Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.34
Liaison Elida Erickson
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of California, Santa Cruz
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Ellen Vaughan
Water & Climate Action Manager
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Good Neighbor Initiative

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 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):
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:

The Good Neighbor Initiative was started to foster positive relations between UCSC and the City of Santa Cruz. Good Neighbor Initiative Interns work diligently with UCSC University Relations to bridge communication between neighbors, students, the city, and the university. Interns provide student interface with neighbors and are glad to field any suggestions, responses, or policy ideas to improve the university's relations. The goal of the Good Neighbor Initiative program is to foster good relations between everyone in the Santa Cruz community!

Some projects that the interns have done in the past include helping create a UCSC Campus Walking Map, holding Housing Workshops for students interested in moving off campus, and creating a "Good Neighbor Guidelines" brochure for students and residents alike to read.

Sustainability: The brochure promotes and provides information about recycling, end of year move out options, and clean-ups.
Economic: The brochure highlights information for renters/landlord advising services to understand their rights. For example, local rent control policies.
Social Justice: Interns in this program listen to the community's needs and work to ameliorate concerns. The brochure also highlights etiquette for hosting parties and additional community resources.

Underrepresented/vulnerable groups engaged in strategic planning: University Relations hosts the Good Neighbor Initiative and to ensure they are capturing diverse input they've repeatedly hired DREAM Act student interns. Those students have been integral to thinking up additional ways to provide services for underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations. For example, at the Good Neighbor fairs, the interns decided to recruit an expert to explain to students how to apply for Food Stamps and another expert from the Equal Opportunities Program (EOP) office to talk to DREAM students regarding housing issues.


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

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

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
---

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

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):
---

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):
---

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

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

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

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (3rd partnership):
---

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):
---

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):
---

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

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Additionally,

UCSC is a leading partner in City's The GreenWharf Project: https://greenwharf-wp.soe.ucsc.edu/

UCSC's Carbon Fund has provided grants to support greenhouse gas reductions in the City of Santa Cruz, for example, school lighting retrofits.


Additionally,

UCSC is a leading partner in City's The GreenWharf Project: https://greenwharf-wp.soe.ucsc.edu/

UCSC's Carbon Fund has provided grants to support greenhouse gas reductions in the City of Santa Cruz, for example, school lighting retrofits.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.