Bell Atlantic Opens Training Center To Persons With Disabilities

Bell Atlantic Opens Training Center
To Persons With Disabilities

Efforts Designed To Improve Employment Prospects

April 26, 1999

ALBANY -- Bell Atlantic and Northeast Career Planning
announced today that the company is making its state-of-the-art training
facilities in Albany available to the not-for-profit group to provide career
training for persons with disabilities.

New York Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue joined Bell Atlantic, Northeast Career
Planning and The Business Council of New York at the company's
training center for a ceremony kicking off the new career-training
programs. Located at 158 State St., the center provides training for
thousands of Bell Atlantic employees each year and also has been used to
train rehabilitation staff members of Northeast Career Planning.

Northeast's "Train for 2000" program will use the Bell
Atlantic facilities to provide computer and technology training for several
Capital District residents with disabilities. Bell Atlantic is the first
corporate sponsor of the "Train for 2000" program in the
Capital District. The initiative is part of the Projects With Industry, a
national program to establish partnerships with local employers.

"We hope that what we have achieved here today will serve as a
national model of cooperation between corporations and community
organizations," said Paul Crotty, Bell Atlantic President, New
York/Connecticut. "The success we achieve in Albany may soon be
duplicated throughout the country and Bell Atlantic is proud to be in the
forefront of this effort."

"Northeast Career Planning is thrilled to work collaboratively with
Bell Atlantic," said Mikael Connelly, director of Professional
Services for Northeast Career Planning. "As a result of this effort,
people with disabilities will have access to cutting-edge technology. we
are hoping this unique partnership will benefit people with disabilities as
they enter the workforce.

"We have the strongest economy in a generation," Connelly
added, "yet people with disabilities have unemployment rates as
high as 70 percent. With corporations like Bell Atlantic, hopefully we can
change the workforce of tomorrow. Their efforts will have far-reaching
effects."

It is hoped the commitment from Bell Atlantic will encourage other
corporations to open up their employee-training centers to provide the
necessary instruction for persons with disabilities.

Northeast Career Planning, founded in 1954, is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to providing a wide range of supported services to individuals
with barriers to employment. In over four decades, Northeast Career
Planning has enriched the lives of men and women seeking to better
themselves through employment. The organization has been chosen as a
Projects With Industry site, initiating a successful Business Advisory
Council. In 1998 alone, Northeast Career Planning served 1,300 people
and made 331 job placements in an 11-county area in the Capital Region
and northeast New York.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With more than 42 million telephone access lines
and 8.6 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies
are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market
leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest
investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations
and investments in 23 countries.