The Corporate Citizen, May 2008

Section:  News

These Communities Set Good (and Sustainable) Examples

Good Example A: Albuquerque, NM
Good Example B: Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC
Good Example C: Kingsport, TN

Good Example A

Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chávez has placed sustainability at the forefront of his administrative priorities, enabling policy makers and residents to lead Albuquerque toward being the national model for energy conservation through the "Albuquerquegreen" program.

Albuquerquegreen: Goals & Outcomes

A local team of technical and marketing experts assembled in Albuquerque to develop a comprehensive sustainable action plan. The team of experts generated a list of goals to define the action plan, including:

• Impact global warming at the local level
• Provide U.S. national and global leadership
• Encourage use of sustainable energy and alternative transportation
• Implement green building policies with a carbonneutral goal by year 2030
• Enhance recycling and foster a goal of zero landfilled waste by 2030
• Dramatically reduce greenhouse gases

Results

• Exceeded goals to reduce water usage in Albuquerque by 30% in 10 years
• Issued Executive Order No. 19, which requires all motor vehicle purchases by City government be of alternative fuel vehicles.
• Participating in Green Energy Purchasing

Congratulations to Mayor Chaves and the City of Albuquerque for winning the 2008 Siemens Sustainability Award in the Large Community category.

Good Example B

In Chapel Hill, NC, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce created the Foundation for a Sustainable Community in 2004. The development of the Institute concluded a 16-month community visioning process that explored the essential elements of a sustainable community.  

The Foundation's work is based on a platform of interest and support from business, government, education, and civic institutions. Its programs include:

• The "Community Leadership Collaboration" convenes 28 diverse local business, community, government, and university leaders monthly to anticipate, prioritize and address current and future regional challenges and opportunities.
• The "Business in Education Partnership" brings together business and local school leaders who meet monthly to create opportunities for local youth. Programs include an annual job fair, college scholarships, a Speakers' Bureau to bring business leaders into the schools, and an annual essay contest for students to write about how the community will achieve the triple bottom line of community sustainability.
• Each year the Foundation selects and promotes a "Sustainable Business of the Year" based on an organization's commitment in policy and practice to the triple bottom line.
• Each year the Foundation holds a "Sustainable Business Workshop" that educates participants on everyday solutions for greening their organization including transportation solutions, energy saving strategies and water efficiency in fixtures and landscaping.
• "Leadership Chapel Hill-Carrboro" is an 11-week program, with up to 28 participants, designed to form connections among local rising leaders who learn about the community, build relationships and participate in skill-building activities such as ethics training, strategic planning, and community development.
• The "Intercity Visit and Leadership Conference" is a biannual event that organizes 100 local business, government, civil and educational leaders to travel together to another community to learn best practices and build relationships among the participants.  In 2008, the conference will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The newest program of the Foundation is the "Institute for Sustainable Development," which is focused on capturing, creating, and transferring knowledge and application of best practices in sustainability in order to influence relevant research, policy and practice.

The Institute is a first-in-the-nation partnership whose founding organizations are the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber, the Duke University Center for International Development, the Fenwick Foundation, the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Global Initiatives, and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work.

Congratulations Chapel Hill and the Chamber for winning the 2008 Siemens Sustainability Award in the Midsize Community category.

Good Example C

Kingsport, TN struggled with a deteriorating local economy, job layoffs, and a dwindling population, similar to what many traditionally manufacturing communities in America faced. In the late 1990s, one city leader was quoted as saying, "The last one to leave — turn the lights out." 
Then the city hosted an economic summit to bring together area leaders from the government, business, educational, and service sectors to identify solutions for the city.  Education emerged as the key to turning the city around.     
In 2001 they city launched "Educate and Grow," a first-of-its-kind to, in effect, expand the conventional K–12 public school program to a K–14 program, with the final two post-secondary years being optional for students wanting to learn a trade.
 
Kingsport lacked direct access to a college campus. The next phase of the strategic development initiative involved bringing a variety of stakeholders and partners to develop a downtown educational campus to provide workforce development opportunities for employers in their backyard.
 
Phase III of the Economic Summit is the construction of an Allied Health building in the downtown educational campus, slated to open in August 2008. The City is funding the $4 million project: a two-story, 42,000-square-foot building, with Welmont, a major healthcare provider in the Tennessee-Virginia-Kentucky region providing scholarship money. This summer, the city is starting construction on a 50,000-square-foot Higher Education Center to serve as a collaborative mini-campus for four-year and post four-year degrees.

Multiple indicators point to Kingsport's turnaround. 

• $164.48 million in new construction for 2007 (a record for the city), nearly doubling the $88.5 million total of 2006 ($14.3 million in downtown private investment alone)
• From July 06-June 07, 1,579 families from 35 states moved to Kingsport. 
• Forbes magazine ranked Kingsport 3rd in the nation for the lowest cost of doing business in a metro area

Congratulations to Kingsport for winning the 2008 Siemens Sustainability Award in the Small Community category.