University of St. Thomas
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP), administered by the Office of Sustainability Initiatives, develops multi-year partnerships with cities, government entities, and their collaborators to integrate partner-identified sustainability projects (economic, social, ethical, and ecological dimensions of sustainability) into existing St. Thomas courses across disciplines and to engage students in real-world, applied research and innovative problem-solving. Our partnerships seek to catalyze systems-level change towards sustainability in the Twin Cities area while preparing students for the complexities of problem-solving in contemporary society. Since Spring 2016, SCP has integrated 74 partner-identified projects into 70 courses across 22 different disciplines. Our partners have included the City of Big Lake, MN, the City of Delano, MN, the City of Elk River, MN, the Freshwater Society, the Metropolitan Council and Metro Transit, the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, PLACE, and Tiny Footprint Coffee. SCP has also partnered on campus sustainability projects. A description of current and past projects as well as blogs and films about our projects are available on the SCP website. The website is www.stthomas.edu/osi/scp. We have also included a list of the SCP projects with courses as a separate spreadsheet.

The University of St. Thomas has an ongoing, multi-year partnership the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota to support the St. Paul Bike Classic. Throughout its 24-year history, the Saint Paul Bike Classic has started and ended on the St. Thomas campus in St. Paul. The event draws nearly 6,000 bicyclists, more than any other bike ride in Minnesota. All proceeds go to support the mission-driven work of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota. The event accommodates riders of different abilities with routes ranging in length from 15 to 45 miles, most of which are closed to motorized vehicles. The tour winds through historic neighborhoods, beautiful parks and parkways, and along the revitalized downtown riverfront. Through its partnership with Eureka Recycling, the tour is a “zero waste” event. The rest stops along the tour provide local produce, baked goods, and live music performed by local artists. The University of St. Thomas supports this partnership in multiple ways. In addition to hosting the event on campus, the university provides its parking facility to the event for the entire day. University staff members from the departments of public safety and neighbhorhood relations play significant roles in ensuring the event is hospitable and safe. The university also promotes the event in communications with neighbors and students, through social media channels and distribution of registration packets to bike stores in the area. As a benefit of this collaboration, students also receive a reduced rider fee ($20). More information about the St. Paul Bike Classic is available at the website: http://www.bikeclassic.org/

BUSN 200 is a zero-credit graduation requirement for all undergraduate business majors where each student provides 40 hours of service to the community and completes a series of reflective seminars. Approximately 70% of the service sites are recurring each year. Many of the partnership sites support at least one dimension of sustainability and some support two or all three. Examples of partner organizations include the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, local food pantries, and a variety of other service organizations. For more information see: https://www.stthomas.edu/business/busn200/

Sustainable Communities Partnership contact: Maria Dahmus, SCP Program Director The Saint Paul Classic contact for St. Thomas: Amy Gage, Neighborhood Relations Program Director