Pennsylvania State University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Sustainable Communities Collaborative (SCC) connects University Park faculty, students, and staff with local communities to address sustainability challenges through an engaged, collaborative effort. Innovative university/community-based collaborations are developed to engage PSU faculty and students in existing courses from across the University with real world, community-identified projects to meet the partnering community’s sustainability priorities. Each project is a facilitated effort, involving interdisciplinary faculty expertise and students, co-led by a key community leader and the University’s SCC staff, to help develop and support thriving, healthy communities and advance student learning about the scholarship of sustainability. Penn State's Sustainability Institute funds a full-time staff member to run this program. http://sustainability.psu.edu/live/staff/sustainable-communities-collaborative

Penn State's Shaver's Creek Environmental Center (SCEC) works two local school districts (Mifflin County and Juniata Valley)to provide hands-on, inquiry-based lessons focused on science and the environment. SCEC has worked with the school districts to develop topics and program formats that build upon each other from year to year, in order to create a multi-visit progression for students throughout their K–12 school experience. SCEC also partners with the Central Pennsylvania Native Plant Society annually to sponsor the Central PA Native Plant Festival, which celebrates native plants and local food. Shaver's Creek is owned and operated by Penn State as part of its Outreach mission. https://www.shaverscreek.org/about-us/schoolprograms/

"Trash to Treasure" is a recycling partnership between Penn State and the local United Way. The program collects discarded items from student move-out in the spring, diverting them from the landfill, and selling them to raise money for the United Way. This has been an annual event since 2002. Penn State's Office of Physical Plant provides coordination and physical space for this event. http://sites.psu.edu/trash2treasure/

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) is an ongoing federal-state-university partnership for economic development run by Penn State. The program services the entire state of Pennsylvania through a network of technical specialists. Often the assistance provided has been in the area of economy, energy, and the environment. http://penntap.psu.edu/success-stories/