The Sustainable Cities (SC) Program intends to leverage the resources of Indiana State University towards creating more sustainable cities while providing unique experiential learning opportunities to ISU students. The SC program partners local communities with ISU faculty, students, and staff via a yearlong partnership. Local municipal staff, community members, and other key stakeholders in the community help identify a comprehensive portfolio of projects that will advance the local resilience and sustainability of the community. Students work on these partner-identified projects through existing courses to provide ideas for real solutions to community challenges and sustainable development.
Communities throughout the Wabash Valley have leaders who want to make real change. These leaders are passionate about moving their cities forward into the future, but are often limited by lack of resources, staff, and budget. The ISU Sustainable Cities Program utilizes the innovation and energy of students and faculty to provide ideas that will address these issues. This relationship reinforces and strengthens our communities. For communities, the SC program provides linkages to moving forward community-identified sustainability goals.
ISU and the community partner will produce tangible and relevant outcomes for the community partner while providing ISU students with real world project completion. The program utilizes a community engagement model by the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Community Network (EPIC-N) that many universities have adopted. EPIC-N emphasizes the connection between local communities and university partnerships to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Connecting local communities in the Wabash Valley to the overarching global mission to create resilient and sustainable cities will promote our students as sustainable leaders in our communities.