Chevron checks in with six non-profits that received $1 million in grants
on May 1, 2013
Two years after giving $1 million dollars in grants to six non-profits, Chevron California Partnership hosted an event Tuesday to show how the organizations have used the donation.
Each organization presented a video of their work and discussed how the money was used since receiving the grant in 2011.
The California Partnership was established in 2009 by Chevron to distribute funding to community organizations that focus on STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math.
Chevron External Public Affairs Manager Heather Kulp said that because of Chevron’s connection to the community it operates in, the company makes financial investments in organizations and people who provide social services in the city. “As we look at investing in this community, we look at investing in people,” Kulp said.
Solar Richmond, an organization that offers free solar-installation training, received $177,000 in funding, which allowed them to offer commercial solar installation classes. Previously, the program only trained students how to install residential solar panels.
West Contra Costa Unified School District used its $200,000 grant to coach math teachers and build new lesson plans. “There is no STEM without the M,” said district curriculum director Phil Gonsalves. “Given the importance, it should actually be called MEST,” he continued, to chuckles from the audience.
The Contra Costa College Foundation received $100,000, which funded 153 high school students’ enrollment in college-level STEM courses over the last year.
The Contra Costa Economic Partnership used the funding to prepare high school students for post-secondary education.
Catholic Charities of the East Bay helped 16 participants with limited English proficiency find work and gave them language-based training.
Lastly, the Stride Center, which offers computer repair training to residents, used their grant to offer paid internships and full-time positions, and gave more than 1,000 computers to Richmond families. Barrie Hathaway, executive director of the Stride Center, said that instead of building technological devices, the center builds “human processes that we can get people to work.”
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Remember, one million dollars from Chevron is nothing from a company that makes $30 billion in profits in one year! This is chump change for them. They could do way better, and they only do it to gain the trust of the citizens, not because they are “good guys”. They cost Richmond and West Contra Costa County way more in pollution, sickening of the citizenry, and refusal to pay their property taxes!