SAN JOSE, Calif., May 8, 2001 — Today at the Silicon Valley Conference on Nonprofits and Technology in San Jose, Calif., Microsoft Corp. announced it will give a series of grants — totaling more than $385,000 in cash and software – to five nonprofit organizations in the Silicon Valley. Microsoft’s donations will support a range of projects designed to provide technology access and training to community residents. Grant recipients include the Mayfair Improvement Initiative, a program of the Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV), Mexican American Community Services Agency Inc. (MACSA) El Toro Youth Center, Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW), Plugged In, and Third Street Community Center.
“The innovative programs of these agencies expose people to technology and create opportunities to gain new, marketable skills,”
said Bruce Brooks, director of Community Affairs at Microsoft.
“It is our hope that through these donations more residents will be able to use technology as a means of improving their lives.”
Creating opportunity, beyond access, is the cornerstone of what these grant recipients strive for in today’s challenging market. Plugged In, for example, is one of the country’s first community access technology centers and will use the donation to help build an information infrastructure in East Palo Alto, including a community portal that will connect users with the network and with each other. Third Street Community Center, located in downtown San Jose, will use the grant to support a program that offers a basic computing course for adults and allows them to receive a free computer upon completion of the course. OICW, a vocational training center that offers a full range of training and job placement programs, plans to enhance its technology job training program.
“MACSA El Toro Youth Center is deeply appreciative of Microsoft’s efforts to help ensure that low-income children have a future in a fast-growing tech world,” said Lori Escobar, center director at the MACSA El Toro Youth Center.
“We are excited about our relationship with Microsoft and the possibilities it will provide El Toro Youth Center and the low-income ‘at-risk’ children that we serve.”
CFSV’s Mayfair Improvement Initiative, which works to improve the quality of life for residents of the Mayfair neighborhood of East San Jose through community input and participation, will receive a boost from the Microsoft donation as well.
“Microsoft is enabling us to bring an even higher quality of services to our constituents,”
said Peter Hero, president of CFSV.
“Through the Mayfair Computer Academy that Microsoft is supporting, our residents receive the job training skills and technology certification that are crucial to finding employment.”
Microsoft has been a member of California’s Silicon Valley community since 1981 and is the top corporate donor to Bay Area programs that strive to bridge the digital divide. During calendar year 2000, Microsoft donated approximately $1.67 million in cash, more than $19.7 million in software, and hundreds of volunteer hours to nonprofit and other community organizations in the area.
Through the company’s Connected Learning Community (CLC) grant program, an initiative aimed at making technology accessible to all individuals, Microsoft’s Northern California office has awarded grants to numerous Bay Area nonprofit organizations since 1997, including Communities in Harmony Advocates for Learning and Kids (CHALK) and Hayes Valley Computer Learning Center in San Francisco; DeAnza College; Digital Clubhouse Network; Digital Mission; Eastmont Computing Center in Oakland, Calif.; Emergency Housing Consortium of Santa Clara County; Hearing Eyes in San Jose, Calif.; Hearing Impaired Press (HiP); KTEH Public Television; and Project Transition.
Microsoft has also supported other organizations in the valley, including the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Volunteers of America Bay Area, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the San Jose Children’s Musical Theater.
About Microsoft Community Affairs
Community Affairs manages and administers Microsoft’s corporate philanthropy programs. Microsoft and its employees long have recognized the importance of the communities in which they work and live and since 1983 have been high-tech industry leaders in making contributions. Through its giving, Microsoft is committed to empowering people to discover and create a better future. Last year, Microsoft gave more than $34.3 million in cash and
$200 million in software to nearly 5,000 nonprofit organizations to enrich people’s lives through advanced technology access, to strengthen nonprofits through technology, to expand and diversify the technology work force, and to build vibrant communities. The company also supports its employees’ acts of giving by matching, dollar for dollar, employee charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations up to $12,000 per employee annually. More than
20,000 Microsoft employees participate in the program. More information on the Microsoft Giving Program is located at http://www.microsoft.com/giving/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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