Boston University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

BU co-organized the first ever Boston Carbon Day in 2010, in partnership with the Electric Vehicle Urban Infrastructure Study and the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. Every year, BU takes part in Carbon Day, an international event focused on reducing carbon footprints from individuals to the globe.

Every year since 1982, BU has partnered with Oxfam to help fight poverty, hunger, and injustice. We raise contributions through “student fast” programs in which BU students volunteer to skip two residence hall meals on designated days, with the cost savings donated to Oxfam.

Boston University School of Social Work partners with City Year, offering a 100% tuition scholarship for up to one City Year corps member, alumna/us or staff member per year or 50% tuition scholarship for up to two City Year corps members, alumna/us or staff members per year. City Year is an organization that works to bridge the gap in high-poverty communities between the support the students in the communities actually need, and what their schools are designed to provide. In doing so, their model is designed to support students as they progress from elementary through high school in order to continue to build the nation's urban graduation pipeline.

Boston University is engaged in the City of Boston's 2014 Climate Action Plan Update. During the Spring 2014 semester, the University worked with the Mayor’s Environment and Energy department to host an event, collaborating with the City on the update and giving members of the BU community the opportunity to be part of the planning process. All BU faculty, staff, students, and alumni were invited to join the conversation about preparing Boston for climate change. Aiming at finding and discussing means to meet the City’s goal of 25% carbon reduction by 2020, as well as the fundamental change(s) in energy & transportation needed to meet the City’s goal of 80% carbon reduction by 2050, participants addressed the bold approach required by such objectives. Some of the topics that were discussed include necessary strategic and technological updates, what research opportunities at Boston University can provide the city with, and revisions to the financial model.

Boston University is part of Step UP -a program created by former longtime Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2006- and is one of the five local universities assisting ten public schools struggling to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind act. BU School of Education works closely with staff from the two lowest performers at the time -the Trotter and the English High School of Boston, to developed courses that place elementary education undergraduates in the public school’s reading, writing, and science classes at several grade levels. Step UP provides specific programs and initiatives in response to needs identified by these partner schools and ensures that all support is aligned with the curricular goals of the Boston Public Schools and the Massachusetts Department of Education. To help find solutions to the complex issues facing schools, Step UP is taking a multifaceted approach that includes academic support for schools, quality extended learning opportunities, health and wellness programs, as well as parent and community engagement.

President Brown is a member and active participant in the Mayor of Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission, a 30 member organization comprised of a diverse set of business and civic leaders with a shared desire to make Boston a national leader in the green economy and the fight against global climate change. Recently, a report commissioned by the City of Boston was published, titled "Building Resilience in Boston." The report focuses the relationships between individual neighborhoods -in underprivileged areas in particular- and climate change. Climate change in Boston involves sea level rise, raising temperatures, and heavier storm winds.
Boston University's Sustainability Director also participates in two of the Commissions' working groups: the Higher Education group and the Climate Preparedness group. With the objective of advising the City on policies and initiatives leading to green house gas emission reduction for each sector. Members of the Higher Education group recently collaborated with the team focused on Health Care to work on a program intended to lower the emissions of high energy labs.

The Sustainable Neighborhood Living Laboratory is an ongoing program combining research, education, and practice in partnership with the City of Boston and local residents and business leaders, providing a strategic platform to engage all key stakeholders, to influence policy & advance science & new technologies, to develop and deploy innovative solutions, and to educate BU students as global citizens and leaders. Boston University brings many abilities to the table, including community engagement, ethnography, research, data analysis, program development, measurement, modeling, start-up proof of concept, testing and evaluation, and grant partnership for faculty and students to work together on a series of projects with different partners. Indeed, faculty collaborate with partners to research and explore science, innovation, and the development and adoption of sustainable technologies in urban neighborhoods, including the BU campus. Participating colleges, schools, and groups include departments and lab groups from the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Management, the School of Law, and the School of Public Health. So far, partners include the Barr Foundation, the City of Boston, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, the Conservation Law Foundation, Electric Vehicle Urban Infrastructure Study, Friends of Copley Square, Gas Safety, Inc., NSTAR, the National Science Foundation, IBM Corporation, Lenox Hotel/Saunders Hotel Group, Madison Park Development Corporation, Picarro, the Ruben Companies, and Streetline.

Many departments at Boston University engage in partnerships with distant communities. Below are some examples.

Since 2012, the Boston University Marine Program in the College of Arts and Sciences has been involved in a collaborative partnership to deal with the Impact of dams and Climate Change on ecosystem services in Cambodia. Boston University's Department of Biology partners with the MacArthur foundation to develop integrative models that will visualize the dynamics and trade-offs involved in using the various ecosystem services of the Lower Mekong, particularly the Great Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. BU researchers lead teams working on hydrology, food webs, fisheries, fish biology, agriculture, and species conservation, whose results help resource managers make informed decisions involving fisheries and hydro power development. In the past two years, the MacArthur Foundation has given out four grants to help Tonle Sap, the largest of which has gone to Boston University.

Since 2012 as well, Boston University has partnered with Global Brigades , the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. BU Environmental Brigades in particular develops sustainable environmental solutions to mitigate ecological degradation in bio-rich, but economically disadvantaged communities in developing countries, such as Panama. The program is coordinated by a student-elected executive board that works with Boston University's Student Activities Office. These volunteer projects occur yearly and volunteers spend approximately one week on the ground.

Step Up:
http://www.bu.edu/stepup/index.html

Green Ribbon Commission:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/A%20Climate%20of%20Progress%20-%20CAP%20Update%202011_tcm3-25020.pdf
http://www.greenribboncommission.org/approach

City Year Boston:
http://alumni.cityyear.org/?page=BU_SocialWork

Oxfam Boston:
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/regions/united-states/boston-massachusetts

Sustainable Neighborhood Living Laboratory:
http://www.bu.edu/energy/sustainable_neighborhood/