Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
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Overall Score | 83.80 |
Liaison | Breeana Sylvas |
Submission Date | March 1, 2019 |
Executive Letter | Download |
University of California, Merced
EN-10: Community Partnerships
Status | Score | Responsible Party |
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3.00 / 3.00 |
Breeana
Sylvas Assistant Director Sustainability |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Merced County Public Health
Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes
Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Short-term project or event
Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus?:
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? (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
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:
The university through the Energize Colleges Program provided the Merced County Public Health Department with a student intern who assessed the synergy between public health and sustainability. The intern in 2016-2017 contributed to a project that aimed to improve the quantity and quality of health information available to Merced County Public Health department and respective residents. The intern worked on aspects of sustainability such as, energy and GHG reductions related to the Merced County Public Health Department.
The Energize Colleges Program is a partnership between Strategic Energy Innovations and the UC Merced campus.
Additionally, in partnership with the university and the Merced County Public Health Department speaker Richard Jackson Professor emeritus at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles spoke to community members and leaders on sustainability, the built environmental, and health.
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
City of Merced Local Transportation & Planning
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):
Short-term project or event
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):
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 (2nd partnership):
The university through the Energize Colleges Program provided the City of Merced Local Transportation & Planning department a student intern.
One of the functions is:
1.) Gap Analysis–the intern helped identify existing gaps in local infrastructure. The data gathered assists supporting a cost benefit analyses. This information will help the planning committee calculate energy use, reductions in GHG emissions, and other significant environmental benefits. This will require ability to create and amend GIS-based maps.
2. Public Outreach – the intern was also responsible to conduct community outreach.
Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Bobcat Eats Food Waste & Prevention Program
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):
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 (3rd partnership):
The Bobcat Eats Food Waste and Prevention Program is a joint partnership with UC Merced & the Merced County Food Bank. The university and food bank secured a grant from CalRecyle to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The program is designed to capture excess food from grocery outlets and restaurants, and support the development of distribution sites within the community for rescued food. The intent of the program is to increase access to food supplies, including fresher nutritious food for both low-income and food-insecure communities, including students. The program has established partnerships with an additional fifteen (15) distribution outlets within the community, to include nonprofit organizations. The program has also supported reductions in ghg emissions.
A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
The Department of Sustainability and other units partner with the Merced Environmental Literacy Collective http://justknowledge.org/merced-environmental-literacy-collective-2/ The groups collaboratively have worked on environmental literacy efforts.
The campus also works with the Merced Bicycle Coalition on various projects, please visit http://www.mercedbicyclecoalition.org/
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2018/campus-tackle-food-waste-calrecycle-grant
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