Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 75.65
Liaison Maddie LoDico
Submission Date Dec. 12, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Colby College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Kevin Bright
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have at least one formal sustainability partnership with the local community that meets the criteria as “supportive”?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s supportive sustainability partnership(s) with the local community:

The College supports a number of sustainability partnerships. One example is run through the Colby Volunteer Center which is operated through the College's Goldfarb Center. The CVC sends students each year to volunteer with the community's Barrels Market, a Co-Op originally organized and founded with the assistance of the College. This is a continuous commitment based on need from the market and more information can be found here: http://www.colby.edu/volunteercenter/wellness-2/barrels/.

+ Date Revised: Jan. 5, 2015

Does the institution have at least one formal sustainability partnership with the local community that meets the criteria as “collaborative”?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution's collaborative sustainability partnership(s):

Colby faculty, staff and students collaborate in a number of ways with local sustainability partnerships. One example of this collaboration includes their work with Sustain Mid-Maine, a coalition to raise awareness about climate change and sustainability. Students have contributed to greenhouse gas inventories, energy audits, a community climate action plan, community gardens, GIS analyses, and an organic dairy feasibility study. One student co-wrote a $170,000 grant to support community energy conservation. Through internships, courses, and independent study projects, students work with climate change experts, government officials, concerned citizens, and other decision makers. Each year the College communicates with the SMMC to determine methods to collaborate, whether it be a particular project, or otherwise.

+ Date Revised: Jan. 5, 2015

Does the institution have at least one formal sustainability partnership with the local community that meets the criteria as “transformative”?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution's transformative sustainability partnership(s) with the local community:

One of the best examples of a transformative sustainability partnership with the local community involves the College's work in the Belgrade Lakes region. A consortium including several faculty members and more than a dozen student researchers each year is working to understand the impact of landscape and lake-ecosystem changes in the Belgrade Lakes region. The region provides a unique laboratory to understand the complex dynamics of environmental, biogeochemical, and socioeconomic systems. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation through a Maine EPSCoR grant that was secured by the College. The findings of the study are shared with the community in a number of ways such as outreach, town meetings, and public presentations.

+ Date Revised: Jan. 5, 2015

A brief description of the institution’s sustainability partnerships with distant (i.e. non-local) communities:

Several Professors and students study environmental issues in foreign countries such as Travis Reynolds, who studies Church Forests in Ethiopia.


The website URL where information about sustainability partnerships is available:
http://www.colby.edu/volunteercenter/
+ Date Revised: Jan. 5, 2015

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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