Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 63.40
Liaison Olivia Herron
Submission Date March 2, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Miami University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Suzanne Zazycki
Associate Director
Institute for the Environment and Sustainability
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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:

Miami University’s Office of Community Engagement and Service (OCES) serves as a resource for everything from sporadic charitable acts of volunteerism to deep social change and advocacy work. OCES follows the guiding principles of mutuality, integrity, equity preparedness and inclusion. Through OCES, Miami supports the local community through weekly service trips to Oxford Community Choice Pantry, the Family Resource Center Community Garden and food distribution services, trail maintenance at Hueston Woods State Park and Butler County Metroparks, invasive species management with a local environmental education organization (Environmental Mobile Unit), and support work for Three Valley Conservation Trust. OCES also offers the Urban Plunge, an alternative spring break trip offering students the opportunity to address social justice issues surrounding homelessness in Cincinnati.
i. http://miamioh.edu/student-life/community-engagement-service/


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):

City of Oxford Student/Community Relations Commission:
Miami students and staff are members of the City of Oxford Student/Community Relations Commission which explores matters related to City of Oxford/Miami University relations to improve communications and collaboration within the local community. Recent issues addressed include improved recycling and trash management for students living in off campus housing, exploration of a bike share program and advocacy for a local Amtrak station to offer alternative transportation to entire community.
http://www.cityofoxford.org/boards-and-commissions/commissions/student-community-relations-commission

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness pledge:
In support of the City of Oxford’s Homeless Coalition, Miami University’s Offices of Community Engagement and Service and Housing and Dining Services created a program to increase awareness about homeless and hunger issues. In 2015 the program raised $6000 during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week through student’s pledging meals through the dining hall meal plan. The money is distributed equally to homeless and hunger issues in the local community
http://miamioh.edu/news/campus-news/2015/11/hunger-homelessness-awareness.html

ShareFest:
ShareFest is a service and environmental nonprofit corporation dedicated to the collection and redistribution of items donated by Miami University students and the Oxford community at the end of the academic year. Collected items benefit residents in need and social service agencies throughout the region. The purpose of ShareFest is to: 1. Help individuals in need by providing them with access to furniture, household goods, clothing and food that are donated by Miami University students or by other community members at the end of the academic year. 2. Teach sharing and environmental ethics and an awareness of diverse backgrounds to the young people who are students at Miami University. 3. Protect and preserve the environment by preventing usable items from going into the landfill. 4. Help the City of Oxford dispose of unwanted items and help clean the City quickly. The program has grown from 67 pickups of items in 2005 to 279 pickups in 2015 and now serves over 600 families.
http://www.sharefestoxford.com/


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:

Myaamia Center:
The Myaamia Center, created in 2001, is a tribal initiative located within an academic environment to advance the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma’s language and cultural revitalization efforts. The Myaamia Center has two main purposes: to conduct in-depth research to assist tribal educational initiatives aimed at the preservation of language and culture; and expose undergraduate and graduate students at Miami University to tribal efforts in language and cultural revitalization. The Center serves two distinct populations. The first is the Miami Tribe community where it develops educational models and materials that specifically address language and culture educational needs. The second population is the general university community and local public educators where educational support is provided in response to the lack of indigenous educational materials for K-12 public education. The Myaamia Center is directly supported by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University. Recent projects include iPhone app development, managing the technical aspects of the Inokaatawaakani Project, maintaining the Myaamia Online Dictionary, developing online Myaamia Language Learning tools as well as assessments of tribal lands by university professors for environmental impacts of past mining operations on tribal lands.
http://myaamiacenter.org/

Center for Community Engagement in OTR:
Since 2001 Miami University’s Center for Community Engagement has helped to support and transform the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati by immersing architecture students and faculty in the community to help redevelop, reuse and reinvigorate the buildings in the neighborhood to create a more sustainable community. The residency program provides a site for learning and for producing knowledge that intersects the needs of social movement in the inner city. Through social engagement, the Center’s mission is to generate learning and knowledge among students, faculty, residents and the community. The program exemplifies the Center’s mission to work collaboratively with neighborhood organizations and residents - through courses, research, and service – in order to help formulate strategies and policies consistent with developing a community without displacement. A recent project that exemplifies the impact is the Center’s involvement in developing sustainable re-design solutions was to transform Cincinnati public school into the Beasley Neighborhood Community Center. Students analyzed the energy systems and designed a more energy efficient plan.
http://arts.miamioh.edu/cce/


A brief description of the institution’s sustainability partnerships with distant (i.e. non-local) communities:
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The website URL where information about sustainability partnerships is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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