Portland Community College
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

PCC has an Ecosocial Justice Student Leader Program that includes four dedicated student positions, a grant fund, an annual training with all student leaders and culminates in an annual event.

The PCC District Student Council established an Eco Social Justice Coalition, meaning one leader from each campus will focus on eco-social justice initiatives and will be a part of the collective decision making process in student government on the district student council. They will also be a part of and have a voice at the table in the Sustainability Leadership Council (SLC). These student leaders oversee the EcoSocial Justice Grant, which has provided over $1.1 million in funding to-date, and help plan the annual EcoSocial Justice Day event.

To further compliment this initiative, the Sustainability Office created an ecosocial justice workshop for student leaders that started in the fall of 2020. This is a one day workshop meant to supplement social justice training that student leaders also participate in. The workshop covers the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic justice. Through a combination of videos and discussions, students looked at environmental justice and disposability, local impacts of climate change and systemic racism, and the relationships between immigration and climate change.

PCC continues to hold an annual event in collaboration with student leaders, focusing on the intersections between racial and social justice and sustainability. The programming of these events have largely been supported by the student funded Eco Social Justice Grant (ESJG). These annual events, and the ESJG are efforts that have been made to broaden the scope of efforts to help create a more socially just and environmentally sustainable school and reality.

Resources can be provided upon request.

PCC became the fourth institution of higher education to become Bee Campus USA certified. These efforts are supported by an apiary at the Rock Creek Campus, additional hives at the Sylvania Learning Garden (spring through fall) and “boutique” mason bee hotels at our Rock Creek Campus, Sylvania Campus and Newberg Center to provide habitat for our local solitary bees. The Rock Creek campus also partnered with the building and construction program on campus to convert a tiny home into a honey bee educational exhibit, fitted with three types of honey bee hives, as well as educational signage covering the entire life span of a honey bee.

More information can be found on our website. https://www.pcc.edu/sustainability/initiatives/bee-campus-usa/

We're active participants in regional discussions in sustainability. We participate as a workgroup member for both Partners for a Sustainable Washington County & the Portland Public Sector Sustainability Roundtable, both of which offer forums for public agencies to share information about sustainability and create opportunities to form network connections.

In the education sector, we're a founding member of the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN), acknowledged as a Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE) by United Nations University and also regularly host the GPSEN Sustainability Symposium.

We're also a founding member of the Washington Oregon Higher Ed Sustainability Conference and help plan the annual event. Our staff have also served both on the board and the advisory council for the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. We are frequent presenters to conferences in sustainability that include AASHE's annual conference, WOHESC, Smart & Sustainable Campus Conference, Intermountain Sustainability Conference and the Oregon Solar Energy Conference.

Additionally, we are members of Second Nature and We Are Still In. Our College president sits on the leadership circles for both of those organizations and has participated in two of the UN Climate Change Conferences (COP23 & COP25).