Crestwood is a proud member of numerous communities across the United States and dedicated to building resilient relationships with communities by respecting their concerns and supporting economic development. We recognize that a strategic approach is critical to lasting business and community results. We focus our giving in four areas: safety, education and workforce development, the environment, and community vitality. We work with our community partners to identify those opportunities that achieve the greatest societal and business benefits and align with our focused strategy. We believe that our contributions to the economic, environmental and social well-being of our stakeholders and communities will help create real, lasting and sustainable value.
We recognize that social investment is an important element of our community partnerships. We work closely with local stakeholders to understand a community’s long-term needs and direct our funding to initiatives that will have lasting societal and business benefits along with aligning with our social investment strategy. Our giving is focused in four key areas: safety, education and workforce development, the environment and community vitality. Since 2018, we have donated $6.4 million to our communities. We believe that our contributions to the economic, environmental and social well-being of our communities will help create real, lasting and sustainable value.
Many of the initiatives we support focus on skills development and workforce readiness. These areas not only benefit the community, but also align with our goals to increase the future talent pool, build capacity in local and underserved communities and leverage opportunities for women and minorities. Therefore in 2019, Crestwood established a scholarship program for students pursuing a post-secondary STEM related degree. Since then, we have identified seven schools in the areas where we operate and offered 193 scholarships, totaling nearly $813,000 over the past four years.
In addition to our scholarship program, Crestwood continues to seek out partnerships that promote diversity and inclusion and provide equal opportunities for those in our communities. Knowing a diverse workforce is vital for success, in 2021, we sponsored Operation Hope, supporting its One Million Black Business and Entrepreneur Initiative. Through our partnership, Crestwood employees will also volunteer as mentors on their subject matter expertise to aspiring entrepreneurs.
To learn more about our approach to social investment, please visit our 2022 sustainability report.
Volunteerism is a vital part of our culture and identity. We strongly encourage employees to seek opportunities with charitable organizations year-round. A better appreciation of our communities ultimately leads to the enrichment and engagement of our employees, who gain valuable interpersonal and leadership experience while proudly serving as ambassadors of the company.
Crestwood employees are always willing to contribute to communities in tangible and meaningful ways. In 2019, Crestwood started an employee-led volunteer council in both Houston and Kansas City. The Councils’ support Crestwood’s formal volunteering program, “Crestwood in the Community” by formulating and executing volunteer initiatives that are in line with our focus areas.
The Crestwood Employee Matching Gift Program is an integral part of the Company’s corporate giving policy as it provides an additional incentive for employees to contribute to eligible non-profit organizations. By matching an employee’s donation to their preferred charity or organization, the Company is able to embolden employee participation and direct its corporate giving to strengthen the communities where its employees live and work. Contributions to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations are matched dollar-for dollar, up to $5,000 for employees.
For Crestwood, community stewardship means listening to our stakeholders and being responsible members of the communities we serve.
We were excited to be a part of the recent opening of the Boys & Girls Club’s beautiful new facility in Douglas, Wyoming. The new building will prove to be a huge upgrade for the Boys & Girls Club including dedicated rooms for STEM and art, as well as a gym, library, kitchen and outside playground. In addition to Crestwood funding more than $300,000, our team spent over 20 hours volunteering their time to get the building prepped and completed for the children. Crestwood is proud of our partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Douglas and honored to have the opportunity to be a part of this great project in a community where we operate.
Among the company’s major contributions, Crestwood partnered with the MHA Nation to build a new facility for the Mandaree Head Start Program. Crestwood donated the first $2 million to the project and led the charge to raise additional funds to support the program for decades to come. On July 17, 2019, the Crestwood Maagarishda Center opened its doors with a traditional MHA tribal ceremony, ribbon cutting and community celebration. The new Maagarishda Center is a state-of-the-art educational facility for children and the MHA Nation to grow, learn, and receive comprehensive health, nutrition and parent involvement services. This project is particularly important to the people of Mandaree as the Head Start program had been housed in a modular building since the 1970s, limiting the size of the program to 20 children.