BP Announces Winners of The 2001 Leader Awards Totaling $500,000 For Innovative Programs In Education, Community and Economic Development, Environment, Youth, and Science & Technology.

Business Editors

WARRENVILLE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2001

Awards To Be Presented At The Fairmont Hotel On December 7 At 11:30

BP announced today that nine community service and education organizations in the Chicago area will be honored with 2001 BP Leader Awards. The company will grant the non-profit organizations a total of $500,000 for programs that help solve issues of Community and Economic Development, the Environment, Science and Technology, Youth/Inclusion, and Education. Awards will be presented on Friday, December 7, 2001, during the BP Leader Awards Luncheon at the Fairmont Hotel from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

The Regional Employer Assisted Collaboration for Housing, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention and Gads Hill Center will receive grants of $100,000 each. The company also announced that another $100,000 total in BP Education Solutions Awards will be given to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy ($20,000), the Perspectives Charter School ($20,000), the SciTech Hands On Museum ($30,000), Target Hope($20,000) and the Warren Township High School District 121($10,000).

The Leader Award and Education Solutions Award competitions honor community groups in Chicagoland for programs that address areas of need, create constructive solutions and provide tools for change that result in substantial long-term progress.

For the Community and Economic Development category, the Regional Employer Assisted Collaboration for Housing (REACH), a coalition of organizations providing financial literacy to families across the six-county area (including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake McHenry and Will Counties), will receive funding. REACH partners include: Corporation for Affordable Homes of McHenry County, DuPage Homeownership Center, Interfaith Housing Development Corporation, Joseph Corporation, Lake County Affordable Housing Corporation, Neighborhood Housing Services, North West Housing Partnership, South Suburban Housing Center, and the Metropolitan Planning Council. REACH's goal is to forward Employer-Assisted Housing as a tool to expand quality affordable homeownership options for lower-income working families near jobs and transit.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum won in the Environment category for its Butterfly Restoration Project. The Project is a direct extension of the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, a program currently monitoring the health of butterfly populations throughout northeastern and central Illinois. Its goal is to enhance our state's biodiversity through successful reintroduction and restoration of imperiled butterfly species on Illinois prairie land. Partners in this program include The Nature Conservancy, Chicago Wilderness and the Chicago Audubon Society.

Under the Youth/Inclusion category, the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention (ICVP) won for its YouthPeace and SisterNet Programs. Through these programs the ICVP seeks to empower youth and families from diverse communities throughout Illinois to develop effective, long-term solutions to important community issues that affect their daily lives.

The winner for the Science and Technology category is the Gads Hill Center for its EcoFamilia Program. The project will develop neighborhood leadership by adults and youth in innovative energy and resource conservation programs, and in the education of Pilsen residents around environmental issues and the promotion of solar, conservation and recycling efforts. Partners for this program include Commonwealth Edison, the Community Energy Cooperative and the City of Chicago's Department of Environment.

Under Education, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy won for its Kids Institute, which provides hands-on enrichment programs in science, mathematics and technology serving students in grades 3 - 9 who primarily reside in Kane, DuPage, Kendall and Cook counties.

The SciTech Hands On Museum won in Education for its COMMUNITY KIDS After School Program. The program focuses on enhancing youths understanding of science and its relevance to everyday life. The program will reach nearly 1,625 students, their families, civic leaders, teachers and community residents.

Target Hope's Education award will support its Evening Academy targeting high school seniors. This initiative increases high school retention rates through one-on-one mentorship programs, academic courses, college preparatory seminars and college tours.

A fourth Education award will be presented to the Warren Township High School District No. 121 for its Lifelong Learning program for its faculty and staff. It is a week-long series of staff development opportunities to help teachers better meet the needs of their students.

And last, the Perspectives Charter School won for its Senior Program, established to provide urban youth, mostly minority and almost all economically disadvantaged, with life skills and opportunities for success and productivity.

"BP is committed to reinforcing its core brand attributes -- performance, progressive, innovative, and green (environment) - in its business operations and its social investment," said Doris Salomon, BP Director of Community Affairs. "This year's Leader Awards' winners have exhibited these same attributes of leadership through the success of their past and ongoing programs. We are proud that through our financial contribution and employee involvement we are able to help expand the reach of these leading organizations, and in some cases, help initiate new programs that meet identified community concerns."

The winning organizations were selected by panels of BP employees and external experts in each category and will be presented with cash awards. BP also will be working in partnership with winning organizations to identify employee engagement opportunities and other community partnership opportunities.

BP is one of the world's largest energy companies and a leader in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. The company is also a leader in the refining and marketing of cleaner-burning fuels and the manufacture of versatile, lubricants, chemicals and plastics. The company is also a world leader in solar power.

BP has well-established operations in the greater Chicagoland area with 3,500 employees operating out of offices in Chicago, Naperville, Warrenville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Joliet and Aurora. The company also operates about 350 BP retail outlets throughout the area. For more information, visit BP's web site www.bp.com.

For more information, please contact Scott Dean of BP at 630/836-4264 or Robin Beaman of Beaman Inc. at 312/751-9689.