Verizon’s Merdochey LaFrance sat down with Saïda Florexil, founder of Imanyco, a company that created a real-time transcription technology called Comunify that assists deaf and hard-of-hearing people during in-person group conversations. Their conversation touches on Imanyco’s participation in Verizon’s Forward for Good Accelerator which accelerates emerging solutions using 5G, MEC, Big Data, AI, & XR; Imanyco’s work to support the deaf and hard of hearing community; and their work going forward.
Florida Blog
Verizon Boosts Investments in Texas and Florida
Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 500K Verizon Wireless customers have permanently relocated to Texas and Florida. In that time, busy-hour traffic times and data traffic have spiked in major cities including Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Tampa. With the transition to greater remote and hybrid work, the network demand continues to rise and with it, the need for reliable and accessible coverage. This is why Verizon’s continued investments in Texas and Florida are so important.
Verizon recently announced a combined investment of nearly $250 million across both states in order to address the exponential population increases and growing demand for network coverage. Investments over the next two years involves building nearly 10K new network solutions, including new macro towers and small cell sites, expanding 5G Ultra Wideband service, and supporting Texans, Floridians, and local first responders in the upcoming hurricane season. Staying connected is a crucial part of today’s world, and I’m proud to see Verizon investing in local communities to ensure that people are able to get the coverage and support they need.
To learn more about Verizon’s investments in Texas: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-investment-texas-pandemic-influx-people
To learn more about Verizon’s investments in Florida: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-boosts-investment-florida
Community Partnership Chat: Felecia & Derick Pearson
Merdochey LaFrance, Director of Local Engagement for Verizon sat down with Derick Pearson, Co-Founder, Executive Director & President at the Center for Black Innovation & Felecia Pearson, Co-Founder of the Center for Black Innovation and CEO of Black Ambition to talk about supporting and cultivating diverse entrepreneurs in Florida and beyond.
Event: Conserving Land & Sea in Florida
On June 30, US Tech Future hosted a discussion on Florida’s ecosystem which includes some of the rarest habitats and species in the world – both on land and in the water. The panel discussed how cutting edge efforts are being used to protect Florida’s ecosystem and the role of technology in supporting those efforts. Panelists included Traci Deen, CEO, Conservation Florida; Dr. Debborah Luke, Senior Vice President of Conservation, The Florida Aquarium; and Verizon’s Courtney Barnard.
Event: Venture Miami – Fueling Miami’s Tech Future
On May 6, 2021, US Tech Future hosted a panel, “Venture Miami, Fueling Miami’s Tech Future” featuring Saif Ishoof, Florida International University Vice President of Engagement & Mayor of Miami’s Senior Advisor for Information & Technology; Melissa Krinzman, VC in Residence, City of Miami; Kevin Ruiz, Venture Miami/DDA Business Development Manager; and Mike Sarasti, CIO / Director of Innovation & Technology, City of Miami.
Verizon Partners with Feeding Tampa Bay
Verizon has partnered with Feeding Tampa Bay, a local chapter of Feeding America, to help provide meals to families facing hunger due to the COVID 19 crisis. Verizon was approached by Feeding Tampa Bay and Rep. Susan Valdes of Tampa to see if the Verizon Hillsborough Call Center could be utilized to act as a weekly food distribution center to get food to those who need it most.
Verizon and Feeding Tampa Bay have partnered together to create a ‘Mega Pantry’ at our Hillsborough Ave Call Center. Mega Pantries are equipped to serve thousands of families at a time with 175,000 pounds of food – which is 22 times larger than a typical Mobile Pantry distribution. By utilizing the Hillsborough call center, Verizon and Feeding Tampa Bay are able to reduce the travel time and distance of those in need to reach a food pantry.
Verizon was able to work with its corporate security and real estate teams to turn it into a drive-thru, weekly mega pantry. The pantry will be open weekly on Thursday afternoons and will allow anyone to safely drive in and get much needed groceries. The first pantry opened on January 14 and over 500 families were successfully fed from the pantry!
The COVID 19 crisis has exacerbated food insecurity and many Floridians are facing unemployment and limited funds to buy groceries. This has placed stress on current food bank facilities and has forced food banks to utilize new resources and locations to supply much needed food to communities. In 2020, Feeding Tampa Bay provided over 1 million meals to residents across ten counties in West-Central Florida, the need is great and many residents have difficulty traveling long distances to reach food banks and pantries which are primarily located in downtown areas.
