University of Pennsylvania
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

The Netter Center for Community Partnerships Founded in 1992, the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships is Penn’s primary vehicle for bringing to bear the broad range of human knowledge needed to solve the complex, comprehensive, and interconnected problems of the American city so that West Philadelphia (Penn’s local geographic community), Philadelphia, the University itself, and society benefit. The Netter Center, which is housed in the Office of Government and Community Affairs, works to achieve the following objectives: - Improve the internal coordination and collaboration of all university-wide community service programs - Develop democratic, mutually beneficial, mutually respectful partnerships between the University and the community - Create and strengthen local, national and international networks of institutions of higher education committed to engagement with their local communities Through the Netter Center, the University currently engages in three types of activities: academically based community service, direct traditional service, and community development. Academically based community service is at the core of the Center’s work. It is service rooted in and intrinsically linked to teaching and/or research, and encompasses problem-oriented research and teaching, as well as service learning emphasizing student and faculty reflection on the service experience. Approximately one hundred sixty courses (from a wide range of disciplines and Penn schools) link Penn students to work in the community. (A steady increase in the number of academically based community service has occurred since 1992, when only eleven such courses were offered.) Some examples of these programs, events, and initiatives are as follows: Sayre School Garden The Sayre Garden Program focuses on urban agriculture, horticulture, landscape design and entrepreneurship. Through the planting, maintenance, harvest, and sale of fruits, herbs, and vegetables from the school garden, students explore the complexities of growing and selling healthy, organic produce in an urban setting. Students engage in formal lessons, as well as hands-on projects that provide basic training and knowledge of food availability and distribution-related issues. Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI) is a major component of the Netter Center's University-Assisted Community Schools program. AUNI grew out of an Anthropology ABCS course taught by Professor Francis Johnston. While AUNI’s emphasis is on nutrition education and food access in West Philadelphia, it works in a total of 20 Philadelphia public schools, serving more than 10,000 students every month. Hands-on cooking and gardening clubs and youth-run fruit stands connect school day and after school learning activities for K-12 students, as well as connect to the academic work of Penn students and faculty. UC Green Through partnerships and education, UC Green empowers volunteer environmental stewardship in University City and its surrounding communities. In keeping with its mission to work to maintain and expand the tree cover and green landscapes of University City/West Philadelphia, UC Green provides services to individuals, businesses, block groups and communities. Each spring and fall, UC Green volunteers plant hundreds of street trees and enhance public green spaces contributing thousands of hours in service to the community. The summer tree maintenance youth employment program - UC Green Corps – cares for 500 young trees planted by UC Green volunteers on a weekly basis during the summer months. UC Green’s Pruning Club program meets weekly during the summer to train volunteers in proper tree pruning techniques and perform on the ground pruning of selected blocks each season. Penn EcoReps The Eco-Reps program is organized by sustainability staff in Facilities and Real Estate Services and is an initiative of the Penn Green Campus Partnership, an umbrella group of students, faculty, staff, and community members that promotes sustainable practices and policies on campus. In the Fall of 2011 and 2012, Penn’s student Eco-Reps partnered with the Schuylkill River Development Corporation (SRDC) and kicked off the new academic years by cleaning up the Schuylkill River Trail at Gray’s Ferry Crescent. A group of over 80 Penn students helped plant trees, remove invasive species, and clear the trail, which just recently opened to the public. The event was part of a new Eco-Reps service initiative that encourages students to connect with organizations in Philadelphia and help improve sustainability throughout the region.

Penn EcoReps events news http://www.upenn.edu/sustainability/news/newsletter-archive/december-2011#featured2 http://www.schuylkillbanks.org/stories/penn-eco-reps-clean-grays-ferry-crescent