Community Organizing

All of ASU Community Partnerships' activities revolve around our mission of connecting University resources with the community in order to increase the quality of life for all residents of the San Luis Valley. To further fulfill this mission, ASU Community Partnerships embarks on a wide variety of projects, including raising the local quality of life, improving the environment, and many other important matters. Workshops are often offered, educating attendees on methods of making their home more environmentally friendly, how to market their art, and on a great many more subjects. We seek to improve communication between the San Luis Valley and Adams State University, having held a number of public forums for both sides to speak with the other. We also play an active role in local matters as well, taking direct action to affect area improvements and providing others with an opportunity to do the same. ASU Community Partnerships is committed to serving both Adams State University and the San Luis Valley, seeking to improve overall conditions for these two entities.

SEED Park International

 ASU Community Partnerships is collaborating with local economic development organizations, business people, including farmers and ranchers in the development of a Sustainable Environmental and Economic Development (SEED) Park.

SEED is a non-profit organization with a mission to develop a sustainable business park where businesses share resources and use each others bi-products in order to achieve zero waste, create jobs and reduce costs.

ASU Community Partnerships staff are actively involved in all stages of SEED Park’s development. We work closely to link the university’s resources, including student, faculty and staff involvement, to this and other community projects.

EPA National Pilot Project-Sustainability Model

The project started in 2007, when a team of EPA professionals from a variety of disciplines began the three year study in order to develop a computer tool that measures the rate in which a community moves towards or away from sustainability. Bird migration, population growth, food and energy production and exporting were all factors in the computer model. The San Luis Valley was chosen from many potential sites across the country. ASC Community Partnerships hosted the EPA’s San Luis Basin Sustainability team several times during the project and linked the team to key community and campus contacts, in order to make the project successful.

Art for Endangered Landscapes

ASU Community Partnerships and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council collaborated to facilitate an art exhibit celebrating the sanctity and fragility of the San Luis Valley's land. The exhibit feature works from David Montgomery, Randy Pijoan, Evelyn Sprouse Rowe, Perla Kopeloff, and many, many more. Through a wide variety of mediums, the artists featured in this exhibit depicted the landscape surrounding the site of a proposed development in Rio Grande County, capturing the beauty held. A portion of the sales of artwork from this exhibit benefited the SLV Ecosystem Council.

The Democracy School

In partnership with ASU Community Partnerships, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and Autumn @ Adams, Thomas Linzey gave participants a crash course in their rights working with government agencies to protect their environment. This workshop covered the history of people’s movements and corporate power, as well as exploring the abilities of citizens to confront corporations and their governments. Environmental Attorney, Thomas Linzey is the author of “Be the Change: How to Get What You Want in Your Community”

Solar Reserve Project

ASU Community Partnerships coordinated and hosted meetings between Solar Reserve representative and representatives from many local job-related organizations, including Adams State University School of Business, Trinidad State Junior College, the Colorado Workforce Center, and Sustainable Environmental and Economic Development Park, International, in order to connect the company with a potential workforce. Solar Reserve is a solar power provider construction company based in California who was recently permitted to build solar collection farm in Saguache County.

The facility will produce enough renewable energy to power about 75,000 homes. Solar Reserve's technology utilizes a molten salt storage technology to both capture and store the sun's thermal energy without any harmful emissions that are associated with burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. The company representative noted the benefits of this project such as job creation, tax revenues that support schools, roads and emergency services, and diversifying the local economy. The two 100 MW facilities would create hundreds of construction jobs during its construction period (estimated at 450 jobs at peak, 250 on average, for 30 months). Once built, each facility would require approximately 50 full-time employees with a wide range of skill levels throughout its 30-year life.

To learn more about the our projects and to see if any of them apply to you, please visit the links below. For more information, don't hesitate to contact us.

Click here to see Community Partnerships environmental activities over the year of 2011.