Verizon Foundation Awards $10,000 in Domestic Violence Prevention Funding to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, awarded a $10,000 grant to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) today to support domestic violence prevention in California's Southeast Asian- American communities.

SEARAC is a national organization that advances the interests of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans through leadership development, capacity building and community empowerment. The organization has an office in Sacramento.

This grant will enable SEARAC to implement its new Community Empowered Against Silent Epidemics (CEASE) domestic-violence prevention project. The CEASE project is intended to increase awareness and educate the Southeast Asian-American communities in California about domestic violence by providing culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate information.

Domestic violence is a serious problem within all communities, and data suggest it is common in the Southeast Asian-American community. In 2000, the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence's Asian family violence report found that 39 percent of Vietnamese women and 44 percent to 47 percent of Cambodian women surveyed said they knew a woman who had experienced domestic violence. Community-based studies suggest that domestic violence may be even more prevalent in Southeast Asian families because many incidents go unreported.

Doua Thor, executive director of SEARAC, stated, "With this grant from Verizon, we hope to educate the Southeast Asian-Americans about the prevalence and impact of domestic violence. The grant will help us to eliminate the social, linguistic and cultural barriers that prevent Southeast Asian-American families from accessing important information about this increasingly prevalent issue."

Domestic violence prevention is one of Verizon's principal areas of focus.

Verizon West Region President Tim McCallion said, "Domestic violence touches every segment of society; but while the problem is universal, the solutions are not. That is why Verizon is supporting SEARAC's project to confront the issue of domestic violence."

Verizon delivers technology that touches life. Verizon uses its technology and its financial resources to improve literacy and K-12 education; help families victimized by domestic violence; and improve the delivery of health care. In 2006, Verizon awarded more than $69 million in grants, $8 million in California alone to charitable and nonprofit agencies. Verizon also supports Verizon Volunteers, which is one of the largest employee volunteer programs in the United States and responsible for more than 2 million hours of community service since 2000 and $35.6 million in combined contributions to nonprofits in 2005 alone. For more information on Verizon and its philanthropic programs, visit www.verizon.com/foundation.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 63.7 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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