos explains.

Increased use of simple and convenient online activities like teleworking and online shopping can reduce carbon emissions by millions of metric tons and deliver significant energy savings, according to a new report by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.

The study looks at eight consumer activities enabled by the development of broadband technology.

I often talk about the promise of ultrafast, ubiquitous broadband connections. What kind of innovation might it unleash? How can it be applied to benefit society? Now Verizon’s poised to take part in a bold new experiment to find out.

The US Ignite Partnership, a public-private initiative launched just this week, will showcase how next-generation applications built to operate on ultrafast networks can transform what is possible for American science institutions, businesses, and families.

Today’s guest blogger is Nneka Ezenwa, a Verizon employee and mother of two young girls. She attended our free Internet Safety Month webinar, “How to Keep Your Children Safe on the Internet.”

I’m doing what I can to teach my children (ages 9 and 5) how to stay safe on the Internet.  However there are so many ways kids can get online now that it’s hard to keep up with them all. But as the African saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.