Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.36
Liaison Ian Johnson
Submission Date June 8, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Colorado College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Ian Johnson
Sustainability Director
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:

Colorado College partners with many community organizations to advance and model sustainability in the Pikes Peak Region, including the City of Colorado Springs (on-going), the Pikes Peak Regional Sustainability Planning Project (on-going), and Colorado Springs Utilities (on-going). Colorado College also partners with Care and Share, a local food bank on a new Zero-Waste Program. This program recycles otherwise thrown out, expired, or unusable food into animal feed, therefore diverting it from a landfill. A Zero-Waste Intern in the Sustainability Office is dedicated to working solely on this program.


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):

Colorado College's collaborative sustainability partners include Pikes Peak Sustainable Business Network, Green Cities Coalition, and Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition. The majority of the institutional support comes in the form of staff time for coordination, logistics, and planning. Participation may include agenda setting, advisory, and implementation and always includes review and decision making.

Pikes Peak Sustainable Business Network
Pikes Peak Sustainable Business Network is a coalition of business, governmental, community, and advocacy leaders dedicated towards implementing green business practices in order to cultivate a sustainable region. [On-going; addresses economic prosperity and ecological health]

Green Cities Coalition
The Green Cities Coalition aims to promote ecologically, economically, and socially healthy cities in El Paso County for current and future residents of the Pikes Peak region. [On-going; addresses social equity and wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health]

Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition
Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition focuses on the promotion of alternative fuels. The Green Cities Coalition is an alliance of organizations, businesses, and individuals working towards the development of more ecologically, economically, and socially healthy cities in El Paso County. [On-going; addresses economic prosperity and ecological health]

Zero-waste program
This program is a collaboration between Colorado College and Care and Share Food Bank in Colorado Springs. As an ASHOKA change maker school, Colorado College is working in innovative ways with Care and Share to decrease food waste. An intern from the Office of Sustainability works on this program at the food bank. In addition to decreasing Care and Share's food waste, this partnership provides CC with carbon offset credits.

Palmer Land Trust, Colorado College, and the Mile High Youth Corps
Colorado College is currently in the initial phases of a project in collaboration with the Palmer Land Trust. The two entities are investigating the fire mitigation effects on an area of land near Woodland Park. Colorado College is considering investing and fundraising in order to acquire a conservation easement on this piece of land, where the Mile High Youth Corps can participate in yearly fire mitigation work and the college and receive carbon offset credits.


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:

CC's Sustainability Manager Ian Johnson serves as a member of the Water Planning Advisory Group at Colorado Springs Utilities. Johnson's role is to promote ecological health and social equity and wellbeing in advisory discussions. It is a multi-year commitment in which Johnson will ensure that social, economic, and environmental considerations are included in the future planning of water use in Colorado Springs. Ian Johnson was identified to serve in the group as a representative from Colorado College (a gross user of the city's water) and as a professional with extensive knowledge of and experience dealing with water use.


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

AASHE
Colorado College is a member of The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

ACUPCC
In 2009, Colorado College signed the American College & University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), committing to its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020.


The website URL where information about sustainability partnerships is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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.