Investing in the Black community An overarching goal of Cisco’s Social Justice Actions is to drive lasting, systemic, and generational change for the Black community. That requires multiyear investments and efforts against the policies and practices that continue to disenfranchise this community and create economic disparities. Several of our Actions are designed to advocate for education and economic empowerment, such as our partnership with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States to develop long-term, sustainable strategies focused on delivering student and university success. As one of the key commitments in Action 8 of our 12 Social Justice Actions, Cisco has made a US$150 million commitment to HBCUs, of which US$50 million will help form a new endowment that will support students at nine HBCUs. The remaining US$100 million will help HBCUs modernize their technology capabilities. We will also offer the Cisco Networking Academy program to all HBCUs, which includes increased student recruitment opportunities, free instructor training, technology curriculum, and tools. To help entrepreneurial HBCU students advance their businesses, we awarded the first-ever HBCU Startup Prize of US$50,000 within the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge in 2021. The winner, Mini City , is addressing one of the most significant barriers to breaking the cycle of homelessness: obtaining legal forms of identification. Mini City uses smart technology to meet this need—a promising example of what’s possible when we support Black innovators. We also launched our new US$50 million Aspire Fund, which will focus on investing in diverse-led startups and venture funds over the next five years. We're building on Cisco Investments' solid track record of investing across the full spectrum of diversity over the years, starting with African American leaders. One of our earliest investments was in Plexo Capital–a venture capital fund that invests in emerging early-stage venture capital fund managers and venture-backed companies. We continue to make diversity a key component of our investment criteria and accelerate our efforts to address the historic funding gap. To date, we are tracking with the multi-year aspirations of the Aspire Fund. What these investments have in common is that they are not “one and done.” Through our ongoing engagement with HBCUs and our other partners in these efforts, we hope to make a long-term positive impact on Black communities—generating greater resilience and prosperity for years to come. FUTURE INTRO POWER INCLUSIVE 2021 Cisco Purpose Report | csr.cisco.com | ESG Reporting Hub 42