Microsoft Tops $16 Million in Cash and Technology Grants to the United Negro College Fund

, October 22, 1998 — Microsoft President Steve Ballmer will be joined by the Rev. Bernice King (daughter of Martin Luther King) when he presents a $100,000 check to William H. Gray, President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, later this afternoon at the company’s Equal Access event in Atlanta.

The award raises Microsoft’s total contribution to the UNCF since 1995 to more than $16 million in cash and technology grants. Microsoft’s donations to the UNCF have provided software, technical assistance, staff training, scholarships and internships for students at historically black colleges and universities.

Created in 1997, Equal Access is a charitable outreach program created by Microsoft to help provide access to PC technology and the Internet for everyone. Microsoft hopes that one long-term result of the Equal Access program will be increased diversity in the high-tech workplace.

“Microsoft is committed to working with communities and organizations like the UNCF that are working hard to break down the barriers to entering the high-technology industry,” Ballmer said. “Equal Access is about making sure that the tremendous opportunities within the high-tech sector are open to everyone. With more than 343,000 open jobs in the high-technology sector, we hope our continuing commitment to the UNCF will help students open doors of opportunity that were once difficult to open.”

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