11-2SG Sustainable Communities Initiative
Grant Round:
2011 September
Grant Program:
Small Grants
Grant Type:
Other Grants
Grant amount requested:
2,500.00
Attachments
Please provide a brief description of the project for which you seek funding.
The Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) is an effort to empower and further engage ordinary citizens in the Sustainability movement by offering a vehicle through which the voices of informed citizens can be amplified.
SCI's inaugural programming will launch in January 2012 with an Introduction to Sustainability lecture series that will be free and open to the public. Based on this lecture series will be a blended learning (i.e. online and in-person) SCI enrichment course.
With NEGREF funds, SCI seeks to deliver two workshop series to train volunteer Community Leader Teachers (CLTs) to facilitate community discussions and lead their neighbors in evaluating the Sustainability performance of their own towns and cities. These dialogues and evaluative exercises will be carried out by CLTs and those of their neighbors enrolled in the SCI enrichment course.
Each month after leading a discussion on a given Sustainability theme (e.g. biodiversity, climate, environmental justice) CLTs will guide participants through the use of SCI's Sustainable Communities Index in an effort to evaluate the performance of their community in that same thematic area. By the end of the course (May) a complete picture of the community's level of Sustainability will be revealed and published for public consumption.
The first proposed CLT workshop series, titled The Teaching and Practice of Sustainability, will take place during the month of January. The second, titled Using the SCI Sustainable Communities Index, will occur during the month of February. The first workshop series will be taught by Mark DeMoranville, Ed.D, and the second by Jed Greenberg, SCI Director. Preparations for these workshops will occur in the late fall and early winter.
This project and SCI itself grew out of a patchwork of personal, intellectual, and professional experiences, as well as, discussions among neighbors and colleagues within RI's environmental community.
As enthusiasm built, more and more institutions began to lend their support. Over time a true collaborative of citizens, professionals, and nonprofit organizations has evolved. Today the name SCI represents this collaborative more than it does the identity of a single organization. That is, the "group" that is SCI is really a set of neighbors, volunteers, colleagues, and environmental professionals each of whom play a critical role in the future success of the project.
Primary Issue Area:
Living Economies
Please break-down/categorize the program expenses:
| Proposed Item | Estimated $ Amount | Would grant funds be used for this item? | Type Of Expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor fee for Workshop Series #1 (8 workshops and one recorded 30 minute lecture) | $1,117.50 | Yes | Materials |
| Instructor fee for Workshop Series #2 (8 workshops and one recorded 30 minute lecture) | $1,117.50 | Yes | Materials |
| workshop materials | $140.00 | Yes | Materials |
| ECRI administrative overhead | $125.00 | Yes | Materials |
Whom does your group need to make this project happen?
Please explain how your group will engage members from your community in this project.
Through SCI partnerships and creative local marketing SCI will reach thousands of community members with its marketing plan. Rhode Island College, the Environment Council of Rhode Island, local networks, and social media will all play an important role in first contact outreach.
Beyond first contact outreach, SCI will engage participants through the enrichment course model. All participants will be able to view weekly lectures online and meet up at designated times with their neighbors to discuss the topics presented (under the guidance of CLTs). Participants will be acknowledged for completing the course and demonstrating a mastery of environmental knowledge. These individuals will also receive special status within the SCI community. Participants are expected to remain engaged as a fun and communal experience will be cultivated at these gatherings.
The important role of CLTs has already been extensively discussed, but it is worth noting that their continued engagement is expected to occur as a result of a careful selection process and a sense of community developed among the first cohort. Additionally the CLT position will be viewed as rather prestigious within the SCI community.
SCI should also be able to maintain steady volunteer participation due to the institutional structure it will be bringing to the civic arena. By beginning to create a network of local citizen groups, participants will feel as though they are a part of something much larger than themselves. Additionally, by connecting local networks, SCI will also be empowering these individuals. Finally, through the SCI Index we will be establishing a common language for social and environmental change among the general public.
Lastly, in addition to being exposed to our extensive outreach efforts, the general public will also be blanketed with the Sustainability performance results of their own communities.
If your group receives a NEGEF Grow grant, how do you plan to pay for remaining expenses?
| $ Amount | Source |
|---|---|
| $500.00 | Videographer, Rhode Island College |
| $1,650.00 | Classroom Rent, Rhode Island College |
Please list these materials or services
| $ Amount | Item |
|---|---|
| $500.00 | IT Technology Support, Rhode Island College |
Please describe what changes will occur in your community and its environment when your group's project is successful.
This project will manifest environmental, social, and personal gains all of which will be tightly interwoven with one another.
Quantitatively, through the proposed workshops, SCI expects to train 78 CLTs. This figure represents two CLTs from each town and city in Rhode Island. Through this training CLTs will be prepared to foster respectful, fact based community discussions on environmental issues in three pilot communities. CLTs will also provide guidance to residents, in these same communities, who will be quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating the sustainability performance of their own towns and cities with the SCI Index. The three pilot communities are the City of Providence and two towns within the Greater Providence region.
By collecting this local sustainability data and publishing it publicly participants in the pilot effort will shift power away from technical elites and place it in the hands of community residents. Through this process sustainability gaps will be recognized and participants will be well positioned to begin planning local initiatives to remedy shortcomings.
On a personal level, through this training and the subsequent use of the skills gained, CLTs will likely experience individual growth and in some instances a civic awakening. For those community members interacting with CLTs it is expected that their own environmental literacy will be improved and they may discover their own civic potential, as well.
All of this work will be the beginning of the development of a well-connected network of SCI citizen groups focused on community based sustainability. Network members will be able to support one another and thrive off of peer energy, knowledge, and example. The network will also be able to join together to affect change on a larger state and regional level when necessary.
The workshop series will train enough CLTs to eventually carry this work forward to all of RI’s 36 non-pilot towns and cities. Until then CLTs will meet monthly to discuss online lectures taken from the public lecture series and practice their group facilitation skills.
Lastly, in the SCI enrichment course, a steady revenue source able to keep this work thriving will be tested.
Please list how many people in your community your group expects to actively engage in this project.
5 000
What relevant skills does the group need (but does not currently have access to) to help move the initiative forward?
Though SCI is building a revenue stream into its organizational model, it will continue to seek auxiliary funds secured through grants, donations, and fundraisers. Despite this need, SCI has limited skills in the areas of donor development and organizing fundraisers.
What relevant skills do current members of the group have to help move the initiative forward?
SCI represents a collaborative effort made up of individuals from a diversity of backgrounds who possess a breadth of expertise. Academics, professionals, and volunteers all have a place in this work and each of their skills are valued and will be fully utilized.
Running the first workshop, The Teaching and Practice of Sustainability, will be Mark DeMoranville, Director of Sustainable Business Training and Education at the Apeiron Institute. Mark holds an Ed.D and will be teaching the course "The Teaching and Practice of Environmental Sustainability" in the Spring at Rhode Island College (please see attached documents for additional background information on Mark). Mark possesses a vast amount of knowledge in both the fields of education and sustainability, and will be an experienced and effective workshop instructor for this project.
Running the second workshop will be Jed Greenberg. Jed currently directs the work of SCI and was the former Director of Research at the Apeiron Institute. In addition to directing the development of the SCI Sustainable Communities Initiative, Jed has provided vision, structure, and unwavering passion for this work.
A team of individuals at Rhode Island College (RIC) are providing a host of supports to SCI. The College President, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and other key members of the President's Office have fully embraced the SCI project and been instrumental in mobilizing the College's resources for its cause. Both of the RIC offices of User Services and Web Services are committed to providing the technical assistance required to record workshop lectures and post them online for participants to view on demand. A member of the College's Green Team will be designing the SCI logo and supplemental materials. The News and PR Department is already at work strategizing how best to market SCI opportunities to the public and increase public participation.
As a coalition of 60 environmental organizations, ECRI and its officers link SCI to an expanded statewide grassroots environmental network. ECRI officers themselves are a rich resource full of environmental expertise.
Members of the community have demonstrated a passion for social and environmental change, though they have not always had a constructive outlet like SCI for this energy. While CLTs have not yet been appointed ECRI expands SCI's grassroots network (and pool of volunteers) to 40,000 environmentalists living throughout Rhode Island.