BellSouth to Award More Than $350,000 to Southeastern Chambers of Commerce for Innovative Small Business Development Programs.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 1998--BellSouth will award more than $350,000 in grants, products and services to more than 60 chambers of commerce throughout the BellSouth nine-state region for its annual Chamber Grant Program.

The grant awards recognize chambers for small business development programs and initiatives designed to build strong small business communities. In its second year, the Chamber Grant Program received nearly 200 proposals from chambers throughout the Southeast.

Listed below are the nine first place winners:

Alabama - Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Florida - Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce Georgia - Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce Kentucky - Logan County Chamber of Commerce Louisiana - Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Mississippi - East Mississippi Development Corporation in Meridian North Carolina - Charlotte Chamber of Commerce South Carolina - Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce Tennessee - Newport/Cocke County Chamber of Commerce.

The nine first place recipients will each be awarded a $10,000 grant, a classified advertisement in "The Real Yellow Pages(R)", one year of service from BellSouth Cellular that will include use of products and 100 free minutes per month (if available in the winner's area), and one year of access to BellSouth.net (if available in the winner's area).

"BellSouth is committed to the continued success of our region's small business community and to future economic growth throughout the state. We are proud to call these winning chambers of commerce our customers, as well as partners in the development of our small business communities," said Krista Tillman, president of BellSouth Small Business Services.

The BellSouth Chamber Grant Program was created to give chambers of commerce throughout the nine-state BellSouth region the opportunity to submit proposals for programs that will develop and enhance small business growth in their local communities. Proposals addressed a variety of topics including small business recruitment and retention; resources and information; creation, expansion or upgrade of supporting technology; enhancement of existing, successful programs; and programs targeting minority and women-owned businesses.

In addition to the nine $10,000 grants, BellSouth will also award one $7,000 second place grant and two $5,000 third place grants in each state. Individual states will also provide additional grants for local and regional recognition.

"This year, the total number of grant applications increased by more than 30 in the nine-state region," Tillman said. "We committed additional grant awards this year because we believe in the work of our chambers, and these winning programs represent the future businesses, jobs and economic successes in our communities. We look forward to making our chamber grant program bigger and better every year."

All proposals received will be included in the BellSouth Chamber Grant Summary that will be an important resource to chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, local and state governments and local business communities.

BellSouth is a $21 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications cable and digital TV, directory advertising and publishing, and Internet and data services to nearly 33 million customers in 20 countries worldwide.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about BellSouth Small Business Services, visit the BellSouth Small Business Services Web page at http://www.bellsouth.smlbiz.com. BellSouth news releases dating back one year are available by fax at no charge by calling 1-800-758-5804, ext. 095650.