Community Outreach

API is involved with a wide variety of outreach activities and causes, from improving our local community to supporting charities that have global reach. We believe it’s more than just being a good neighbor – it’s a fundamental responsibility to give back to those around us. From paycheck contributions to picking up a hammer, API staff members are committed to getting involved and making a difference to those around us.

About the Energy Efficient Homes Initiative

America’s oil and natural gas industry and Rebuilding Together are working together to help increase energy efficiency in homes and help low-income homeowners save money by reducing their energy usage.

Rebuilding Together, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership, and the American Petroleum Institute (API,) the primary trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, teamed up to create the Energy Efficient Homes Initiative in 2005. Through the Initiative, Rebuilding Together, API and its member companies provide energy-efficient home repairs and modifications to low-income homeowners, lessening the burden of home utility costs.

Additionally, since 2005, the Initiative has:

Expanded its reach, doubling the number of rebuilds conducted nationwide;
Enabled homeowners and assisted living facilities across the nation to save thousands of dollars, thanks to a variety of energy-efficient techniques incorporated into their homes;
Afforded homeowners the ability to save as much as 30 percent on monthly energy bills;
Enhanced the quality of life of homeowners and helped educate volunteers on the value of energy efficiency; and
Facilitated the incorporation of energy-efficient measures in the more than 9,000 homes revitalized each year by Rebuilding Together.

“When the electric bill came this month and showed that we used nearly half the electricity (15kWh) we used during March 2006 (25kWh) with the exact same average daily temperature, we knew we could not put off your thanks any longer. What a wonderful surprise to go from $143 in January and $152 in February to $86 in March 2007!”
Homeowner, Hartford, Connecticut, 2007

“My new ‘Energy Star’ furnace and central air conditioning, for which funding was provided by API, will save a tremendous amount on my heating and cooling expenses. Now my home is warm in every room and in every corner! It makes no difference if the wind is blowing, the snow is falling and the temperature is below freezing.”
Homeowner, Montana, 2006

For more information on Rebuilding Together, please visit its website: http://www.rebuildingtogether.org, and for more information about the Energy Efficient Homes Initiative please contact Rebecca Dobbins.

Communities served by the Initiative:

2006: Springdale, AR, Phoenix, AZ, Denver, CO, Washington, DC, Tampa, FL, Des Moines, IA, Indianapolis, IN, Chicago, IL, Oakland County, MI, Billings, MT, Albuquerque, NM, Albany, NY, Columbus, OH, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Richmond, VA

2007: Montgomery, AL, Northwest, AR, Petaluma, CA, Denver, CO, Hartford, CT, Washington, DC, Tampa, FL, Des Moines, IA, Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA, Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Edgewater, MD, Oakland County, MI, Billings, MT, Albuquerque, NM, Long Island, NY, Columbus, OH, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Seattle, WA, Arlington, VA, Richmond, VA

2008: Northwest, AK, Montgomery, AL, Phoenix, AZ, Sacramento, CA, Denver, CO, Hartford, CT, Washington, DC, Tampa, FL, Des Moines, IA, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, Gaithersburg, MD, Lincoln Co, ME, Ingham Co, MI, Oakland Co, MI, St. Paul, MN, Liberty, MO, Bay St. Louis, MS, Billings, MT, Englewood, NJ, Albuquerque, NM, Dutchess Co, NY, Columbus, OH, Portland, OR, Harrisburg, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Providence, RI, Charleston, SC, Nashville, TN, Arlington, VA, Richmond, VA, Tacoma, WA

Rebuilding Together Media

Rebuilding Together - WLOX ABC News Report

Rebuilding Together with Dan Harmon
Size: 3.86 MB | Date: May 2008

Making Iowa Green - KCCI News Report
Date: May 2008

Slideshow

Please click here to see a slide show of our Energy Efficient Homes Initiative volunteers in action across the country.

Brochure

Rebuilding Together brochure
Size: 2.07 MB | Date: May 2009 | License: Free

Fueling Our Community is API’s annual fundraising campaign. API employees can provide “fuel” to one or a combination of the following community charities: Alzheimer's Association, National Capital Area; American Red Cross; Boy Scouts of America, National Capital Area Council; Capital Area Food Bank; Children's Hospital Foundation; Eddie's Club; Red’s House – Rebuilding Together; So Others Might Eat (SOME); Susan G. Komen National Breast Cancer Foundation; or any other charity of their choice. 100% of the donations go directly to the charity. Last year API contributed 50 cents on the dollar up to $100 to the charities that employees selected, even if they were not on the list of seven.

The Power Is in Your Hands campaign was created in 2005 by 23 companies, trade associations and nonprofits to help educate consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency. The organization’s website, www.powerisinyourhands.org, offers valuable energy efficiency information for homes, transportation, and businesses. API is a significant contributor to the campaign’s overall energy efficiency education effort.

To emphasize the benefits of energy efficiency, the campaign’s partners created the Six Degrees of Energy Efficiency Web Challenge at www.sixdegreechallenge.org. API encourages all Americans to take the Six Degree Challenge. For more information on API’s role in The Power Is in Your Hands campaign, contact Kyle Isakower.

The Everybody Wins! Power Lunch Program is a privately funded reading and mentoring program in which various professionals -- from Congress, the business community, and nonprofit groups -- read once a week with disadvantaged elementary school children during the lunch hour. EW! works with teachers to select as many children as possible who are reading below grade levels, who would benefit from the attention of a caring adult, and who are not read to at home.

API has actively participated in the Power Lunch Program with our next door neighbor, Thomson Elementary School since the program’s conception during the 1995-1996 school year.

Hands on DC is an all-volunteer project that creates better schools and brighter futures for students in the District of Columbia.

The Hands On DC Work-a-thon is an annual event where groups of volunteers from the area do refurbishment work at local schools. Projects include painting, landscaping, cleaning, work on the playgrounds and anything else that can help improve the learning environment for the students. Volunteers do not need any special skills!

This year (April 2009) Team API helped out at Ludlow-Taylor School. The API team had a great time sprucing up the interior and exterior of the school by painting, cleaning and gardening. This was the sixth consecutive year API sent a team of volunteers to the event.

Hands on DC is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that conducts an annual citywide work-a-thon to improve the physical condition of Washington, DC public schools, raise funds to support local college scholarship programs, and encourage greater community involvement in the public schools.

Other Recent API Charitable Activities

J Street Cup (benefits Fisher House at Walter Reed Army Medical Center)

Avon Breast Cancer Walk

Special Olympics Inspiration Walk

Capital Area Food Bank food drive

Alexandria Boys & Girls Club

Silver Star Arts

Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Walk for Autism