SAN JOSE, Calif., August 4, 2004 - The Cisco Systems Foundation today announced it has awarded $772,550 in grants to 65 Bay Area non-profit organizations dedicated to providing essential community services.

The grants, awarded through the Cisco Foundation's San Jose Impact Grant program, are given twice per year to organizations within in a 50-mile radius of Cisco's San Jose headquarters. The grants reflect the Cisco Foundation's dedication to providing basic human needs including food, clothing and shelter services, expanding access to education, and to promoting and sustaining volunteerism and responsible citizenship.In fiscal year 2004, the San Jose Impact Grants awarded a total of $1.5 million to Bay Area non-profit recipients.

"Cisco's commitment to giving back has grown with our company," said Sylvia Allen, senior director of worldwide diversity, philanthropy and ethics, Cisco Systems. "This year marks our 20th anniversary, and we are proud to continue our tradition of supporting successful local non-profits working to improve the communities where we live and work."

The recipients of the San Jose Impact Grant awards provide essential community services such as offering career development and training for adults, enriching youth and adult education through the arts, providing healthcare services for low income families, improving the local homelessness and hunger situation, and offering mentoring and leadership development to children and young adults.

Since the inception of the grant awards in 1993, the program has awarded more than 900 community grants amounting to approximately $13 million to Bay Area nonprofit organizations.

Several organizations awarded a San Jose Impact Grant in the spring cycle of funding include:

• Dientes Community Dental Clinic, based in Santa Cruz, addresses the problem of dental decay - the single most common chronic childhood disease affecting America's school children. The program provides dental education and treatment to low-income students to improve their oral health and in turn, improve their school performance. Dental professionals visit schools to provide education and evaluations. By connecting the students with preventive and urgent treatment, the program relieves pain and suffering, resolves current problems and prevents further decay.
• Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, based in San Francisco, empowers and increases the entrepreneurial capacities of socially and economically diverse women and men throughout the Bay Area. By fostering the creation of sustainable new businesses and new jobs, Renaissance helps individuals create better lives and livelihoods through small business ownership and strengthens underserved communities through lasting economic development.
• Community Resources for Science (CRS), based in Berkeley, provides ongoing science professional development support to elementary teachers through both workshops and teacher membership services, in addition to offering consulting and research support to science and environmental education organizations, in order to accomplish the mission of building a community of educators dedicated to getting young children excited about learning through science. The Community in the Classroom program recruits science professionals from diverse backgrounds to be science role model volunteers, providing the training and logistical support they need to do age-appropriate, hands-on classroom presentations that make real-life connections between classroom curriculum and education and career paths.
• Magic Theatre, based in San Francisco, gives voice to playwrights, both emerging and established, and develops and promotes the work of theatre artists. Magic provides numerous programs, in addition to its mainstage season, to support new works in varying stages of development. Magic Theatre Inc.'s Young California Writers Project places professional playwrights in residency at inner-city high schools in the area and uses the arts to enhance literacy and stimulate the imagination of disadvantaged high school students.
• Girls Incorporated of Alameda County's Eureka! Teen Achievement Program, based in San Leandro, is a multi-year, math, science, and technology program for underserved, low-income, junior high and high school girls in the Bay Area. The program operates on an intensive, four-year schedule that builds girls' skills in scientific and technical fields, preparing them for college and a successful future. The program also increases girls' exposure to sports and health education, while empowering young women to develop confidence, and enhance academic achievement.

Grant recipients are chosen by the San Jose Impacts Grant Review Committee, which is comprised of Cisco employees with diverse backgrounds and range from individual contributor to management levels. Committee members communicate with non-profit applicants throughout the selection process, often making on-site visits, to establish close ties with the organizations that receive funding. Interested not-for-profit organizations can view complete information at: www.cisco.com/go/sjgrants.

About the Cisco Systems Foundation

The Cisco Systems Foundation was established in 1997 by a gift from Cisco Systems, Inc. As Corporate Philanthropy's primary cash investment vehicle, the Foundation provides grants to select organizations with long-lasting, local or global impact. More information on the Cisco Systems Foundation is available at www.cisco.com/go/foundation.