Community

Chevron Donates to Richmond Promise Scholarship Program

Published

11 years ago

August 3, 2015

Courtesy of the Richmond Standard

All students who live in Richmond and graduate from a public high school in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, including charter schools, will be eligible for the $35 million Richmond Promise program, which aims to offer each student enough tuition and support to make college both attainable and affordable, according to city officials.

On Wednesday this week, the highly-anticipated college scholarship program received its first installment of $8 million from Chevron Richmond, which is providing the full $35 million over 10 years as part of a $90 million community benefits agreement with the city connected to the upcoming $1 billion modernization of the Richmond Refinery.

The goal is to begin doling out scholarships for the Class of 2016, the city says.

An ad hoc committee convening community leaders and school officials has been appointed to hash out some of the program’s details, and there’s still work to do. But we’re told the scholarship amount likely won’t be the same for every student, but rather reflective of the student’s financial needs. Program officials also intend to help students obtain federal student aid as well as other outside grant and scholarship options so that Promise funds can be extended to the most possible students.

The city has also set a goal of raising $150 million in additional funds from foundations and private individuals to keep the program going beyond 10 years.

College is financially out of reach for many families, creating little incentive for students to perform in the classroom. But students who are willing to do the work should be able to concentrate on their studies and not scraping enough funds to get into college, said Mayor Tom Butt, who first proposed the idea of the Promise program after being inspired by a similar program in El Dorado, Ark.

He said the program has proven in El Dorado to raise academic standards and ultimately create a college-going culture.

“All [students] have to concentrate on is simply being academically prepared to go to college,” the mayor said.

Another champion of the program, Vice Mayor Jael Myrick, called the program “transformative” and “game-changing.”

“This is real; this is happening,” he said. “We expect young people after high school to still be in school.”

For Richmond High senior Itzel Gonzales, the program will help her to become the first member of her family to attend college. Gonzales, who has been interning this summer as a researcher for Chevron, aims to pursue a degree in bio-medical engineering at UCLA.

“Knowing these funds will be there will give me the extra motivation to go to college,” she said.

Chevron Richmond pledged to provide ongoing support college-readiness, calling the Promise program one of its most important community investments.

“Chevron depends on a highly-skilled and educated workforce to meet our business needs,” said Jeff Hartwig, manager of the Chevron Refinery Modernization Project, adding the company wants to hire its future engineers and scientists from Richmond schools.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

1 week ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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1 week ago

March 1, 2026

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke