Arizona State University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

1. DOE Clean Cities Coalition

Our Mission
We are dedicated to advancing the environmental, energy and economic security of Central and Northern Arizona by advocating and participating in practices that promote clean domestic energy and reduce dependence on conventional petroleum based fuels.

History of our Coalition
The Maricopa Association of Governments joined the Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program in 1997. The Clean Cities Program was created by the federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT) to support voluntary efforts by government and business to reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil. There are now over eighty coalitions nationwide.

In July 2001, Maricopa Association of Governments handed over the Clean Cities operation to a group of independent stakeholders representing local industry and government. This group was re-chartered by DOE under the new name, Valley of the Sun Clean Cities Coalition. This new and improved coalition emerged with an innovative vision and strategic plan for cleaner air and a future less dependent on petroleum. Today, the coalition's stakeholders represent more than sixty government, utility, and business organizations.

The VSCCC's stakeholders operate nearly 7,000 alternative fuel vehicles and displace some 51 million gallons of petroleum fuel annually with alternative fuels such as natural gas, biodiesel, propane, ethanol, and electricity. According to a 2010 survey, this represents 10% of the annual consumption of alternative transportation fuel in the U.S.
ASU is a partner member of the DOE Clean Cities Coalition. Dr. James Anderson, a Senior Sustainability Scientist at ASU, serves on the Board of Directors.
URL: http://www.cleanairaz.org/about-us-clean-cities/

2. Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools

Curriculum, Campus & Community
The Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program at Arizona State University includes a collection of graduate students, high school teachers and sustainability researchers. Together we strive to further sustainability science by bringing sustainability projects into our high schools’ curriculum, campuses, and larger communities. We believe that by teaching sustainability science to high school students, we can help promote a sustainable future for the Phoenix metro area.

Our program seeks to:
Increase integration of sustainability into instructional development.
Graduate fellows work with teachers and district leadership to engage in delivery of interdisciplinary curriculum and project based learning. Fellows bring state-of-the-art sustainability science research to teachers to strengthen STEM teaching, which in turn advances the STEM skills of high school students.
Expand university outreach and relationships with high schools.
Partnerships are developed with high school districts to strengthen the delivery of STEM education and build the capacity of teachers and students to implement project-based sustainability projects.
Enhance fellows’ graduate experience and career trajectories.
Graduate fellows are exposed to real-world experiences that enhance their training and career trajectories. Weekly work in the classroom is supplemented by outreach activities to public and private entities, allowing fellows to gain experience presenting sustainability content to a wide range of audiences.
Improve graduate students’ communication and teaching skills.
Graduate students are empowered to be better sustainability educators through training in curriculum development and collaborative instructional strategies. Fellows work in interdisciplinary teams and hone their skills in communication, collaboration, problem solving, conflict resolution and project management.
URL: http://sustainableschools.asu.edu/

3. Southwest Center for Education and the Natural Environment
The Southwest Center for Education and the Natural Environment (SCENE) has provided cutting-edge science research experiences to high school students since 1998.
Students in grades 10-12 work in science labs at Arizona State University to answer their own original questions, and present their work in regional and national science competitions.

SCENE also provides online resources for teachers. SCENE is a partnership among the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability, the Leroy Eyring Center for Solid State Science Research, and members of the private sector.
URL: http://scene.asu.edu/

4. Ecology Explorers
Ecology Explorers gives Phoenix area K-12 teachers and students opportunities to learn through real scientific research.

Students can help research our Phoenix ecosystem and be part of the Central Arizona - Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project being carried out by scientists. The scientific data collected can be shared with other researchers and schools to see what patterns in nature exist across our Phoenix metropolitan area.
URL: http://ecologyexplorers.asu.edu/

1. Sustainability Connect
SustainabilityConnect is an outlet for individuals within the Arizona State University community and the broader Phoenix Metro Area to come together and work collaboratively to address real-world sustainability issues. At SustainabilityConnect we specialize in helping individuals and organizations realize their sustainability goals by creating and coordinating sustainability projects and then archiving them in our database. Any ASU student, faculty, staff, or community partner can submit a project proposal or search the database for a project that they would like to participate in. Our goal at SustainabilityConnect is to foster collaboration between academic and professional experts while providing students with an applied learning environment.
Our goal at SustainabilityConnect is to assist those who join (our members) in realizing valuable contributions to their and other's sustainability initiatives and to foster university-community collaborations. Any individual can become a member of SustainabilityConnect -- ASU students, faculty, and staff, as well as professionals from the wider public and surrounding community.

Our projects address sustainability problems, which are inherently complex but are critical to address thoroughly because business-as-usual approaches often cause irreversible harm to the vitality of specific ecosystems and groups of people. Solid solutions are typically difficult to uncover because the problems have multiple and interrelated causes and impacts that harbor tensions between social, economic, and environmental domains stretching across local, national, and even global levels. These problems are urgent because the impact on current populations and ecosystems are usually worsening rapidly and threatening the livelihood of future generations. Sustainability problems are often contested because affected and benefiting stakeholders have diverse viewpoints on what and who causes and should remediate these problems.

Addressing sustainability problems and developing solutions to them is overwhelming for one person given the complexity and steps involved. Therefore, we create teams to bring various skills and competencies together. Because we tailor each project to the specific needs of our partners and the educational requirements of our students, each project will require different types of collaboration with varying participants, timeframes, and commitments.
URL: http://sustainabilityconnect.asu.edu/

2. Arizona Forward
To move Arizona forward environmentally, economically and socially, we must find our commonalities through civil discourse. Arizona Forward brings leaders from across the state together to encourage cooperative efforts to improve the sustainability and vitality of the place we call home. Our collective influence will make a difference to ensure smart growth and development, efficient transportation, improved air quality, responsible water management, energy alternatives and meaningful education throughout Arizona.
Arizona Forward is an advocate for a balance between economic development and environmental quality, and convenes business, community and civic leaders in thoughtful public dialogue on critical sustainability issues. The Association is a blend of members including large and small businesses, government jurisdictions, the education and non-profit communities, as well as others that share a goal of promoting cooperation to improve the environment and quality of life in our region. We now boast 250+ member companies representing tens of thousands of employees working together to help shape our local communities and move Arizona forward.
Arizona State University/Global Institute of Sustainability is a founding and current member.
URL: http://www.arizonaforward.org/

1. Sustainable Cities Network
Decisions made today regarding land use, transportation, water, economic development, and social services will have enormous long-term impacts on the future sustainability of our megapolitan region. Recognizing this, Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability created the Sustainable Cities Network, which works with local communities to explore sustainable approaches and address challenges.
The Network is a vehicle for communities to share knowledge and coordinate efforts to understand and solve sustainability problems. It is designed to foster partnerships, identify best practices, provide training and information, and create a bridge between ASU’s research and front-line challenges facing local communities.
Network members include a broad range of professional disciplines from Arizona cities, towns, counties and Native American communities implementing sustainable practices and working towards a more sustainable region.

ASU, city, county, and tribal leaders established the Sustainable Cities Network to:
• Enhance and ensure the sustainability of the region
• Share knowledge and coordinate efforts to solve local sustainability issues
• Foster partnerships and discover best practices
• Provide training and information
• Offer meaningful connections and collective learning opportunities
• Connect ASU research with the front-line challenges of sustainability

The Network provides practitioners with knowledge, resources, and innovations to accelerate the valley toward national leadership in sustainability. Through the Network, partners, the steering committee, and workgroups collaborate to streamline city operations, advance solar energy, mitigate the urban heat island, design sustainable neighborhoods, and secure water supplies in a changing climate. Working together, Network partners are making sustainability a core value in city planning, policy, and operations.
URL: http://sustainablecities.asu.edu/

1. Global Resolve
GlobalResolve was established at ASU in 2006 as a social entrepreneurship program designed to enhance the educational experience for interested and qualified ASU students by involving them in semester-long projects that directly improve the lives of underprivileged people, and/or those in under-developed nations throughout the world.

Through GlobalResolve, ASU students and faculty collaborate with international universities, residents of rural villages, local governments, financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop and disseminate no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech solutions that address pressing public health or environmental needs of a developing-world population.

Because solutions developed by GlobalResolve are designed to be replicable locally, regionally, and internationally, the solutions also create the potential for profitable new business ventures that generate sustainable income streams for impacted populations.