Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 75.35
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date March 30, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

American University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Megan Litke
Sustainability Manager
Office of Sustainability

Criteria

Institution has one or more formal partnership(s) with the local community, including school districts, government agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses and/or other entities, to work together to advance sustainability within the community. 

Each partnership conforms to one of the following types:

Type of Partnership Indicators
A. Supportive
  • Scope: Addresses a sustainability topic or a specific aspect of sustainability (e.g. community garden, environmental remediation, community environmental health and education)
  • Duration: May be time-limited (short-term projects and events), multi-year, or ongoing
  • Commitment: Institutional involvement may include financial and/or staff support or may be limited to resource sharing and/or endorsement
  • Governance: Campus and community leaders or representatives are engaged in program/project development
B. Collaborative
  • Scope: Addresses one or more sustainability challenge and may simultaneously support social equity and wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health (e.g. a green jobs program in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood)
  • Duration: May be time-limited, multi-year, or ongoing
  • Commitment: Institution provides faculty/staff, financial, and/or material support
  • Governance: Campus and local community members  are both engaged in program/project development, from agenda setting and planning to decision-making, implementation and review
C.Transformative
  • Scope: Catalyzes community resiliency and local/regional sustainability by simultaneously supporting social equity and wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health on a community or regional scale (e.g. “transition” projects and partnerships focused on community adaptation to climate change)
  • Duration: Is multi-year or ongoing and proposes or plans for institutionalized and systemic change
  • Commitment: Institution provides faculty/staff and financial or material support 
  • Governance: Partnership has adopted a stakeholder engagement framework through which community members, vulnerable populations, faculty, staff, students and other stakeholders are engaged in program/project development, from agenda setting and planning to decision-making, implementation and review 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An institution may have multiple partnerships of each type, however no single partnership may be both supportive and collaborative, collaborative and transformative, or supportive and transformative. 

Recognizing the diversity of forms that community partnerships may take, it is not required that a partnership meet all of the criteria listed to be considered supportive or collaborative. A partnership must meet all of the criteria listed to be considered transformative, however. For further guidance in identifying community partnerships that meet the criteria for each type, see the Credit Example in the STARS Technical Manual.

This credit recognizes campus-community partnerships that advance sustainability in an explicit and participatory way. Participatory, community-based research and engaged scholarship around issues of sustainability may be included if it involves formal partnership(s). Although community service activities (e.g. academic service learning, co-curricular service learning and volunteer activities, Work-Study community service and paid community service internships) may involve local partnerships and contribute toward sustainability, they are not included in this credit. Community service is covered by EN 12: Community Service.

Applicability

This credit applies to all institutions.

Scoring

Institutions earn the maximum of 3 points available for this credit for having at least one formal partnership that meets the criteria as “transformative” outlined above.  Partial points are available if an institution does not have any transformative partnerships, but instead has one or more partnerships that meet the criteria as “supportive” (earns 1 point) and/or “collaborative” (earns 2 points) outlined above. 

Note that points are not earned cumulatively. For example, an institution that has one or more supportive partnerships and one or more collaborative partnerships would earn 2 points for this credit, not 3.

 

Measurement

Timeframe

Report on current partnerships and/or partnerships that were active during the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission.  

Sampling and Data Standards

Not applicable

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.