Butler University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Farm at Butler is a one-acre sustainable agriculture project on the campus of Butler University and managed by the Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability (CUES). The farm's three-pronged mission is:

1. To promote excellence in education and research across the University curriculum,
2. To educate Butler University and the Indianapolis community about sustainable agriculture and the local food system, and
3. To serve as an example of sustainable urban agriculture through the exploration of local food production.

During COVID, The Farm collaborated with long-time partner, Kheprw Institute, to provide food grown at the farm to food insecure individuals in food apartheid communities through the Community Controlled Food Initiative. Members from Kheprw continue to be partners on farm projects and serve on the CUES advisory committee.

https://www.butler.edu/farm

Butler Alternative Break's fall trip is an annual service trip where students travel to a given location in the United States over fall break in October to assist in various ways. Each year, the location and the project conducted are changed, but the basic premise behind the trip is provide a week of service to a community in need. Previous trips include: revisiting Hazard, KY to work with Housing Development Alliance in issues of affordable housing, Harlan, KY to work with COAP to support affordable housing and home resiliency from storms, Pipestream, WV to work with Appalachian South Folklife Center to assist in supporting children in need, and in Hazard, KY to work with Housing Development Alliance in affordable housing projects.
https://www.butler.edu/volunteer/fall-alternative-break

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) was founded in 2005. While some students spend hundreds of dollars on exotic spring break trips, other spend their break doing a service project. ASB allows participants to do important community service work, grow as people, and reflect on their experiences. Previous trips include Columbia, SC to work with Community Collaborations International in environmental justice, climate change, food insecurity, and disaster relief; New Orleans, LA to work with United Saints Recover Project supporting housing reconstruction; Brigantine, NJ to work with The Fuller Center for Housing Sandy Relief on home reconstruction.
https://www.butler.edu/volunteer/alternative-spring-break

The city environment provides a very different wildlife habitat than that of locations with less intense human influence. Urban development often causes rapid and dramatic changes to wildlife habitat that result in habitat destruction, invasive species, air and water pollution, and human-animal interactions. Yet, urban wildlife still utilizes the city as a habitat and, many times, seems to thrive despite the environmental challenges. By understanding how wildlife live and move around Indianapolis, we can gain an understanding of the effects of the urban landscape on wildlife. This knowledge can then be applied to inform the management of urban lands to benefit both humans and wildlife.

To assess wildlife diversity and distribution in Indianapolis, Butler faculty and the CUES have deployed motion-triggered cameras at city parks, forest preserves, golf courses, agricultural land, schools, and cemeteries spanning an urban-to-rural gradient from downtown Indianapolis through the northern suburbs. Cameras are deployed four times per year at more than 50 sites to determine which species are present, what types of habitats they use, and how they are distributed across the city. Follow us @IndyWildWatch on Facebook and Instagram to get the dirt on the coolest animal sightings in Indianapolis!

This project is part of the Urban Wildlife Information Network, coordinated by the Lincoln Park Zoo, Urban Wildlife Institute.

See attached document for additional partnerships through the Center for Citizenship and Community as part of the Indianapolis Community Requirement, where every Butler student must take a community involved course before graduation.