Rice University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The Rice Environmental Club regularly attends local elementary schools to talk to the students about living sustainably, eating organically, and pursuing environmental careers. Specifically, every year, members of Rice’s Environmental Club are invited to attend Earth Day at Emerson Elementary School in Houston. They present 2-3 activities that engage students in environmental thinking. In past years, students have built bird feeders, made recycled paper, tie dyed earth day t-shirts, participated in environmental facts scavenger hunts, and listened to Rice students discuss environmental career options.

(1) The Community Bridges Program:

Rice University sponsors Community Bridges, a service-learning and collaborative program that aims to strengthen the relationship between Rice University and the Fifth Ward of Houston. The Fifth Ward is home to over 26,000 people. In 2011, the median annual household income for a Fifth ward resident was just $14,198, and the dropout rate of incoming high school freshman was nearly 40%. (In the very same year, a high school in the neighboring area, Lamar High School, was ranked as one of the top high schools in the United States.) Community Bridges was founded in 2011 by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the Center for Civic Engagement, in partnership with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates. Community Bridges allows Rice students to work at a variety of non-profit organizations including The Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Center (CRC) and The Fifth ward Enrichment Program. The Fifth Ward CRC is a catalytic organization dedicated to the collaborative fostering of holistic community development which seeks to sustain and build the Fifth Ward as a beautiful and better place to live, work, and play. The Fifth ward Enrichment Program is a youth leadership and development program for at-risk males which aims to engage high-risk minority youth in a positive and educational after-school environment.

Through these organizations, students are able to learn about urban issues through 1) an in-depth seminar-style academic course, and 2) a semester-long internship experience. Community Bridges aims to strengthen the relationship between Rice University and the Fifth Ward by supporting students who seek to develop and implement long-term projects focused on the sustainable reduction of poverty. The specific program aims of Community Bridges are:

Program aims
• To sustainably reduce poverty in the Fifth Ward.
• To offer an experiential-learning program at Rice University that fosters lasting relationships between the undergraduate community and the Fifth Ward.
• To generate a meaningful impact for both the Fifth Ward community and Rice University students.
• To expand structures for the Rice and Fifth Ward community to work together and develop projects that will effectively address the needs of the Fifth Ward as seen by residents of the Fifth Ward.
• To encourage discussion in the Rice community on issues related to social inequality, poverty and socioeconomic mobility in Houston

Students can choose to participate in one of these non-profit organizations by registering for a one-semester internship through Community Bridges that allows them the opportunity to explore a community outside of the Rice campus, meet new people, engage in challenging and meaningful work, and attempt to rectify complex urban challenges that face people in the Fifth Ward every day. In past years, students who spent a semester working at Fifth Ward non-profit organizations completed projects ranging from installing public art projects in the Fifth ward and planning NBA sponsored redevelopment days, to organizing curriculum for an after-school program and assisting in asset development and financial training for residents of the Fifth ward who earn less than $15,000 per year.

Students can earn 1 credit hour as a Community Bridges Fellow through SOCI 469: Community Bridges Training, and 4 credit hours through SOCI 470: Urban Inequality. Students are expected to work 5-7 hours per week on-site in the Fifth Ward as part of their fellowship. Applications to become a Community Bridges Fellow are due every fall, and are submitted via the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

2) The Janus Award:

The Janus Award promotes student investigation of complex environmental or science issues from multiple perspectives. The award is open to all non-graduating Rice undergraduate students and supports summer research with a stipend of $2,500. Although the Janus Award is available for projects anywhere within the United States, applications for Houston-focused projects are especially encouraged, and often, the proposed projects involve a community partner within the greater Houston area. Additionally, a number of Janus Award recipients have conducted research related to one or more aspects of sustainability. For example, in recent years Janus Awards have fostered partnerships with the Texas Medical Center, working to install a solar panel system on parking garages. As another example, a Janus Award recipient investigated the relationship of Houston's economic growth as a global oil and gas center to the city's declining air quality. The Janus Award is administered by the Center for Civic Leadership’s Office of Fellowships and Undergraduate Research. Janus Award applicants must include a letter of support from a faculty member willing to serve as a project advisor over the duration of the summer research project, and are strongly encouraged to have identified a counterpart advisor at a non-Rice partner institution when applicable. Rice University’s sustainability officer has served as a project advisor for multiple Janus Award recipients.

(1) The Houston Action Research Teams:
The Houston Action Research Team (HART) program serves as a bridge between Rice University and the City of Houston. “HARTs” are small, interdisciplinary teams of Rice undergraduate students who work together with local community offices and organizations to address issues and challenges facing Houston and its citizens.

• HARTs are developed through collaboration between Rice University’s Center for Civic Leadership and Houston community partners.
• HARTs match Houston community partners with skilled and motivated Rice student teams from a range of academic fields who can help address complex civic questions and community challenges.
• HARTs give undergraduate Rice students opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world issues.
• HARTs allow Rice students to learn from their teammates and from community partners.
• HARTs enable Rice students to develop team- and community-based leadership skills.
• HARTs provide students with skills and opportunities to communicate their ideas effectively to various stakeholders.
• HARTs develop creative responses to issues and questions identified by Houston community partners.

HART project teams are formed annually with a duration that can sometimes last multiple semesters. Since the program began, a number of HART projects have been related to one or more aspects of sustainability. For example, a HART team consisting of four undergraduates worked with Houston’s metropolitan transit agency (METRO) and identified specific service, outreach, and design changes to help METRO improve bike-bus transit in the City of Houston. Their findings were presented to METRO staff and were featured in the Houston Chronicle in September 2013. Similarly, another 4-student HART team worked with the Southeast Houston Transformation Alliance (SEHTA) to assist in the development of a more accessible network of pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit options for community residents. Another 4-student HART team created a plan for revitalizing the Eldorado Ballroom, an historic African-American music venue in Houston’s Third Ward, with a vision that the facility serve not just as a venue for public events but also as an incubator for community-based entrepreneurship.

The HART program is overseen by Dr. Elizabeth Vann of the Center for Civic Leadership.

(2) The Houston Sustainability Indicators program:
The Houston Sustainability Indicators program (HSI) was developed by Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability to assist with the characterization of sustainable development in Houston. The need for sustainable development indicators was first identified in 2004, when the Shell Center held the Houston Sustainability Scenarios Project, which brought together 70 individuals representing Houston’s government, NGO’s, business, and academic community to build scenarios for Houston. Thus, from the beginning, the initiative was intended to involve collaboration between the entire city of Houston in order to catalyze community resiliency and regional sustainability. The aim of the program was to identify needed research to define a sustainable development baseline and to measure the progress of the city. In 2009, the Shell Center for Sustainability issued a call for proposals to develop a plan that identified sustainable indicators for the Houston region. In 2010, the project was introduced in a Rice university undergraduate course, Sustainable Design, where the students compiled a report with 25 proposed measures focused on sustainable development through the economic, environmental and social lens. 24 proposed indicators were chosen, ranging from population growth and unemployment rate to median household income and air quality, and data was then collected for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. This allowed projections to be calculated for the years 2015, 2020, 2030, and 2040.
The Houston Sustainability Indicators metrics and publications have been published at http://houstoncommunitysustainability.org/ Annual reports of indicators from the years 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 are included in the publications section of the web site, as well as a list of extensive local media coverage. Furthermore, the web site includes maps of indicators displayed at the levels of city-wide, council districts, and super-neighborhoods.

The program is expected to continue to spur discussion in Houston about policies and programs to assist in enhancing sustainable development within the city.

The Houston Sustainability Indicators program is operated by Dr. Lester King of the Shell Center for Sustainability, with consultation from dozens of university and local experts, and with guidance from the Shell Center for Sustainability’s Operating Committee. This governance allows for input and engagement from multiple stakeholders. Further, stakeholders are provided with the opportunity to provide feedback during public workshops in which indicators and results are presented and discussed.

The Rice University Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a student-run organization that partners with communities in developing countries to design and implement sustainable and culturally appropriate engineering solutions to meet their basic needs. The faculty sponsor for the club is Dr. Pedro Alvarez, Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Other Rice faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners periodically provide training and mentorship for the student project teams.

Since 2004, the Rice University Student Chapter of EWB has completed 12 projects in locations such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Three projects are currently underway in El Salvador and Nicaragua, which are expected to benefit an estimated 2,500 people. These projects include:
• a 6.8 km gravity-fed water distribution system to deliver potable water from a mountain spring to the communities of Los Alas, El Caulote, La Loma, and Las Minas in the northern region of El Salvador (duration: 2011-present). These communities currently suffer from health problems due to a lack of reliable, uncontaminated water. Upon completion, the project will benefit over 1,000 people.
• a water distribution system to eliminate the need to cross a highway to access water in the community of Wiscoyol, Nicaragua (duration: 2012-present). This project includes a partnership with the municipal government and the NGO Fundación Santa Helena. Completion of this project will improve access to water for over 500 people, and eliminate the sanitation issues of using a manual rope pump and carrying open buckets of water over long distances.
• a water distribution system to service the community of Saldrach Zeledon in Matagalpa, Nicaragua (duration: 2014-present) who currently receive water delivered by trucks from a well located adjacent to a trash dump. The solution will include a one kilometer pipeline and a pump station. The team is working closely with the National Water Company of Nicaragua (ENACAL) as well as the local government. Upon completion, the project will serve over 850 people.

Project teams meet weekly in Rice’s engineering design project laboratory, the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, in addition to periodically traveling to the project communities.

Past collaborative communities include Barrio Lucidia Mantilla, Nicaragua (2012-2014, water system); Pueblo Nuevo, Nicaragua (2006-2010, health clinic); El Pital, El Salvador (2006-2010, water system); El Panama, Nicaragua (2005-2011, pedestrian bridge); Bernandino Diaz Ochoa, Nicaragua (2005-2007, health clinic); Piedritas, Mexico (2004-2008, water system); and La Ceiba, El Salvador (2004-2006, water system). Throughout these projects, students form strong intercultural relationships, and become socially and environmentally conscious engineers with outstanding leadership skills and practical, hands-on experience.

The Rice University Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders receives sponsorship from the Rice Global Engineering and Construction Forum, the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, GSI Environmental, the West University Rotary Foundation, the Rice Engineering Alumni Association, Chevron, Shell, and the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists.

Other notable community partnerships at Rice University include the Hermann Park Conservancy, Project Row Houses, Texas Adopt-A-Beach, Bike Houston, Transition Houston, Houston Tomorrow, Houston US Green Building Council Emerging Professionals, Houston Green Scene, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Hope Clinic Community Health Center, Surfrider Foundation, and Urban Harvest.

Community Bridges: http://kinder.rice.edu/bridges/

The Houston Action Research Teams (HARTs): https://ccrd.rice.edu/content.aspx?id=4294968401

Janus Award: http://ofur.rice.edu/content.aspx?id=4294967972

Houston Sustainability Indicators Program: https://shellcenter.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=2147483958