Dec 3, 2024
Our social impact program, Build Strong, invests in organizations that are vital to our communities and crucial for our business. Whether we are providing grants, awarding scholarships to future energy problem solvers, or providing in-kind support, our goal is to help build mutually beneficial relationships that address our biggest social challenges, while building strong communities.
Our Focus Areas
Safety
We provide funding to equip first responders with the resources they need to keep our communities safe. Build Strong aims to ensure first responders and emergency management organizations are equipped with the physical and psychological tools to ensure their success and well-being. We support:
- Equipment for First Responders (Ex: PPE, Tools, Technology)
- Training for First Responders (Ex: Hazmat)
- Emergency Preparedness/Response (Ex: Natural Disaster preparedness/Response, Emergency Response Plans, Trainings)
Education
We provide funding to initiatives that improve access to education for future energy problem solvers. We focus our giving on students in grades 3-12, post-secondary students, and the current and future energy workforce. Build Strong aims to embed a culture of inclusion across our organization and ensure the diversity of employees reflects the communities in which we live and work, while ensuring the energy workforce is equitably seeded and supported for today and tomorrow. We support:
- STEM programs and equipment (Ex: math programs, robotics programs, STEM camps, environmental education)
- Trades programs and equipment (Ex: certification programs, trades curriculums, equipment)
- Career/job readiness programs and equipment (Ex: career events, interview preparedness)
Environment
TC Energy’s goal is to leave the environment where we work in a condition equal to, or better than, we found it. Build Strong aims to ensure sensitive lands and their inhabitants are restored and conserved, and that potential impacts are mitigated, so we can protect and enhance the environment for today and tomorrow. We support:
- Land (Ex: parks, forests, prairies, wetlands, tree plantings, flora)
- Water (Ex: streams, rivers, oceans, lakes)
- Species-at-risk (Ex: mammals, bird, fish, amphibians, invertebrates)
Resilient Communities
Build Strong aims to mitigate barriers to well-being in our communities, and cultivate diverse communities where residents advance, despite adversity. We support:
- Food banks/support for food purchase
- Meal provision programs
- Sustainable energy infrastructure and energy access
- Mental wellness programs (Peer support groups, resilience programs, equipment/supplies)
- Free local community events/celebrations
Support for communities in action
Mexico
TC Energía and coral reef rehabilitation in Mexico in partnership with Oceanus A.C.
TC Energy is contributing to the rehabilitation of coral reef sites in the state of Veracruz. This initiative aims to transplant 1,500 coral colonies on the Isla Lobos Reef. Increasing healthy coral colonies allows reef sites to begin their restoration process.The initiative will include maintenance and monitoring of the restoration sites, as well as education programs for TC Energy and local employees.
TC Energía shines a light in remote Tortugas and La Lomita
To most of us, electricity is readily accessible but for some people living in very remote and poor communities, it is a hope, not a certainty. In May 2023, TC Energía joined forces with Iluméxico to pilot their rural electrification program, installing solar panels in a remote central region of Mexico near our Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline. The solar panel installation program from TC Energía includes the service, maintenance, and repair of the systems, which is carried out by young people from the region who receive training from Iluméxico through formal employment. The Iluméxico team also worked with Concentrarte AC to provide a week of recreational science workshops, music and community cinema.
USA
Supporting emergency first responders through a pipeline to well-being
TC Energy's Build Strong program partners with non-profit NDRI Ventures, which supports emergency first-responders and their families, especially in smaller, rural, medically underserved communities across the U.S. The Pipeline to Wellbeing initiative received funding to create three much-needed resources.
Responder Strong - five train-the-trainer sessions leveraging their Responder Strong mental health curriculum that delivers mandatory mental health training for responders in several U.S. states.
- YOU|Responder Strong Wellness Tool – access to a browser-based wellness resource that's free 24/7 to responders and their families
- Responder Wellness Micro-Education Series - updates to a video series of actionable advice on mental wellbeing and resiliency, including content for leaders addressing effective management of personal, career and critical incident stress.
TC Energy tech hub creates a safe space for Houston youth to receive high-quality, hands-on stem education
In 2024, TC renewed its partnership with Comp-u-dopt, a registered charity, whose mission is to provide technology access and education to under-resourced youth and their communities. Through this partnership, we are helping prepare the leaders of tomorrow, building strong and skilled workforces for the next generation. Partners since 2021, TC Energy’s funding has put thousands of laptops into the hands of youth in Illinois, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio. These students have also received technology education and technical support, and in Texas, have had access to the Tech Hub, a space where Comp-U-Dopt delivers high-quality, hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programming to hundreds of students in the Houston area in 2021. To address the critical need for technology, over the course of three years, TC Energy will support the annual distribution of 525 laptops to students in need, and the provision of 15 technology education program cohorts – impacting approximately 225 students.
TC Energy Summer Scholars Academy
TC Energy and the TC Energy Foundation donated funds to the University of Houston’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) to support a summer program that enables high school students interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) to prepare for the transition to college. The intensive, nine-week program, TC Energy Summer Scholars Academy, provides support to 50 students, many of whom are the first generation in their family to attend college.
Canada
TC Energy math for success fund
In Alberta and Ontario, TC Energy stepped up to support teachers and students in underserved communities, with the goal of improving educational outcomes in mathematics. During the 2023-24 school year, the JUMP Math program reached 1,000 students across 40 grade K-8 classrooms through evidence-based, curriculum-aligned classroom resources and professional learning.
Trout Unlimited Canada
TC Energy has been partnering with Trout Unlimited Canada for the last 20 years: simply because we believe in their unmatched capability to implement real change on the ground, protect natural spaces and improve our water resources. Over the past few years, we have supported their Reconnecting Canada Project, which aims to restore water ways to improve fish passage and water quality.
A TC Energy funded program was added to the Government of Canada’s Conservation Exchange Pilot. The Upper St. Mary Collaborative Stewardship Program will improve stream and riparian health in several high-priority creek systems in the southern Alberta foothills. The program involves stream rehabilitation to improve water quality and restore spawning and rearing habitat for threatened fishes, including Bull Trout and Rocky Mountain Sculpin. In collaboration with Indigenous groups and industry, this project is being carried out by Trout Unlimited Canada, a long-standing partner of TC Energy.
