Pomona College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The College engages in a variety of community partnerships. For instance, the College's Draper Center for Community Partnerships is partnered with a local organization Uncommon Good, which provides a variety of sustainability programming for local communities in need, including a federal grant to purue urban agriculture, green job training, and a "Teen Green" program for local youth. The Draper Center also organizes "alternative breaks," where students can participate in community service activities during academic breaks; many of the trips place students with sustainability-related organizations with whom the College has a long-standing relationship. Through a Davis Peace Prize, the college has also facilitated funding a summer program that helps to connect local youth to urban farming. The college is hosting the program at its organic farm and provides resources such as vehicles and office space. The College is also partnered with the City of Claremont's Sustainable Claremont non-profit for a variety of events and efforts, including a monthly Sustainability Dialog on campus. The College also has a Food Rescue program, through which student volunteers take prepared left-over food from the dining halls to local shelters or community organizations; partners with a local middle school for the Theatre for Young Audiences Program; Pomona Partners a mentoring program for kids grades 6-9; and participates in America Reads.

Pomona College partners with a community non-profit, Sustainable Claremont, and the League of Women's Voters to host and put on a Sustainability Dialog every month. Topics vary from climate change to water issues, cycling, and more. These dialogs attract a large portion of community members in an educational sustainability program. They are held each month on the Pomona College campus. Additionally, the College annually financially supports the Earth Day in the Village venture put on in collaboration with the City of Claremont and Sustainable Claremont.

In January 2015, the College is partnering with the City of Claremont and Sustainable Claremont to provide internship and administrative support for the Claremont Energy Challenge, a two year energy reduction competition competing for the Georgetown Energy Prize. An element of this partnership is the College's direct involvement creating CHERP Unity, a program that targets disadvantaged communities in the city for inclusion in the Claremont Energy Challenge by locating funding for home energy retrofits for low-income households. A large facet of the challenge is to make the project replicable and scalable for other communities.

Pomona College participates in the Southern California Sustainability Officers colloquium, exchanging ideas and offering support throughout the region for sustainability efforts on about a dozen campuses. Pomona also is part of a collection of five selective liberal arts colleges nationally that have formed a Climate Action think group, working together to engage students in climate action and justice activities.