Beloit College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The College shared information and best practices towards obtaining LEED certification with a local business, Kerry Ingredients and Flavors. Both entities have LEED certified buildings now. Also, several First Year Initiative programs included interfacing with partners around sustainable concepts, for instance introducing students to public transportation or having students participate in weeding or harvesting at the Merrill Community Garden, through our partnership with Community Action, a local non-profit.

Beloit Total Harvest was begun in the summer of 2013 as a way to "glean" leftover vegetables from the farmers' market on Saturday and make them available at a "pay what you will" vegetable stand at a church in a low income neighborhood, thus making inexpensive or free fresh produce available. Students, local farmers and community leaders designed and implemented the program. Students were originally supported through the Duffy Program (a community-based learning program that combines community service with academic credit), but the project is now self-sustaining with student volunteers.

A number of the community partners in the Beloit College Duffy Community Partnership are multi-year partnerships, engaging students, faculty and community partners in sustainable initiatives at many levels, including environmental, economic and social facets. Examples of the partnerships include Angelic Organics Learning Center and the Welty Environmental Center. At both of these example sites, students have worked on a variety of sustainable projects. Most recently a student created an assessment rubric for Angelic Organics as a tool to determine if they were meeting the goals outlined in their mission statement. At Welty Environmental Center Beloit students designed curriculum for summer camp field trips that met the educational needs of special education students.

Professor Toral's course, Global Political Ecology, Fall of 2013 cultivated a partnership with Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness (FBWW). The FBWW were fighting two mining projects on the southern edge of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. They asked Beloit students to put together a report on the economics and politics of mining, with a focus on four metals, copper, nickel, platinum and palladium, and a brochure for use at community events to inform people about the mining industry. The class was able to travel to Minneapolis (+5 hours away) to present the report. The students felt very empowered that a professional organization is planning to use their work to protect such a rich and sensitive environment as the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. In addition, this experience persuaded the FBWW to invite our students to pursue an internship with their organization over the summer.