| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 53.91 |
| Liaison | Tom Hartzell |
| Submission Date | Dec. 21, 2022 |
Calvin University
EN-10: Community Partnerships
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Andrea
Lubberts Program Manager Biology & Plaster Creek Stewards |
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Which of the following best describes the partnership?:
Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? :
A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability:
The Plaster Creek Stewards (PCS) initiative seeks to create opportunities for all watershed members to join in the story of a healthy, beautiful, renewed Plaster Creek. As an initiative of Calvin University, our strategy includes research, education and engagement, partnerships, and regenerative watershed practices.
Link to the home page on the website: http://www.calvin.edu/go/plastercreekstewards
1. Scope: PCS works with community partners to provide opportunities where members of the university community join together with residents and businesses from the broader Grand Rapids community to address social equity and well-being through initiatives such as the High School "Green Team," and Upstream/Downstream partnerships. We contribute to economic prosperity by providing jobs, job training, and experience for high school and university students. We also generate contract opportunities for local engineering firms, landscapers, and construction companies. By restoring the watershed, we are contributing to ecological and public health on a community or regional scale. By introducing native plants and native habitats we are increasing biodiversity and ecosystem services.
2. Duration: The damage to this urban watershed has been ongoing for over 150 years. We have made a long-term commitment to reversing this degradation. We are working to bring systemic change and anticipate it will take 20-30 years to accomplish. So far, we have received $5M in grants to focus on watershed education, research, and restoration.
3. Commitment: The Calvin institutional commitment includes providing faculty time and recognition that this watershed restoration work is legitimate scholarship. Calvin absorbs many indirect costs including: office space, greenhouse facilities, laboratory space, classrooms, meeting venues, etc. The Science Division of the university has supported summer undergraduate research assistants and summer stipends for faculty researchers. Calvin uses native plants in the landscaping whenever feasible and is currently converting a 65,000-square-foot parking lot into grass pavers and vegetated bioswale in 2023 in collaboration with PCS.
4. Governance: The PCS leadership team is engaged with stakeholders, such as neighborhood associations, community non-profit organizations, local churches, local schools, downstream residents (vulnerable populations), and Calvin faculty, staff and students in program development, implementation, and evaluation.
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (2nd partnership):
A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
WMEAC and Calvin have a long history of collaborating on education, watershed restoration and creating sustainable communities.
We have partnered with them on grants, and have supplied native plant material. Students have interned and faculty have served on their board.
The mission of WMEAC as stated on their website (https://wmeac.org/ideal/) support the triple bottom line and as part of IDEAL, this partnership works "to build a community of powerful voices of traditionally marginalized people to protect the future of their communities."
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
Which of the following best describes the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (3rd partnership):
A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Calvin College completed an Urban Waters Small Grant in 2016 from the EPA in partnership with Grand Valley Metropolitan Council (GVMC) who assisted in planning and development of a Green Infrastructure Low-Impact Development Initiative to help address urban stormwater management in the Lower Grand River Watershed in West Michigan.
Calvin University/Plaster Creek Stewards worked in partnership with the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds (LGROW), a program of the GVMC, to administer a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant (2016-2020) to implement the Grand River Rainscaping Project, a storm-water capture project, and watershed education and restoration.
The following link describes aspects of this collaborative effort:
https://www.lgrow.org/rainscaping/
a) Timeframe(s): Calvin began its collaboration with GVMC over a decade ago. Our current work related to regional rainscaping is ongoing and will be for years to come.
b) Multiple Dimensions: This partnership is multifaceted and multi-disciplinary. Together we are addressing the "triple bottom line:" social and environmental justice issues in our community and forging upstream/downstream connections.
c) Institutional Support: Calvin faculty and administrators have served as board members for GVMC. Calvin has also applied for and received grants in partnership with GVMC.
d) Campus and Local Community Engagement: The Lower Grand River Organizations of Watersheds (LGROW) is a project of GVMC and Calvin has helped facilitate campus and community engagement.
A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
Calvin University/PCS is a founding member of the Native Plant Guild, a network of landscape professionals seeking to help reintroduce native plants into Michigan's everyday landscapes.
The Bunker Interpretive Center frequently hosts groups that it collaborates with, including the Wild Ones, River City Chapter, and the West Michigan Conservation Network (of which Calvin is a founding member).
Website URL where information about the institution’s community partnerships to advance sustainability is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This information was submitted by Andrea Lubberts.
One of our desires is to increase the leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups in these and all of our partnerships.
This information was submitted by Andrea Lubberts.
One of our desires is to increase the leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups in these and all of our partnerships.
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.