Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 85.88
Liaison Sam Lubow
Submission Date March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

Stanford University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Melissa Maigler
Sustainability Analytics Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

1st Partnership 

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
ReNUWIt

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership?:
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? :
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability:
Re-Inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt) is an interdisciplinary, multi-institution engineering research center. ReNUWIt is the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Re-inventing the Nation’s urban Water Infrastructure. Launched in 2011, ReNUWIt is the first ERC dedicated to civil infrastructure and water systems. ReNUWIt encompasses a diverse team of researchers who collaborate with entrepreneurs and practitioners on innovative solutions for urban water infrastructure challenges.

ReNUWIt's goal is to change the ways we manage urban water. Its vision is: Safe, sustainable urban water infrastructures; Enabled by technological advances in natural and engineered systems; Informed by a deeper understanding of institutional frameworks. ReNUWIt collaborates with industry partners to diffuse new technologies into practice and works to promote a culture of diversity and inclusion, where all members of society are welcome and can thrive.

The program includes stipend, housing, travel, and a 3-day all-ReNUWIt REU meeting at Stanford. ReNUWIt's Diversity Advisory Board (DAB), which is comprised of the Faculty & Staff and Student & Postdoc Committees on Diversity & Inclusion, advises the ReNUWIt Leadership Team on matters regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion among students, faculty, and outreach activities. The DAB works as a group to define goals, objectives, and metrics of success with respect to diversity and inclusion initiatives. By coordinating efforts within the DAB, we strive to increase involvement of underrepresented groups in all ReNUWIt activities. This entire group meets face-to-face once per year in conjunction with our annual all-hands ReNUWIt meeting; all ReNUWIt members are invited to participate in this meeting.

See more details here: http://renuwit.org/

2nd Partnership

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (2nd partnership):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
Launched in 2020-21, Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area (PCJ in the Bay), supports partnerships between Stanford students, faculty and staff and Bay Area community leaders to help build equitable climate change solutions.

Climate change poses an unprecedented threat to humanity worldwide, including here in the Bay Area. As the effects of sea level rise, extreme heat, and wildfire smoke exacerbate long-standing racial, economic and public health inequities, communities of color are facing the greatest impacts. Addressing these inequities and building community resilience are urgent priorities. At the same time, we need to make drastic changes to our current energy system in order to avoid even more catastrophic impacts in the future. This transition to clean energy must be an equitable one.

Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area is a new, five-year initiative to engage undergraduate and graduate students in addressing these challenges in close collaboration with community partner organizations, as well as other departments, programs and centers at Stanford.

PCJ in the Bay seeks to:
- Build climate resilience and a just transition to a green economy in the Bay Area through sustained community partnerships; and
- Expand, deepen and coordinate opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to work toward climate justice in the Bay Area, across all elements of Cardinal Service

PCJ is guided by an active advisory board that includes both underrepresented groups and vulnerable populations.

See more details here: https://haas.stanford.edu/resources/community-partners/partnerships-climate-justice-bay-area

3rd Partnership 

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Future Bay Initiative

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (3rd partnership):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
The Stanford Future Bay Initiative is a Research-Education-Practice Partnership committed to co-production of actionable intelligence with our local Bay Area communities, in order to shape a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable urban future.

The complex urban problems affecting quality of life in the Bay Area, from housing affordability and transportation congestion to economic vitality and social justice, are already perceived by many to be intractable, and will likely be exacerbated by climate change and other emerging environmental and technological forces. Changing urban systems to improve the equity, resilience, and sustainability of communities will require new collaborative methods of assessment, goal setting, and problem solving across governments, markets, and communities. It will also require academic institutions to develop new models of co-production of knowledge across research, education, and practice.

See more details here: http://bay.stanford.edu/

Optional Fields 

A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
BRIGHT AWARD
The Bright Award, given by Stanford Law School each year, was created by Raymond E. Bright Jr., an alumnus of the law school, who was a lifelong conservationist. It is meant to recognize important contributions to sustainability around the world and provide an international platform to showcase smart environmental solutions. In 2018, the Bright Award was given to EcoPeace Middle East for its efforts to rehabilitate the Jordan River. In 2013, the Israeli Water Authority permitted the release of fresh water into the Jordan River for the first time in 49 years. This significant event was a poignant victory for EcoPeace Middle East, a nonprofit organization of Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli environmentalists who are leading the effort to rehabilitate the historic river. EcoPeace Middle East is a unique organization that provides an outlet for civilians to step up to protect their shared environment, even in the face of regional conflict from divided communities. See more details here: https://law.stanford.edu/environmental-and-natural-resources-law-policy-program-enrlp/the-bright-award/#slsnav-2021-bright-award-winner

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARDS
Between 2004 and 2019, Stanford’s Office of External Relations distributed Community Partnership Awards to honor the valuable partnerships that exist between Stanford and its neighbors, and to celebrate community efforts that successfully tackle real world problems and advance the public good. Award winners were selected based on their initiative, leadership, and involvement in projects that embodied the spirit of genuine partnership and benefited the overall community. In each case, the projects resulted in collaboration and better understanding between Stanford and Bay Area communities. Many of the partnerships that have been recognized over the years through the Community Partnership Awards have been sustainability-related. The full list of Community Partnership Award recipients can be found here: https://community.stanford.edu/engagement/community-partnership-awards

Website URL where information about the institution’s community partnerships to advance sustainability is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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