Civic Engagement and Governance Working Group
From Common Energy UVic
This is the Civic Engagement and Governance Working Group page. The Civic Engagement and Governance Working Group is creating one of the core elements of the UVic Beyond Climate-Neutral Plan. For more information see the Civic Engagement and Governance Knowledge Base or the Civic Engagement and Governance Focus Area page.
[edit] Focus Area
To contribute to the plan, the Civic Engagement and Governance Working Group is answering the following core question:
What role can UVic play to help our campus and regional communities take advantage of current opportunities and go beyond climate-neutral? How in turn can these developments help meet UVic's strategic goal of becoming more relevant on community issues?
Go to the Civic Engagement and Governance section of the Focus Areas for the context and leads.
[edit] Current Projects
Go to the Civic Engagement and Governance section of the Proposals page.
Honoring Earth Festival - check out the Honoring Earth Festival Calendar here.
[edit] Drafting Proposals
[edit] Civic Engagement
The Civic Engagement Working Group is launching a project to connect people interested in climate change issues, empower them with knowledge of how they can make a difference in our community, and facilitating their work to transform our region. Common Energy asked the UVic community "how can we do more to solve the problems of climate change than we do to cause them?" From that question we have developed the idea of a Climate Solutions Network that would bring together staff, faculty, students, and regional partners to collaboratively develop climate solutions for their organizations and communities.
With the Climate Solutions Network we are now going to ask the Capital Region District "what are the best climate solutions for the CRD?" The Civic Engagement group will connect the Climate Solutions Network to the citizens and decision-makers that will make these solutions a reality.
Original Project Question What role can UVic play to help our campus and regional communities take advantage of current opportunities and go beyond climate-neutral? How in turn can these developments help meet UVic’s goal of becoming more relevant on community issues?
[edit] Goal
To forge pathways of meaningful and effective engagement for the campus community and people in the region to go beyond climate-neutral.
[edit] Objectives
- Empower the campus and regional community with the best information on climate change issues to inform decision-making at all levels in support of climate change planning and action.
- Connect those interested in climate change issues and/or with a particular area of expertise with those in need of assistance or other support.
- Facilitate the connections between UVic and the region so that the university’s people and resources can be of on-going service in the practical challenges of making climate solutions a reality.
[edit] Objective 1: Empower the campus and regional community with the best information on climate change issues to inform decision-making at all levels in support of climate change planning and action.
Strategies:
- Support the expansion of Common Energy and the B.C. Campus Climate Network's online Knowledge Exchange so that it becomes the resource for students, the public, local governments, businesses, etc. on climate change related issues.
- Create a scholarship or other financial award for students showing civic leadership on campus and in the community on climate change issues.
- Support co-hosting all-candidates forums on climate change issues during upcoming federal, municipal and provincial elections.
- Support an ongoing public lecture series on climate change related issues of relevance to the community features UVic faculty and visiting experts.
[edit] Objective 2: Connect those interested in climate change issues and/or with a particular area of expertise with those in need of assistance or other support.
Strategies
- Provide bursaries or other funding to students performing climate change research, outreach, or other services to the local NGO community and to local governments.
- Support the creation of a traveling presentation kit on climate change issues, handouts and display materials.
- Provide in-kind support from Communications, Community, and Alumni Relations to engage people in the "What are climate solutions for the CRD?" project.
[edit] Objective 3: Facilitate the connections between UVic and the region so that the university’s people and resources can be of on-going service in the practical challenges of making climate solutions a reality.
Strategies
- Provide volunteer, coop or job placement opportunities for students, staff and faculty specifically around climate change projects in the community.
- Support the creation of an online database of faculty and graduate students offering research support on specific climate change related issues (e.g. green business, waste management, alternative energy systems, etc.).
- Create a civic engagement interdisciplinary course that integrates civic literacy, civic engagement, media literacy, activism, and political campaigning and offer it to all undergraduate students for credit.
- Support planning and facilitation of a series of public workshops and seminars (evenings and weekends) on climate change related issues, offered on campus, downtown and throughout the region.
- Support planning and facilitation of a series workshop for local governments (elected officials and senior staff) on best practice of climate change policies and programs for municipal and regional governments.
- Support research to work closely with CRD on implementation and enhancements to the Community Energy Plan and the CRDs Regional Growth Strategy to make them effective policy platforms for the region to go beyond climate-neutral.
- Establish a Civic Engagement coordinator to bring students into on-going projects and establish a Service fund to provide funding for civic engagement ideas from students, staff, and faculty.
Note: “Support” here implies monitary support for CE (e.g. salaries, overhead, supplies), indirect monitary support (e.g. travel expenses, consultants fees, room rentals) or in-kind institutional support (e.g. lecture theatres, office supplies, advice)
[edit] Civic Engagement and UVic's Strategic Plan
UVic's strategic plan contains many references to civic and community engagement as primary goals for the university, including:
Mission (p. 6)
- Integrating teaching, learning, research and community engagement across the disciplines
- Employing our core strengths to benefit our external communities – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally – and promoting civic engagement and global citizenship
Therefore, many of the project ideas under development by the Civic Engagement and Governance working group fall nicely under the strategic goals and objectives of UVic and a strong argument can be made for institutional support (financing, in-kind services, partnerships, etc.) for those initiatives.
Some specific references include:
- Objective 17: To increase opportunities for experiential learning and community engagement at UVic (p. 28 )
- Objective 26: To engage the community by taking our activities off campus (p. 35)
- Objective 27: To enhance the degree of community engagement on campus (p. 35)
- Objective 28: To develop effective relationships with the diverse constituencies that make up our regional, national and international communities (p. 36)
[edit] Meetings
See the Meetings page for upcoming meetings for contact Rita at ritaf(at)uvic.ca.
Civic Engagement and Governance Minutes
[edit] Draft Documents
Proceedings from the Common Energy Conference. Feb 5th, 2007
Civic Engagement Communications Plan
Common Energy's Philosophy
[edit] Civic Engagement and Governance Progress Report - April 2007
This page functions as the outline and working draft of the Civic Engagement and Governance. The conference proceedings have been entered into this document and working group meeting minutes will be added on an on-going basis as ideas are generated and the chapter develops.
The draft is organized around a series of questions to be researched by the working group that will be synthesized and edited to form the final chapter draft.
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Questions to be researched will be highlighted in a yellow box. To ensure we do not have two people conducting research on the same question, please add your name after the question to indicate that you are currently looking into it. |
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Potential resources for each question will be highlighted in blue boxes. These resources are intended to be helpful as initial pointers and possible leads to the researcher investigating the question. As you are researching or have completed your research, please add the information, articles, and links that you have found to the blue box. Please be sure to include proper referencing and sourcing of the information that you add. |
[edit] Knowledge
Go to Civic Engagement and Governance in the Knowledge Base
[edit] Positions
| Communicator | Coordinator | Writer |
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| Rita Fromholt | Maeve Lydon |
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[edit] Contact Us
| civicengagement "at" uvic.commonenergy.org |
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