Janet Jones
Director of Verizon Community Affairs for Long Island
and Education Assistance Corp. 2006 Honoree

By Maureen Traxler

Janet Jones, who manages the Verizon Foundation's efforts on Long Island, talks as easily about the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Family Service League's Manor Haven computer lab, to which her company gave a $25,000 e-literacy grant, as she does about Verizon's new technology, FTTP, fiber to the premises, and FiOSSM, its new suite of fiber-optic services that encompass voice, data and video. A capable and quick-thinking community relations professional, she has 15 years experience in the telecommunications business, which began with yet another "e" word - education.

Jones came to Verizon, then the New York Telephone Company, in 1991 after nearly 20 years as a retail hardware entrepreneur, where she became proficient in business affairs and administration. She was looking for a career change at the precise time that New York Telephone was forming an innovative customer-focused organization known as Outreach and Education. The objective of this new initiative was to communicate with a wide array of community groups, particularly senior citizens, low-income and non-English speaking residents, and people with disabilities to help them understand their phone bill, learn to save money on it, and get, and stay, "connected." The position was a perfect fit for Janet's Jones' sales ability and people skills, and she landed the job.

"I was hired to cover the Eastern Suffolk territory, although that never happened," she interjects during a recent interview with Networking¨ magazine. "Before long I was doing all of Nassau County." She adds, "My co-workers and I were quite good. We invented Outreach and Education in the telephone business, and it became a national model." Soon, the Outreach workers were speaking to dozens of community groups each week all over Nassau and Suffolk.

"That was when the concept of universal design was just coming into the forefront," notes Jones, remarking that the telephone company designed voice dialing and speed dialing to help senior citizens and people with physical disabilities, blindness and hearing problems. Soon individuals and businesses began using the mechanisms, too. "Those devices, and others, were developed during the Outreach and Education years when we were trying to figure out how to communicate this very technical information in an easy to understand way. That was challenging."

"We set up community advisory boards, tapping local leaders who introduced us to their constituents and told us how best to communicate the issues with their particular public interest group," Jones says. "Outreach and Education was an eye-opener to communicating to the outside community."

Because of those years of networking throughout Long Island's communities, Jones is well prepared for her role as Community Affairs director and as part of the team that is the vanguard of Verizon's introduction of FiOS in parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. She meets with officials and, along with an engineer, explains 'the build,' as she terms Verizon's rebuilding of its entire network of copper cable lines. During her Networking¨ interview, Jones instinctively joins her fingers to form a six-inch circle to show the size of a copper-wire cable, and then, holding out just her pinky, she shows the diameter of the new fiber-optic cable.

"We're updating the entire network to 2006 technology." The fiber-optic cables consist of bundles of hair-thin glass strands. Laser-generated pulses of light transit voice, data and video signals via the fiber at speeds far exceeding today's copper-wire system. After the installation, community by community, Verizon will petition public officials for a franchise agreement to offer its new video-choice component to residents that will give them a wide array of movie selections.

Looking back six or seven years ago, Jones recalls that the Outreach workers were beginning to handle corporate funding also. As New York Tel morphed into Bell Atlantic and then Verizon, the present day Foundation was formed, and Jones emerged as the candidate for Community Affairs Director and coordinator of the Verizon Foundation on Long Island.

The Foundation's goals include building a literate community that can prosper in the information era and fostering domestic violence awareness, prevention and recovery, an initiative that has been an outgrowth of the merger with Verizon Wireless, which has long funded HopeLine, retrieving unused cell phones and reconfiguring them for distribution to battered women for emergency needs. The Foundation supports nonprofit agencies that also focus on these goals, as well as creating a skilled workforce and seeking to advance technology efforts.

"In addition to grants," says Jones, "the Foundation has empowered Verizon employees to make their own 'giving' choices. It's wonderful to be involved with an organization that tries to be the best it can be to its employees, to support the organizations that are important to their families and friends."

Verizon offers several options to employees as they assist the good works of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations: an incentive grant that matches monetary donations; a volunteer incentive plan through which the company monetarily matches an employee's hourly giving; and a team incentive plan whereby the company matches to a certain point a team's fundraising efforts. Jones commends employees for their "thousands upon thousands upon thousands" of volunteer man-hours, and their recent collections for national and worldwide natural disaster relief funds.

On behalf of the Foundation, Jones has overseen many grants - to name a few, the Bay Shore workforce development project; the opening of a computer lab for adults that was a partnership with the Town of North Hempstead to assist "Abilities!," the National Center for Disabilities; and an innovative program to rehabilitate domestic violence abusers through the use of a self-help software program that addresses anger management, self-esteem, control and behavioral problems, and gets to the root of the abusers' problems.

Jones has been an advocate for Education Assistance Corporation's programs and clients, always looking for a way to partner with EAC to deliver relevant services that impact people in need. After receiving a $25,000 grant, EAC and the Hispanic Counseling Center, both in Hempstead, created the Verizon Family Learning Circle to help low income and limited English speaking families improve their basic education and general life skills. Combating the premise that if parents don't read, it's difficult for children to succeed, a reading room for families was stocked with books for all ages and activities to strengthen family bonds.

This March, EAC recognized Jones' contributions to nonprofits on Long Island and her hand in promoting EAC's Chance to Advance program by honoring her at its sixth Annual Spring Luncheon at the Crest Hollow Country Club. Chance to Advance helps adolescent foster care children ages 12 to 19 receive focused intervention through the support of one-on-one mentors.

"As a representative for Verizon, Jones sets a high standard for community relations professionals," notes Theresa Regnante, EAC's vice president of Development and Community Relations. "She's very tuned into the needs across Long Island and is dedicated to the Foundation's mission and the missions of nonprofits. She's personable, approachable and sharp, always willing to lend a helping hand and leads by example."

A giver in her own right, Jones serves on the Board of Directors of Cornell Cooperative Extension and is a member of the foundation board of Middle Country Library. She is a member of the East End Women's Network and Eastern Long Island Executives Roundtable, always lending advice and sharing stories with other women professionals. On behalf of Verizon, she attends meetings of the Riverhead, Patchogue and Huntington Chambers of Commerce, as well as the Hauppauge Industrial Association. She has received numerous community awards, and was recently honored with Verizon's prestigious Employee Excellence Award for a team effort that saved the company money.

Jones grew up in Patchogue, attended Suffolk Community College and studied education and psychology at SUNY New Paltz. Five years ago, she was among Verizon's community relations and foundation workers who attended the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, earning certification as a Community Relations Professional. She's authored several educational booklets, including Job Skills and Business Communication Skills, which promote literacy, workforce development and community technology programs. A Center Moriches resident, Jones became an avid kayaker after taking advantage of a "gift" from her brother that included a trip and kayak instruction in the Florida Keys. "I always loved boating of any form, but kayaking gives you a different perspective. It was all too much fun," she claims.

Characterizing her position at Verizon as "far more interesting and challenging" than any former posts, she adds that she likes "working with people who make projects happen." Although she says the needs of Long Islanders seem to be growing, she emphasizes, "The best part of my job over the last 15 years is that I've gotten to meet some of the most wonderful people, so many people working in nonprofits and volunteers of all types who just work so hard to make things better for others. It's uplifting."