Indiana University Bloomington
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The IU Surplus Store allows IU to dispose of property in a way that is helpful to both the environment and the people in our community. Used assets are redistributed to other IU departments, sold in a retail setting, sold online, and/or recycled, thereby diverting waste.
Scope: The IU Surplus Store enables IU to divert waste from the landfill by redistributing, selling, or recycling.
Timeframe: The IU Surplus Store has been in the community since the mid-1990s. Before the retail surplus store, this redistribution/diversion process was run in a public auction format, which started around the early 1980s.
Commitment: IU runs this department, and materials sold, recycled, and redistributed are from IU funded departments.
Governance: This is mainly run by IU, but the redistribution/selling allows faculty, students, and community members have a say in the waste diversion process.
Flow Chart of IU Waste Diversion: http://www.document.indiana.edu/copy/Surplus/SurplusFlowChart.pdf

Hilltop Garden & Nature Center was first established by IU Biology Professor, Barbara Shalucha in 1948. In her 1987 book, The Garden Named Hilltop, Shalucha wrote, “…a remarkable group of citizens listened and heard what a Garden could be and gave support for its realization: H.H. Binford, then Superintendent of the Monroe County Schools; Jerry T. Femal, the first Director of the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation; Ralph E. Cleland, Chairman of the Botany Department; Garrett Eppley, Chairman of the Department of Parks and Recreation; Chancellor Herman B Wells, then the President of Indiana University; and the women of the Bloomington Garden Club, particularly supportive was Arline Ferguson, Minnete Deiss, and Rhonda Zeller.”

Hilltop’s youth gardening programs started in 1948 with only fourteen children enrolled, but quickly grew in popularity. By 1957, 170 children were participating in Hilltop’s summer gardening programs. By the time Hilltop celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998, thousands of Bloomington’s children has learned about gardening through Hilltop’s youth gardening programs.

Today, educational opportunities for children continue, as well as opportunities for students through internships and work study programs. Hilltop offers work-study internship positions with local high school students, as well as IU students. Free seed kits are available to all teachers in and around Monroe County to provide a hands-on teaching activity on plants, biology, and nutrition, and more. The kits are made possible by funding support from the Bloomington Garden Club, donations of plastic trays from Cook Incorporated, and numerous Hilltop volunteers.

Hilltop also provides gardening classes for adults and volunteer opportunities. Visitors are always welcome at Hilltop to tour demonstration gardens, enjoy nature, or find a good idea for their own gardens. With limited staffing, Hilltop relies heavily on support from the IU and Bloomington community. There are ample opportunities for anyone to get involved with Hilltop facilities and programs.

In addition to the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, IU partners with the City of Bloomington on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission, IU and Bloomington bus systems, service learning programs, and many other formal and informal partnerships.

1. The Hoosier to Hoosier Community Sale

Hoosier to Hoosier (H2H) is a reuse program that aims 1) to divert reusable items from the landfill during student move-out, 2) to prevent additional resource consumption by selling collected items to students and community members in order 3) to raise funds for local charities and other organizations.

Hoosier to Hoosier is a partnership between the City of Bloomington, Indiana University, and Cutters Soccer Club. In addition, Monroe County Habitat for Humanity has been a valuable partner in past sales.

Cutters Soccer Club partners with area youth organizations, the MCCSC School Age Care Program, churches, and church/charter schools to provide Outreach Soccer—a free program for children who might not otherwise have the opportunity or financial resources to participate in a high quality soccer program. Cutters also serves special-needs children and adults through TOPSoccer-a program designed to ensure they have the same athletic activities as their able-bodied counterparts. All proceeds Cutter’s volunteers earn from the Hoosier to Hoosier Community Sale will support the Outreach and TOPSoccer programs.

In addition to the three main partners, funds raised through the Hoosier to Hoosier sale go to a number of local other organizations. The volunteer compensation program allows local organizations to apply to receive a portion of proceeds based on the number of volunteer hours their organization provides to sale efforts. At the August 2015 sale, H2H took in over $46,000 and sent 3 semi-trailers worth of donations on to Goodwill, for processing and sale. Over the summer, H2H logged 646 volunteer shifts for 1,815 hours. On sale day, 3,070 shoppers came through the doors, including 700 before 9:30am. The steering committee estimates that 60 tons of reusable items were intercepted from the landfill, bringing the H2H total to an estimated 232 tons since the beginning of this effort in 2010.

While many universities have move-out waste collection and donation programs, this partnership is one of the only ones that sorts and stores items during the summer, for resale in the fall, attempting to close the loop and prevent unnecessary waste before it is purchased. Items are resold at prices far below even Goodwill and other resale shop prices. While the sale advertises the $23 dorm room (two extra-long sheets, one pillow and pillowcase, one blanket, one comforter, one decorative pillow, featherbed, mattress pad, desk lap, throw rug, a storage tote, and wall art, all for a combined total of $23), community members come for the furniture and can find incredibly affordable sofas, coffee tables, lamps, and appliances like microwaves and coffee makers.

Continuing to grow, Hoosier to Hoosier is now part of the City of Bloomington’s “Resale Trail” – a series of reuse and resale events throughout the community, such as “Junk in the Trunk”, an event at which anyone can reserve a parking spot in a local lot and sell items from that station – a sort of pop-up bazaar of reuse and source of small additional income for sellers. It is the hope, and belief, of organizers that the event reduces waste, encourages thinking about waste and consumption in new ways, encourages a reuse economy, and provides funding for community groups and non-profits.

2. Energy Efficiency with Innovate Indiana/Partnership with NSA Crane
A pilot project designed by Indiana University graduate students to lower energy use at three Naval Support Activity Crane facilities saw reductions that ranged from 4.5 percent to nearly 26 percent over a three-week period earlier this fall.
Results of each study, conducted by students from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, were presented to NSA Crane officials. The project was the first launched through an educational partnership agreement signed in October by IU and NSA Crane.
Three teams of students supervised by William Brown, IU's director of sustainability, spent early October obtaining baseline data for energy use at a 31,233-square-foot administrative support facility built in 1944, a 68,000-square-foot structure built in 2006 that holds 202 Army and Navy personnel, and the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites, a 28,300-square-foot building constructed in 1999.
The teams applied behavioral science tools -- such as commitment, social norms and prompts -- focused on energy reduction, and then measured energy use at each building from Oct. 19 through Nov. 5.
The Army/Navy building saw a 4.5 percent reduction in energy use, while the administrative support building saw a 20.4 percent drop in consumption. The hotel realized a 25.8 percent reduction in energy use, even though days during the pilot study were cooler than during the baseline measurements.
In terms of costs, the reduced energy use at the Army/Navy facility equates to a potential savings of more than $6,000 annually. Estimated savings of $660 at the administrative support building during the pilot period extrapolates to roughly $11,440 a year, while savings of $40 per day at the hotel amounts to about $14,600 annually.
"I think the cumulative results of this project support our objective going in, which was to show that applying behavioral science to influence energy conservation is cost-effective and scalable," Brown said. "Because the pilot period was short, other factors may have contributed as well -- or the approaches we used might have proven more effective over time. A longer study could determine that more definitively, but the key still lies in getting people to change how they think about energy consumption."
NSA Crane's commanding officer, Cmdr. Tim Craddock, said the students gained valuable experience with interacting in a large workforce where some members may prove apathetic when it comes to energy conservation.

"What we saw emerge from this study is the kind of outcome we anticipated when IU entered the Educational Partnership Agreement with NSA Crane," said Kirk White, IU assistant vice president and military liaison. "We saw talented students step up and put skill sets to use that NSA Crane might not otherwise have access to. At the same time, these students gained applied experience that will boost their job prospects upon graduation."
Led by IU's Office of the Vice President for Engagement, the university's Innovate Indiana initiative engages strategic partners to leverage and advance the university's intellectual resources and expertise, enhance Indiana's economic growth, and contribute to the overall quality of life for Hoosiers. Naval Support Activity Crane is located about 25 miles southwest of Bloomington, Ind. The installation occupies about 64,000 acres and is the third largest naval base in the nation.

3. Monroe County Energy Challenge
The Monroe County Energy Challenge (MCEC) is a broad coalition of community organizations collaborating to reduce energy use in Monroe County, Indiana. MCEC was created in response to the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a nationwide, two-year energy savings competition. MCEC is one of 50 communities competing to see who can reduce their electricity and natural gas use the most during the 2015-2016 competition period, by using innovative, broad-reaching methods. The winning community will receive $5 million in prize money to further promote energy efficiency projects in the community! Indiana University is a partner in this multi-year initiative.