Chemours Belle Plant Invests in West Virginia Education and Manufacturing Initiative

The Chemours Company’s Belle, West Virginia plant recently awarded a nearly $99,000 Vibrant Community grant to Explore the New Manufacturing as part of the company’s commitment to invest $50 million in its communities to increase access to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills, safety initiatives, and sustainable environment programs by 2030. The investment will directly benefit middle and high school students participating in educational learning programs designed to support STEM, technical careers, and development opportunities to fuel a high-potential, future workforce. The grant will benefit students in Explore’s Kanawha Valley and Mid-Ohio Valley hubs.

“As a chemistry company, we are passionate about inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals through early access to STEM education and mentoring,” said Nicholas Martino Chemours Belle Plant Manager. “This is more important than ever with 800,000 expected job openings in STEM-related fields by 2031.”

The Vibrant Communities grant will have a broad impact on Explore’s programming, helping the organization to expand engagement throughout the Kanawha and Mid-Ohio areas. Significant enhancement will occur in five program areas:

Explore Academies (field day) and Explore Workshops (in-class) give middle schoolers the opportunity to meet some of the region's manufacturers and learn about how their workers help to produce products for local, national, and international clients.

Manufacturing Day Virtual Lab Series provides all West Virginia middle schools with in-class learning opportunities that have been developed to meet state educational curriculum objectives. The series explores the manufacturing processes, products, and employees who make it all happen.

The Manufacturing Innovation Challenge introduces problem-solving learning projects for high school career and technical education students. Each project allows a group of students working as a team to serve as consultants for a local manufacturing company to solve real-world challenges with real-world solutions.

Emerging Elite in Manufacturing and Outstanding Industry Educator awards annually recognize a select group of West Virginia high school students and technical education teachers who are committed to careers in manufacturing.

Explore the New Manufacturing Educator’s Roundtable provides the opportunity to hold in-depth conversations with middle and high school educators who have participated in the Explore Program. Their insight is used to space future educational initiatives, so the program remains on target to assist West Virginia teachers involved in career learning classrooms.

“The Explore Program is grateful for Chemours’ generous support,” said Executive Director Monica Cross, who oversees the Explore the New Manufacturing program’s efforts to create student awareness and excitement about careers in manufacturing and the educational opportunities toward these positions. “We are very excited that Chemours' funding will support the development and release of two 30-minute videos as part of the Manufacturing Day Virtual Lab Series. The new videos, provided to schools in all fifty-five counties, will help middle school students better understand West Virginia products and the diversity of careers necessary to deliver them to consumers around the world. The year ahead of us will be transformative for Explore the New Manufacturing, thanks to Chemours’ belief and support of our mission.”