Southern Illinois University Carbondale
EN-9: Community Partnerships

SIU plays an active role in supporting the Carbondale Bicycle Master Plan. In 2016, 1 student, 1 faculty member, and 2 staff members sit on the advisory committee and support conversation around town and campus bicycle master plans. The campus is also going through a bicycle master planning process. Both the town of Carbondale and SIU received recognition at the end of 2016 from the League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Community and Bicycle Friendly University, respectively.

The Give and Go! move-out initiative, has existed at SIU for several years. In May 2016, University Housing and SIU Sustainability, in collaboration with several community organizations, collected nearly 10,000 pounds of discarded reusable items, including clothing, furniture, small appliances, shoes, cleaning products, bedding, towels, housewares and other items in good condition, along with 1,452 wrapped, usable food items. The food and other items were then given to students and community organizations, diverting all of these items from potentially being thrown into a landfill and providing low cost/ free items to students and community members. Partners in the project included University Housing, the Sustainability Office, S.E.N.S.E registered student organization, the Gaia House, and various community organizations, including the Rotary Club of Jackson-Williamson Counties Sunset, Keep Carbondale Beautiful, & Campus Ministries. The Sustainability Office, in collaboration with University Housing, organized the initiative providing diversion materials and access to collection areas. Volunteers from these local community organizations, with the support of students, met on a daily basis during move out to collect and move donated items to receiving organizations. The Rotary Club, in collaboration with SIU Sustainability, also planed a huge Rotary Rotation Resale Aug. 18-20, 2016 to coincide with the arrival of students for the fall semester. The Sustainability Office supported the sale through marketing to incoming students.

1)Imagining Geographies collaboration with Save the Levees campaign led by Shawnee High School students & their teacher Jamie Nash-Mayberry included joint production of a documentary film about students' activism, joint organization & media documentation of 3 public meetings involving elected state and regional / levee officials, representatives of the Army Corp of Engineers, national and local environmental groups, citizens of all ages, genders and classes; multiple articles about policy issues. Transformative Outcomes: civic engagement grew from tens to several hundred locals attending meetings, voicing their concerns and acting; 60+ students who gained greater experience in civic engagement & development of media products; raising & discussing the policy issues from strong environmental justice & economic sustainability base; expanding the horizon of work from specific local concern with a sole focus on Illinois to a multi-state river-centric perspective.

2)Sharing Knowledge produced 4 issues about range of policy issues in print & digital versions with articles written by senior and junior academic and government researchers, representatives of civil society groups, elected officials and university leaders. Distribution in print to 30,000 persons with each issue, continued access online by hundreds of students; exemplar of how media can be involved in advancing knowledge sharing in policy discussions.

http://sustainability.siu.edu/participate/give-and-go.php
http://cola.siu.edu/geography/current-students/internships/