BP, CHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE COLLABORATE ON $6.25 MILLION EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT EFFORT

(AADNEWSWIRE)CHICAGO-BP and BP Foundation announced today an investment of $6.25 million over three years in a collaborative effort with Chicago Urban League. BP and Chicago Urban League will work together to enhance and positively impact economic development and job creation for minorities in the Chicago area.

"Building better, stronger communities in the places we operate is important to BP and to the men and women who work for us," said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone. "The Chicago Urban League is designing innovative, sustainable economic development programs that we believe will make a real difference in the Chicago area, and we are proud to be part of them."

"We are pleased to work with BP on this historic and progressive initiative," said Cheryle Jackson, President and CEO of Chicago Urban League. "Developing entrepreneurs and enhancing education and employment opportunities are key to driving economic growth in the African-American and minority communities. This collaboration will prove beneficial to Chicago, as it will help to create the kind of wealth that can lift up and transform whole neighborhoods and entire communities."

BP Foundation will make an investment of $3.7 million to support Chicago Urban League entrepreneurship programs. As part of that commitment, BP Foundation will make a $1 million initial investment in a new Chicago Urban League Entrepreneur Venture Fund and $2.7 million for startup and operation of the new Entrepreneurship Center at Chicago Urban League, designed to help build capacity and strengthen and accelerate growth of minority entrepreneur businesses. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University will help develop a skills and training curriculum for the Entrepreneurship Center.

BP America will make a three-year investment of $2.4 million in programs to enhance diversity and inclusion among BP employees, suppliers, convenience store franchisees and fuels distributors and marketers. This includes entrepreneur outreach and franchisee training; minority supplier conferences; research on entrepreneurship and wealth retention; and BP-customized employment and training programs in collaboration with the Urban League of Northwest Indiana and area community colleges.

BP and Chicago Urban League also have agreed to work together to deliver various youth education programs. BP has initially budgeted an additional $150,000 toward expanding or creating new education efforts with Chicago Urban League in the next three years.

BP and Chicago Urban League began collaboration in 2006 to plan programs to enhance employment and entrepreneur opportunities with BP for African-Americans and other under-represented minorities. Consistent with Chicago Urban League and BP aspirations, the programs are intended to result in sustainable wealth creation in diverse communities. Opportunities have been identified for enhanced minority participation in BP employment; professional services and other supplier/contractor relationships; and convenience retail and fuels marketing. The initial focus of the collaboration relates to BP businesses and functions operating in Chicagoland. However, the collaboration is expected to positively affect other BP businesses and US geographies. A desired outcome is to develop and test replicable programs.

Notes to editors:
As BP invests in diversity and inclusion and sustainability programs within the company, it also works collaboratively with like-minded, community-based organizations such as Chicago Urban League to help increase representation of minorities and women in executive and civic leadership, entrepreneurship, employment and education. For example:

" BP is the sole founding sponsor of the Executive Leadership Council's Institute for Leadership Development and Research, whose mission is to support the development of African-American corporate leadership.

" BP is the sole funder of the Multicultural Education Collaborative in Los Angeles. This collaboration of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the Los Angeles Urban League, and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is designed to help develop future leaders, empowering youth and parents, and providing equity, parity, and access to secondary and post-secondary education opportunities.

" BP supports a number of education enhancement and scholarship programs in communities where we operate that support access to education opportunities. For example, BP Community Scholarship programs in Chicago, New York City, Washington, DC, and other market areas have awarded about $4.5 million in the past two decades to 3,000 deserving students with financial need. Many of the scholarships go to minority students.

" BP this year introduced the A+For Energy Program in Chicagoland. BP will invest a total of $1.25 million in grants and training for teachers in Chicago and Northwest Indiana. The program is available to all K-12 teachers in accredited schools in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois and Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana. Chicago Urban League is a community partner in the program, helping to encourage applications from teachers in schools serving under-represented minorities.

" BP is original and lead sponsor of "A Place of Our Own/Los Ninos en su Casa," programs that help parents and childcare workers with outreach workshops, websites, and instructional telecasts in Spanish and in English.

More information on BP's US Diversity and Inclusion programs is available at www.bp.com/us/diversity.

Further information:
Valerie Corr, BP America, (630) 881-9911

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The Executive
Leadership Council