Pressing Problems Deserve Powerful Answers: Verizon’s 2013 Corporate Responsibility Supplement

Today, Verizon released its 2013 Corporate Responsibility Supplement, and I invite you to take a look because this past year has been one of tremendous impact and breakthrough. At Verizon, we believe technology can provide powerful answers to the big challenges in our world, and last year – again and again – we saw the reality of this belief unfold in communities across the globe.

In the report you will read stories of how we’re working with leading nonprofit innovators to overcome challenges in education, healthcare and energy management, and how we’re expanding access to advanced mobile and cloud technologies in underserved communities.

To close the achievement gap in science and math, we provided teachers at 24 underserved schools around the country with on-going training and support on how to effectively integrate mobile technology into their instruction. The results are impressive: teachers reported that 37 percent of their students showed increased academic achievement and 59 percent of teachers were individualizing instruction more. It’s a powerful training model that works, and we’re expanding the program to reach teachers in every state as part of a public/private-sector initiative announced in February 2014 by President Obama.

In healthcare, we are using technology to enhance access to quality care in underserved communities. In the U.S., healthcare costs nearly $3 trillion a year, and 75 percent of costs are due to chronic disease. Technology can dramatically improve productivity in this system; bring vast, immediate improvements to care; and transform people’s lives for the better. For instance, by equipping Children’s Health Fund buses in key cities with 4G LTE wireless technology and other health IT solutions, Verizon is helping to save 4,000 hours of administrative work a year, enabling medical staff to provide more effective, real-time care for underserved children and families.

Similarly, mobile and cloud technologies provide the tools for people and institutions to use energy more efficiently. We’ve teamed up with Pecan Street Inc., a Texas-based energy research group, on a home energy trial that will empower consumers in underserved communities to make smarter choices about their energy use.

Our report also highlights steps Verizon is taking to ensure we are acting responsibly in all our operations. Our progress includes an amendment to our Supplier Code of Conduct that explicitly protects workers’ freedoms; the launch of a Transparency Report; and a $100 million investment in green energy.

I invite you to read more about how we are applying our technology to solve big challenges, accelerating social change and creating value for our shareowners and the communities we serve.