Metropolitan Community College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

MCC is involved in many supportive sustainability partnerships with the local community. A highlight for the 2015 calendar year includes our partnership with local community partners at seven sites for the Summer Gardens program. MCC has worked with the Peter Kiewit Foundation to offer a Summer Garden Program in which MCC hires, trains, and supervises staff to oversee the Summer Garden Program. The program is designed to provide children who may have limited experiences to gardening a hands-on opportunity to better understand where food comes from and the importance of good nutrition and healthy eating. The program reaches 250-275 youth from pre-school to 12 years of age, primarily from low-to-moderate income homes and representing a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The children come from 7 sites including Carter Lak, North and South Omaha Boys & Girls Clubs, North and South Omaha Girls Inc., Butler-Gast YMCA, and Kids Can! Community Center. The program is a consecutive 10 week program intended for youth to learn about nutrition, teamwork, and horticulture through a fun summer gardening experience.

Since 2013, MCC has been working on a grant in partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) and EPA to assist on a local Brownfield project. From 1883 to 1996, South Omaha was known for its livestock exchange, expansive stockyards, and the world's largest meatpacking industry. Omaha's early industrial development led to growth and prosperity, drawing thousands of workers to the area. The South Omaha Redevelopment Area (SORA) now is characterized by abandoned and underutilized industrial infrastructure dating to the peak of the meatpacking era. In addition to 237 state-documented spill sites, there are at least 500 known or suspected contaminant releases in the SORA. Almost half of the area's residents are Hispanic or Latino, and 16.6 percent of residents live below the poverty level. Assessment of brownfields will help to leverage redevelopment funding, and is expected to facilitate the South Omaha Redevelopment Planning process. To aide in the redevelopment of SORA, MCC took on the brownfield program and assisted with the development of the Dorothy Patach Community Garden that had sprouted on the corner of 19th & O St. MCC hired a PTT liaison to assist the Sustainability staff with ensuring the needs of the Dorothy Patach Community Garden are met and to assist MCC in understanding and meeting the needs of the Dorothy Patach Community Garden Group. MCC assisted in the development of the garden through funding and staff time. Additionally, as the garden becomes more established. MCC is planning on partnering with the Dorothy Patach Community Garden to provide educational partnerships not only for MCC students, but also to the local community and utilizing the site as a living laboratory.