Back to press releasesNewark, NJ & Morristown, NJ – April 29, 2003 – IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company, and the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame (NFF), today jointly announced IDT’s participation in the NFF’s “Play It Smart” program. “Play It Smart” is a nationwide program launched in 1998 that provides academic enrichment and direction to students-athletes from underserved communities. IDT’s support, which will run through 2007, specifically benefits students attending Newark, NJ public schools.
“Play It Smart” is designed to use the power of team sports to enhance the personal and academic development of students from economically underserved communities. The program provides schools with an “Academic Coach” who helps student-athletes take the lessons learned on the field and apply them in the classroom and the community. In addition, academic coaches coordinate support services, SAT prep classes, community service events, and other team-building activities throughout the entire school year.
“Play It Smart works. It improves academic performance, raises graduation rates and increases the number of students going on to higher education. In short it has a positive impact on students and local communities,” said Jim Couter, IDT’s CEO. “Our participation in ‘Play It Smart’ is another example of how IDT is investing in the future of the nation by providing people with the tools they need to succeed.”
In addition to Play It Smart, IDT community outreach programs in Newark include sponsorship of a literacy program and an “English as a second language” course at the Newark Public Library and the operation of a mobile soup kitchen that serves more than 1,000 meals each week. IDT also sponsors various programs at Rutgers Business School, New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Scholarship Fund for Inner City Children, the Newark Museum, the New Jersey Historical Society and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
“Through the ‘Play It Smart’ program, the NFF has worked hard to establish a systematic way for scholastic sports to help transform the lives of young people,” said Jon F. Hanson, Chairman of the NFF. “We are most appreciative of the leadership role that IDT has taken in expanding this highly successful program to the Newark public school system.”
“On behalf of the City of Newark, I’d like to thank IDT for their support in helping students attending Newark public schools realize the benefits of the ‘Play It Smart’ program,” said Newark City Councilman At Large Luis Quintana. “IDT’s contributions to the citizens and institutions of Newark continue to play an important role in Newark’s renewal.”
The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame is a multifaceted not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to the promotion of amateur football, its charactering building attributes, and the drive for academic excellence in America’s young people.
Through a network of 119 chapters located throughout the nation and a membership of over 12,000 strong, the NFF supports a number of initiatives, which promote the game, preserve its history, and ensure its future. The chapters emphasize the educational benefits associated with football and provide learning opportunities for parents, players and coaches. To date, over 33,000 national and local scholar-athletes have been recognized and awarded with more than $9 million in scholarship grants. In addition, thousands of local coaches, officials and administrators who have given themselves to the game have been honored with special awards.
In order to preserve the rich tradition, pageantry, and spirit of amateur football, The National Football Foundation created and operates one of the nation’s finest Hall of Fame facilities, The College Football Hall of Fame. Located in South Bend, Indiana, this state of the art interactive facility provides permanence to the history of the game honoring the gridiron legends, field generals, scholar-athletes and leaders in society who exemplify the Foundation’s creed of scholarship, citizenship, and athletic performance.
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its retail and wholesale customers worldwide. IDT Telecom, by means of its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance telephony and prepaid calling cards. IDT and Liberty Media Corporation own 95% and 5 % of IDT Telecom, respectively. IDT acquired the assets of Winstar Communications in December 2001.
IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C. As of March 13, 2003, there were about 54.4 million shares of Class B common stock outstanding, and about 25.1 million shares of common stock. Of these, approximately 4.0 million shares of Class B common stock and approximately 5.4 million shares of common stock were held by IDT Corporation.
