University of Montana
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Climate Smart Missoula, formerly called ADAPT, was initiated in 2014 by a core group of community sustainability leaders including representatives from the Audubon Society, St. Patrick's Hospital, the Clark Fork Coalition, the University of Montana, the US Forest Service Region 1 office, the City of Missoula, and others. The first publicly visible step in the partnership's work was to host a "Community Conversation" on climate change that brought to the forefront issues, resources, and strategies that exist in Missoula related to climate resilience and adaption. At that time, all of the leadership and programmatic work done by the group was volunteer and piecemeal, but still robust and responsive. With time, it became clear that there was a need for a paid staff member to head the efforts and keep things moving forward. Climate Smart Missoula was born and continues to thrive as its very own 501(c)3 NGO in Missoula today. Most, if not all, of the original partners continue to stay engaged and represent their organizations at meetings and Climate Smart events. As a partner, the University of Montana has provided abundant in-kind staff support as well as financial support for specific events over the years. Our graduates and students have interned and are employed with Climate Smart and individual UM staff are charitable donors to the organization. Climate Smart Missoula takes a forward-looking, solutions-oriented approach to climate adaption and resilience. Building on the existing resources and strong partnerships in our community, we seek to build bridges and act as a 'hub' for the efforts currently underway to build a more resilient Missoula. We work closely with organizations that provided resources and services to disadvantaged populations in our community and select adaptive strategies that resonate with people across our diverse city, regardless of cultural background, socioeconomic status, or gender. Our partnership with area hospitals has been a shining example of this work; climate resilience and community/public health go hand-in-hand and we have focused our first full year of programming on assessment (of GHG emissions and existing resources for adaptation) and building the Summer Smart Missoula program. Summer Smart is focused on helping those in our community who might be particularly affected by wildfire smoke (for health reasons and/or an inability to get to places with clean, filtered air) escape the heat and smoke. Issues of public health and climate adaptation cross cultural, economic, and ethnic boundaries, making this program one that is especially broad in its reach and impact.

UM's Environmental Studies Program works closely with two Missoula non-profits, The Missoula Food Bank and Garden City Harvest, and operates a 10-acre farm two miles from campus. The farm is known locally as the PEAS Farm. "PEAS" refers to the Environmental Studies department's Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society, which has combined traditional academics with hands-on work at an urban, organic farm, which produces tens of thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetables each season for low-income Missoulians. Students can work for credit on the farm, but their work earns them much more than credit hours. Students are involved in all phases of food production, from greenhouse work in February to selling pumpkins in October. Most students report that the summer season at the Rattlesnake Farm is the most enriching experience they have ever had. In addition to providing hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture for UM students, the farm also operates a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program open to any and all community members, a Youth Harvest program that employs teenagers in a therapeutic, service-oriented work program. The students operate the Mobile Market as one of their primary tasks, a mobile farmers market that serves those living in Missoula's subsidized housing complexes.

Climate Smart Missoula (partnership #1): http://www.missoulaclimate.org/