Poverty. AIDS. Drug abuse. Malnutrition. The soaring cost of quality health care. It's just the tip of the iceberg. How, with so many difficult social problems, can one company make a difference?

At NYNEX we think we can make a difference one person at a time. We believe we can help individuals help themselves, by giving them the resources to confront their problems and improve their lives. What can you do to help us?

• If your project or program gives people in low income neighborhoods the resources and hope to better their lives - and employs technology as an empowering tool - we want to hear from you.

• If you believe finding new and innovative ways to share ideas and information is one important way to improve the quality of health care and control its cost, we'd like to hear from you.

• If you believe education and communication are essential weapons in the fight against joblessness, disease, substance abuse and all the social fetters that suppress the human spirit, let's talk.

For example: This year, hundreds of people forced by disability or illness to spend most of their time at home, found new friends and new connections with the help of NYNEX. The University Without Walls, a collaborative effort of Dorot, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and New York City's major museums, is using modern communications technology to link immobile students to a wealth of educational and recreational resources.

The young and elderly alike can attend classes and conference with teachers, "sit in on" lectures at the city's museums and share tips and ideas on health and finances. In short, they can move about the city and the world, stay vital and make new friends without ever having to leave their living room.

In Boston, as in most major cities, too many young people drop out of school. This year, NYNEX is giving many of these young men and women a "leg up" by supporting Just A Start Corporation's training and community service program. Young people who've left school receive job instruction, vocational development and help with household basics, like balancing a checkbook. They even get the support, training and encouragement to earn their high school diploma, some self respect, and a chance at a better future. It's just a start, but in many cases it's just the start they need.

Health care reform. In Washington it's a topic of debate. But in our neighborhoods it's already a reality. In New York City and New York's Westchester County, health care providers, from local clinics to a major teaching hospital, are teaming up to share information, reduce costly duplication of services and provide a coordinated program of care and education.

The New York Hospital Care Network, headed by New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, one of the country's leading teaching hospitals, is using more than stethoscopes and tongue depressors in the fight to maintain health. Armed with computers, doctors and medical students now have quick access to medical histories and important clinical information ... right at a patient's bedside.

The Network also combines the resources and expertise of eleven community health care providers. The goal? More efficient, less costly care for more people. Sounds like effective medicine that's easy to swallow.