Our Community
We recognize that the preservation of the environment and the health and safety of our employees and our neighbors are our highest priorities.
Sentinel Peak believes in meaningfully contributing to the communities where we live and operate and having a positive impact as a good employer and neighbor. We enhance our communities economically by providing quality jobs and making capital expenditures in our facilities. We seek a better future for our employees and our broader communities, and strive to build strong relationships with local officials, schools and other organizations.
One of our primary focuses is supporting youth education. Examples of specific initiatives and partnerships include:
- Taft Oil Technology Academy – Sentinel Peak is a business partner of the Academy, located near our Bakersfield location, which develops partnerships between the petroleum industry, high school administrators and teachers that work with high school students who are interested in exploring careers related to the industry, science, math and engineering. We also participate in mentoring with students as they focus on success in the industry or in further education upon graduation from high school.
- Dream Center (Emancipated Youth Program) – Sentinel Peak has launched a summer internship program specifically targeted at emancipated youth – young people that have aged out of foster care – intended to assist them in developing skills required to obtain field or administration jobs at Sentinel Peak and other employers.
- Sponsorship and STEM Program Support –Sentinel supports local institutions, such as the Kern STEMposium where we provide STEM education classroom materials and conduct in class/afterschool education. Sentinel also provides STEM Education Scholarships to graduating seniors at Culver City High School, King Drew Medical Magnet and Dorsey High School.
Additional significant community outreach efforts include:
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- Housing and open space development – We seek to strategically align our land divestiture goals with localized needs, considering the potential for meeting local development needs through mutually beneficial projects.One prime example of these synergies is the 500-acre Montebello oil field, located 15 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, where we have successfully worked with the City of Montebello and developers to redevelop the former oil field. Construction by nationally recognized developers is now underway on 1,200 new housing units serving a wide array of socioeconomic needs, more than 270 acres of permanent conversation land, and more than 20 acres of new public open space including 11 acres of parks and 9.5 miles of trails.In 2019, Sentinel Peak executed on the decommissioning and sale of a former 1.1 acre urban drill site located in the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to make way for an affordable housing development.
In 2021, Sentinel Peak is executing on previously published plans to complete abandonments and cause the cessation of operations at the 35-well Jefferson drill site in central Los Angeles near University of Southern California to make way for a new affordable student housing project.
- Community Advisory Program – This program, part of our Inglewood operations, was initiated based on the interest of the local community. The group provides us local perspective and feedback on specific actions or potential actions, as well as assisting in community outreach. One of the outcomes of this program has been an extensive landscaping redesign in Inglewood to visually screen and enhance the oilfield aesthetic.
- Supporting small, minority owned and local businesses – By contracting with businesses in the community for services to support relationships and the local economy and as a member of various Chambers of Commerce and business associations surrounding operational assets.
- Focused philanthropic efforts – We provide financial and program support for a variety of programs targeting youth engagement, public safety organizations, Veterans causes and homeless assistance. Sentinel Peak has an employee led Charitable Contribution Committee that awards employee nominated charities with meaningful sponsorships.
We monitor community feedback and any complaint reports through our complaint process and through organizations such as the Inglewood Community Advisory committee. Any issue raised is investigated and followed up promptly with interested parties.
- Housing and open space development – We seek to strategically align our land divestiture goals with localized needs, considering the potential for meeting local development needs through mutually beneficial projects.One prime example of these synergies is the 500-acre Montebello oil field, located 15 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, where we have successfully worked with the City of Montebello and developers to redevelop the former oil field. Construction by nationally recognized developers is now underway on 1,200 new housing units serving a wide array of socioeconomic needs, more than 270 acres of permanent conversation land, and more than 20 acres of new public open space including 11 acres of parks and 9.5 miles of trails.In 2019, Sentinel Peak executed on the decommissioning and sale of a former 1.1 acre urban drill site located in the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to make way for an affordable housing development.