Bold Aspirations for a Sustainable Future
2017-2020 Strategic Directions
Enable project autonomy, sustainable growth and long-term success
Double our impact
- Develop long-term partnerships with research centers, the community sector and the private sector
- Diversify our funding sources
- Get matching funds from the Concordia University administration by 2020
Strengthen coaching and mentoring at the pre-funding and post-funding stages
- Improve and revamp the SAF reporting system by December 2017
- Develop a post-funding support program that would include regular debrief events with funding projects by December 2017
Support projects that make a long-term contribution to sustainability on campus
- Connect project teams with professors, researchers and practitioners in their field
- Develop a toolkit of action items to complete prior to launching a long-term project
- Organize networking and educational events that cater to the needs of long-term projects
Build partnerships with hubs, incubators and accelerators to support project teams in transforming some pilot projects into viable enterprises
- Develop a partnership with a relevant organization or hub by 2018
- Develop a special funding and/or support program for long-term projects (in collaboration with our partner(s)) by December 2018
Build partnerships with the Concordia Administration for integrating some pilot projects within the university’s operations
- Build partnerships with the Concordia Administration for integrating some pilot projects within the university’s operations
Strive for organizational excellence
Create policies, systems and processes that support organizational learning, foster creativity, and empower the staff and board to experiment, innovate and transform
- Next steps: develop a governance handbook that would include all internal HR and governance policies
- Next steps: meet with the HR committee to evaluate progress made in 2016-2017 and set new goals
Enhance our website user experience for applicants and members
- Create an online interactive application platform for applicants by Fall 2017
- Enhance the “resource” section of our website by Fall 2017
- Provide live access to key data and impact metrics by 2018
Strengthen our impact analysis and reporting at all levels
- Develop a database for internal metrics by September 2017
- Collaborate with researchers to develop a mixed method for analyzing the overall impact of SAF funded projects on the Concordia campus and the student community: by 2018
- Collaborate with Sustainable Concordia, the EH&S team and researchers to measure the culture and practices of sustainability on campus
Enhance our programs and resource offerings for the Concordia community
- Develop a financial literacy workshop series throughout the school year in partnership with other organizations
- Offer information sessions or mini-workshops on selected topics
Foster inclusion, diversity and interdisciplinarity
Create inclusive spaces for reflection, co-creation and collaboration between students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members from across disciplines
- In collaboration with the SAF ambassadors, organize open inclusive events for networking, co-creation and reflection
- Create a virtual platform for project teams to exchange ideas and collaborate
Develop a comprehensive outreach strategy to broaden our reach and engage with underrepresented student populations
- Presentations during department and faculty meetings
- Use the 2017-2018 university orientation to test and explore new outreach methods:
- Classroom presentations
- Targeted networking events
- Residency in certain areas on campus
- Tabling in the EV, JMSB buildings and the Loyola campus
Promote and support interdisciplinary projects that foster collaborative innovation between students, faculty and staff from across departments and faculties
- Next step: meeting to decide how we can encourage interdisciplinarity and set measurable goals
Explore the campus as a living laboratory for sustainability action
Connect curricular experiential learning opportunities for students with the goals of sustainability projects on campus
- Collaborate with the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of Community Engagement to promote experiential learning activities on campus
- Build partnerships with existing programs (Sustainability & Diversity Minor, SCPA, Management, Geography etc.) to further integrate their experiential learning with Concordia’s on-going sustainability projects
- Partner with the Leadership in Sustainability Major (Geography department) for their capstone project and their other experiential learning activities
Connect project teams with Concordia’s research centers, institutes and hubs to promote praxis-based research on campus
- Collaborate with Concordia sustainability research centers and hubs to use sustainability projects on campus as case studies for existing and new research projects
- Next steps: contact research centers and the Shift social innovation hub to explore collaboration opportunities
Collaborate with grassroots student groups and Concordia researchers for open access to applied interdisciplinary sustainability research on campus
- Collaborate with the Concordia University Press
- Collaborate with researchers to develop a Journal of Applied Sustainability
- In collaboration with research centers, organize interactive exhibitions of sustainability action research on campus
