MCI WorldCom Commits $10 Million To Promote Minority Representation In High Tech Workforce

Washington, DC, April 6, 2000 - Minority students will be able
to enter the high technology workforce more easily under a package of
initiatives announced by MCI WorldCom today. The programs - for which
MCI WorldCom has committed $10 million over the next 10 years - are
designed to promote excellence in the skills most in demand by 21st
Century employers.
MCI WorldCom announced the programs at a White House meeting of
corporate leaders convened to discuss employment diversity issues. The
meeting is a component of the President's "Digital
Divide" initiative, which was announced earlier this year.

"These initiatives are a win-win for MCI WorldCom," said
Bernard J. Ebbers, MCI WorldCom president and chief executive officer.
"We'll be encouraging minority participation in America's
rapidly expanding technology sector while helping to ensure we'll
have more qualified American workers in the areas most critical to our
operations."

In partnership with the National Action Council for Minorities in
Engineering (NACME), a not-for-profit corporation committed to bringing
the talents of African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians to the
nation's engineering workforce, MCI WorldCom will:

* Establish an MCI WorldCom-branded internship/scholarship program
designed to significantly boost the number of minority graduates in
critical high tech areas such as telecommunications, networking,
information technology and computer engineering;

* Provide support for NACME's Math is Power program through a
series of K-12 outreach and education initiatives that will leverage
MCI WorldCom's existing Marco Polo program
(http://www.wcom.com/marcopolo), as well as both organizations'
partnership with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics;
and

* Provide critical support to the technology industry's Digital
Opportunity Initiative, which was established last year at the request
of the Clinton Administration by the Information Technology Association
of America (http://www.itaa.org/workforce/ wfdoi.htm) to implement
industry-education partnership programs.

"With a shortage of high-tech skilled workers in this country
and groups of Americans at risk of being left behind in the digital
age, this initiative helps close the digital divide while making
perfect business sense," Ebbers emphasized. "It's a good
marriage of vital corporate and social objectives."

MCI WorldCom (NASDAQ: WCOM) is a global leader in
"all-distance" communications services with operations in
more than 65 countries. Revenues in 1999 were $37 billion, with more
than $15 billion from high-growth data, Internet and international
services. MCI WorldCom and Sprint have announced a merger agreement,
which the companies expect to close in the second half of 2000 after
regulatory and shareholder approvals. For more information go to
http://www.wcom.com.