Announcements

National Center For Missing And Exploited Children Announces Qwest Communications's Amber Alert Grant

Funds to Support Regional Programs Aimed at Speeding Recovery of Missing Children

October 9, 2003 -- Washington, D.C. - The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) today announced that Qwest Communications, Inc. has donated $100,000 to support programs that assist in the search for and safe return of missing children, including more than $70,000 to NCMEC for state programs. These grants are part of Qwest’s company-wide AMBER Alert program and an on-going effort to help safeguard America’s children.

“Qwest has been an invaluable friend to us,” said NCMEC President and CEO Ernie Allen. “With Qwest’s help and support, we have been able and will continue to enhance our programs to fight crimes against children”

In addition to grants to groups in Colorado and Arizona, the Qwest grants will fund NCMEC’s LOCATERTM and Project ALERT programs in the communities Qwest serves. LOCATER is a program to hasten the recovery of missing and abducted children by providing law-enforcement agencies the technology to create high-quality missing-child posters for distribution and electronic transmission to agencies, the media and the public.

Project ALERT is a corps of more than 130 retired federal, state, and local law-enforcement professionals who volunteer their time and expertise as consultants to the law-enforcement community. Project ALERT representatives participate in a variety of assignments including missing-child case evaluations, technical meetings with law-enforcement personnel to discuss resources, and community-awareness initiatives.

“Children are our most cherished members of society,” said QWEST executive, TITLE, “and we have dedicated our resources in many ways to help protect them. We are thrilled to be working with NCMEC and to support the wonderful work they do.”

Qwest began an initiative last June to enhance AMBER Alert programs in the states that it serves. Qwest can now receive AMBER Alerts and distribute them—on a state-specific basis—directly to technicians through its broadcast paging system. Employees and retirees receive targeted e-mails that direct them to an intranet Web site, which provides greater detail. Qwest technicians responding to an AMBER Alert contact law enforcement authorities by calling 9-1-1.

About NCMEC
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 150,000 leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 89,000 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 73,000 children. For more information, please visit www.missingkids.com or call toll-free 1-800-THE-LOST.