Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.55
Liaison Aaron Klemm
Submission Date Sept. 15, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

San Jose State University
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Loren Lewis
Project Coordinator
Office of the President
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution participate in community sustainability partnerships that meet the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s sustainability partnerships with the local community:

Description: Established in 2005, CommUniverCity San Jose is a partnership of the Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace communities, San Jose State University (SJSU) and the City of San Jose. SJSU concentrates service-learning classes in these neighborhoods in cooperation with the Neighborhood Advisory Council and the City. The broad goal of CommUniverCity is to build community in the neighborhoods and engage students in civic life while addressing the community development priorities identified by neighborhood residents.

The following are a few examples of the community-based service-learning projects CommUniverCity has supported within the past year:

• Growing Sustainably - Between late February and early June 2010, members of the Silicon Valley HealthCorps of The Health Trust collaborated with CommUniverCity, members of the McKinley/Bonita Neighborhood Association, and San Jose State nutrition students to create the Growing Sustainably project. The mission behind Growing Sustainably is to increase access of healthy and fresh foods within a local neighborhood which lacks access to fresh produce markets. Projects included a six-week long cooking and nutrition workshop in the McKinley/Bonita and Olinder Park neighborhoods, a series of gardening workshops at the McKinley/Bonita Community Garden, and a community garden celebration in the same neighborhood.

• Safe and Green Halloween: Each year CommUniverCity organizes a Safe and Green Halloween festival for the families of local elementary school students. Participants enjoy Halloween games, learn about energy efficiency and safety, and either receive gently used Halloween costumes or make their own using recycled materials.

• Bringing Elementary Weather and Climate Change Education to the Classroom: Students from SJSU’s Meteorology Department conduct a number of hands on demonstrations and workshops for elementary school students at Catholic Charities’ CORAL (Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning) afterschool program at McKinley Elementary. SJSU students use digital media, satellite imagery, posters, arts and crafts and other methods to demonstrate how climate and climate change can affect the everyday life of the students, and what they can do to learn more. The project aims to not only teach elementary school children about climate change, but, most importantly, to promote an interest in science among low-income, minority girls and boys.

• Rails to Trails: The recently formed Rails to Trails Task Force (now Friends of Five Wounds Trail) successfully advocated the designation of the abandoned railroad right-of-way in the Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace neighborhoods for inclusion in the Envision 2040 draft general plan as “parkland/open space,” achieving the primary goal of the task force. Friends of Five Wounds Trail is now established as an on-going community group and the city, county and VTA now recognize the goal of converting the railroad right-of-way into a trail. Two trail walk/clean-ups have been completed and an additional two are planned. Community advocates participated in a workshop with the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and are now focused on funding acquisition of land for the trail.

• Walk-a-thon and Community Fair: Students and parents from Anne Darling elementary gathered to get exercise and information on nutrition and services offered by public agencies. Interactive booths with information on nutrition were organized by SJSU community nutrition students. Students also led a stretching session for walk-a-thon participants. Six other SJSU students worked as volunteers through CCLL/AmeriCorps helping with registration and counting laps completed by participants in the walk-a-thon. The City of San Jose participated through its Parks and Recreation department. Other participants in the event included the American Red Cross and the California Highway Patrol.


The website URL where information about sustainability partnerships is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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