Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.26
Liaison Chris Bond
Submission Date March 22, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Unity Environmental University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 3.00 Stacey Hachey
Administrative Assistant
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Maine Farmland Trust's "Veggies for All" project

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’s sustainability focus?:
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above:

Veggies For All is a food bank farm founded in 2007 to produce organically-grown vegetables for food pantry clients in Unity, Maine and other communities throughout the state. Between 2009 and 2013, VFA and Unity College have collaboratively developed agricultural infrastructure on campus through grant funding and other mutually beneficial development actions. As a result of the partnership with UC and other entities, VFA has supplied nearly 145,000 pounds of food to food insecure Mainers in 25 towns around Maine through a network of 9 food pantries.


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
Foothill Fuels

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):
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (2nd partnership) (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (2nd partnership):

Foothill Fuels is a business start up developing a bio-fuel alternative to white gas (comparable to Coleman Fuel) for adventure and camping stoves and appliances in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and grow a sustainable enterprise. Students in our adventure programs at Unity College, including our Nova wilderness orientation program, use the product on trips and collect and submit performance data for the company.


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Maine Climate Table

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’s sustainability focus? (3rd partnership):
The partnership simultaneously supports social equity and wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (3rd partnership) (Yes, No, or Unknown):
Not Sure

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (3rd partnership):

President Melik Peter Khoury serves on the advisory committee for the Maine Climate Table. Faculty member Mick Womersley (Sustainable Energy) and CSO Jennifer deHart serve on the Energy Efficiency subcommittee of the Maine Climate Table. From the website: The Maine Climate Table is a broad coalition of individuals and organizations from the nonprofit, business, philanthropic and government sectors whose vision is to create a state-based model for climate communication and climate action that will increase civic engagement and lead to action by elected officials. Maine Climate Table supports increased private and public investment in job creation and workforce training that advance climate mitigation and adaptation and build on Maine's comparative advantages. In addition, MCT will contribute to associated benefits such as moving toward energy independence, food security, healthier forest management and improved public health. http://go-worldlee.com/projects/


A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:

1.) Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association. The college provides both interns and work-study students to assist in the operations of the largest organic farmers association in the northeastern US (MOFGA.org). Unity College staff and students are involved annually in the MOFGA’s Common Ground Fair, which attracts an estimated 70,000 people to the fair emphasizing sustainable living

2) Regional Land Trusts. Consistent with our logo ‘America’s Environmental College’ we engage with regional land trusts (such as the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust located in Unity) doing collaborative projects such as GIS mapping, trails work, or joint participation in grants.

3) Each semester, faculty and students in the Sustainable Energy Management Program conducts detailed car checks for student vehicles to look for safety issues and to improve gas mileage (http://ucsustainability.blogspot.com/search?q=safety+report

4) Town of Unity weatherization pilot. Unity College received a grant from the state 2 years ago to pilot a local program in town home for weatherization and energy efficiency, including running a workshop each fall where residents can make interior storm window inserts. The program became ‘The Sustain Mid-Maine Coalition’, a municipal program with services expanded from the pilot (http://www.waterville-me.gov/departments/smmc) that provides internships for college students. The window inserts workshop is now an annual event hosted by the college, and the college is moving forward with the town of Unity to evaluate the potential of solar photovoltaics as an economic development tool to protect and expand the commercial base of the region.

5) We have a partnership with the Maine Lakes Society and the local lake association to bring the transformative project LakeSmart to three area towns that began in the spring of 2014. Staff, students, and local citizens and the lake association are involved, and the town’s draft comprehensive plan calls out the importance of protecting water quality. This program evolves changing social norms for living on the lake shore using a voluntary assessment program for homeowners. The goal is to get 15% of the owners in the program, after which social marketing theory suggests that the program will become self-sustaining and neighbors will want to join. Protecting water quality is good for recreation, for property values, for real estate businesses, and for the town’s tax base. The regulatory approach to protecting lake water quality has failed nationally, and we believe that changing people’s attitudes about how they interact with their lake will transform both the regularly process and protection of aquatic resources.

6) Unity College is a partner and pick up site of Waldo County Woodshed is a local program providing no-cost wood for stoves to needy residents;

7) Maine Campus Compact and Unity College have partnered on an Americorps Vista position focused on a Maine weatherization project;

8) Camden International Film Festival is a longtime partner bringing environmentally-focused films to their annual film festival;

9) he College partners with the Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation to overwinter and grow-out seedlings and saplings of hybrid chestnut trees.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Waldo County Woodshed (http://waldocountywoodshed.org/); Maine Campus Compact (http://mainecompact.org/programs/americorps-vista/); Camden International Film Festival (https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff/)


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