What impact have you had?
Semester Program graduates will become the next generation of designers and builders leading the green building movement. After completing the program, we expect them to return to their home universities armed with an in-depth understanding of ecological design and the hands-on building skills to inform their design process. We anticipate a ripple effect, first in their university programs, and then in their initial work environment, as their recalibrated outlook on sustainable design/build impacts fellow students and colleagues.
Specific outcomes include:
• Provide access for 12-15 undergraduate students to one semester of experiential education in sustainable design/build by September 2011.
• Transform the program participants’ knowledge, skills and awareness about sustainable building and design.
• Grant students the opportunity to apply their learning through the process of designing and building real collaborative community projects.
• Provide affordable housing or workspace for community members or organizations.
Actions
In the first year of program planning the focus will be on curriculum development, fostering relationships and agreements with degree-granting institutions, as well as outreach and marketing to potential students enrolled in those institutions and elsewhere. Marketing will be achieved through the development of print and web materials, traveling to conduct information sessions at partnering institutions, publishing a newsletter and blog, and direct outreach to potential students via email and social media. At the completion of the first Semester in Sustainable Design/Build offering, the outcomes of the participants’ project will be disseminated through press releases and articles published in academic journals, newspapers and magazines, as well as through Yestermorrow’s website, and other online tools and networking sites.
Results
1. An affordable and credit-bearing design/build program accessible to a wide range of college and university students by September 2011.
2. Partnerships with universities to offer academic credit for the Yestermorrow semester program. Yestermorrow already has established relationships with a number of institutions, including: Rhode Island School of Design, University of Vermont, Norwich University, Green Mountain College, Goddard College, Burlington College, Philadelphia University and the Boston Architectural Center.
3. Students will demonstrate understanding of critical key ecological design and building strategies, techniques, and theories -- specifically, a whole systems approach to value-based planning, design and construction with a focus on site, energy, materials, indoor air quality, water, building envelope and systems design.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
2010- Hire coordinator, develop curriculum, create partnerships with universities, plan community project, develop business plan and financial models
2011- Recruit students, hire faculty, develop design program with client, and teach inaugural semester in Fall 2011
2012- Evaluate successes and challenges, adjust as necessary, recruit students, rinse and repeat
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Lack of time and resources for planning, failure to recruit interested students, or lack of buy-in from partner schools.
