Over the years, Chevron and Texaco have helped communities in Venezuela to prosper. Since 2001, our community engagement investments in Venezuela have topped $60 million and benefited more than 100,000 people. Our efforts are focused on providing sustainable growth through infrastructure development and programs that support basic human needs, education, training, small and medium-size business development, and cultural causes.
Education
Since 2004, Chevron has sponsored the Natural Gas Business Management postgraduate program at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas. The program – unique in Venezuela – covers many aspects of the natural gas industry, from wellhead to burner tip. A team from Chevron has worked with university professors to teach hundreds of professionals about the natural gas business from both a local and an international perspective. In 2006, the institution was picked as one of the 16 universities in the world to partner with Chevron under the Chevron University Global Partnership program.
Chevron teamed up with the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership (DCGEP) and the Ministry of Education in Venezuela and set up learning centers in the greater metropolitan area of Caracas, in Maracaibo in the state of Zulia and in Puerto La Cruz in the state of Anzoátegui. Chevron's sponsorship will allow 15 schools, serving more than 45,000 students, to get learning centers. Each learning center receives a television, a video recorder and a collection of the award-winning DCGEP video programs in Spanish. After three years of successful implementation, each school has completed the training and is ready to continue with this project on its own.
Chevron has worked with the Center at the Service of Popular Action, which offers workshops for more than 400 future entrepreneurs per year. Venezuelans who qualify also are given assistance with loans.
Since 2004, Chevron has sponsored the IDEAS Contest, in which business venture projects are presented, ranked and awarded. The program has helped more than 9,000 entrepreneurs sharpen their business skills, and it has given their ideas needed exposure.
In the state of Zulia, Chevron refurbished 11 schools. Computer rooms were constructed at three other schools, benefiting nearly 7,600 students. Chevron also built the Suürula WakuaIpa Elementary School, a 500-student institution located in the Jesús Enrique Lossada municipality.
In the same state, 200 high school students have graduated from the Unidad Educativa Santo Domingo de la Calzada, a project Chevron has sponsored since 2004. More than 600 students from communities surrounding the company's operations in western Venezuela attend the school. Seventy percent of the school's graduates are the first generation in their families to obtain a high school diploma.
In 2008, in the state of Delta Amacuro, Chevron helped more than 100 students and teachers with training programs and the remodeling of four rural schools. Chevron also supported programs for the 459 students of the Guaraunos Technical School of Agriculture.
Health
Chevron has consistently supported health programs that improve the lives of those living in our areas of operation. We support Operation Smile, the Rotary Club and Rotaplast to help children with cleft palates recover their smiles. Since 1998, Chevron has donated $390,000 for more than 2,500 surgeries.
In the state of Zulia, Chevron helped build three new medical and dental clinics which now serve a community of 14,300 people.
In the state of Sucre, where the Delta Caribe project is being planned, a mobile health care unit was created to treat rural patients in early pregnancy and those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases.
Small and Medium-Size Business Development
Since 2004, Chevron has been the sole sponsor of the Productive Leadership program, which is administered by the Center of Popular Action. The program has presented more than 110 workshops for more than 480 small and medium-size business entrepreneurs. Attendees are trained in project development, management, marketing, finances and other skills needed to sustain a business. In 2008, Chevron extended its support to new workshops specifically for women. Venezuelans who qualify also are given assistance with loans.
Since 2004, Chevron has sponsored the IDEAS Contest, in which business venture projects are presented, ranked and awarded. The program has helped more than 300 entrepreneurs sharpen their business skills, and it has given their ideas needed exposure.
Cultural Programs and Volunteers
Chevron supports cultural programs as well. Since 2004, we've partnered with Venezuela's embassy in Washington, D.C., to sponsor Venezuelan Sounds, a summer music series. The program, which promotes young musicians, has expanded each year. In 2006, it sponsored 26 concerts in 10 cities across the United States.
Chevron has a very strong volunteer program. In 2008 alone, more than 300 of our employees, contractors and their families offered more than 930 hours of work to those in need. Our volunteers in Venezuela have become well-known for their work raising funds for charity groups.
Updated: May 2009