Portland Community College
IL-66: Innovation B
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Stephania
Fregosi Sustainability Analyst Academic Affairs |
Name of the innovative outcome, program, or initiative:
Does the innovation represent a new, extraordinary, unique, ground-breaking, or uncommon outcome, program, or initiative that addresses a sustainability challenge and is not covered by an existing credit?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the innovation:
PCC’s student leaders from the Basic Needs, Sustainability & Leadership Program complete anti-racist training annually as part of their work for PCC. The sustainability office participates by supplementing this training with a workshop that focuses on making connections between social and environmental justice, with a particular focus on climate justice. Students are assigned articles, videos/podcasts and reflections before the workshop. The workshop is divided into activity sections in which students watch videos, have discussions and work towards planning their projects for the upcoming academic year. The theme for 2024 was PCC Comes Together for Climate Justice.
The workshop introduces students to the topic of climate justice through a series of articles about the intersection of climate change and other current events including gun violence, women’s health, environmental disasters (wildfire, flooding), and war. We also spend time on the fundamentals of climate justice. The workshop provides a mixture of articles, videos and discussion to allow students to reflect on how their work this year relates to climate action and climate justice. We also provide time to think about inspiring climate activists, climate anxiety and solutions in hopes of inspiring them for their work for the coming year.
Workshop information and materials and the job description have been attached as a single pdf file.
We first piloted this workshop in 2020 and have expanded it from a three-hour to six-hour training. We are finding that spending more time on climate solutions, climate anxiety and self-reflection serve as an inspiring way for our students to begin their year. Our students have let us know that this is one of the most invigorating parts of the training they receive each fall and we’ve been invited back year after year. Even when don’t feel like the training is applicable to their everyday work, they provide positive feedback and have a better understanding of the connectivity between environmental justice issues, social justice and basic needs, which supports their program as well as personal and professional growth. We have now trained over 40 students since 2022 as well as program support staff.
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
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