Dave Bialis, General Manager of Cox’s Oklahoma operation, mentors students in a Boys and Girls Club. Cox is a national technology sponsor of the Clubs, with support including high-speed Internet service, cable TV, employee volunteers and advertising time. As a result of the partnership, more than 100,000 Club members have access to high-speed Internet and cable in Cox markets.

In the Company of Leaders

You Can Embrace a Community

Long before the phrase digital divide became popular, Cox employees had logged countless volunteer hours and the company had given thousands of dollars to bridge the gap between those with access to technology and those without. A major initiative in this area is Cox’s support, through cash and in-kind contributions, of Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Built on existing relationships with the organization in several Cox communities, Cox in 2003 became a national technology sponsor of Boys and Girls Clubs. During the first year of the partnership, nearly half of all Boys and Girls Clubs in Cox’s service areas received support – such as high-speed Internet service, computers and advertising time – worth millions of dollars. But the value is much greater than a monetary total, says Steven Kast, Executive Director of Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula, which has long received support from Cox’s Hampton Roads operation. “The real value is revealed when I see a 13-year-old boy from a single-parent home without a computer working on a school report in the technology center that Cox helped build. He is able to draw information by searching the Internet and incorporate it into a well-written report with up-to-date information high- lighted by color graphics. The value to him is priceless.”

• Cox Communications Community Commitment Report