The University of Minnesota recently received one of five Champions of Sustainability in Communities Awards given by the Sustainable Endowments Institute for the first time this year. The Champions Award recognizes schools with community partnerships that demonstrate the impact of collaboration in achieving sustainability goals.
Since 1997, the University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (Regional Partnerships) have played a unique role in identifying and implementing solutions to complex community issues facing greater Minnesota under the guiding principles of sustainability. The Regional Partnerships’ commitment to sustainable communities is based on a belief that a public research university, coupled with civic creativity and leadership, can produce long-lasting, positive benefits across the state. The six citizen-led boards serve a catalyzing role by linking local needs and innovation with university expertise and broad multi-sector/multi-agency partnerships.
One of the most prominent, successful, and award-winning programs—-the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs)—-addresses conservation, efficiency, renewable energy, and regional energy self-reliance with strong involvement from grassroots communities, local institutions, and key public agencies and nonprofits. CERTs, formed in 2002, exemplifies the Regional Partnerships model of serving as a public space and innovation incubator, providing resources to combine the best of local and academic knowledge in solving community-articulated energy issues.
CERT members, like those involved with the Regional Partnerships, draw upon the university, state agencies, and partnering nonprofits as resources, but also influence the university’s agendas through convening citizen voices to articulate their needs to facilitate clean energy solutions for rural Minnesota communities.
Read the University of Minnesota press release
Learn about other winners and the College Sustainability Report Card
