The Leadership Training for a Sustainable Future includes a student leadership project as a vital component of the curriculum. Students organize teams based on their interests to develop a project that applies what they are learning in our Training Program to their community. These projects also provide students an exciting opportunity to develop deeper connections with classmates and the community and gain leadership experience.

The following are summaries of these visionary leadership projects by class year.

CLASS OF 2009

Unnatural Causes Workshops for Elected Officials

A copy of the project resources document will soon be available here.

CLASS OF 2008

Local Agriculture Accessibility Study

This project looked at locally produced and consumed agriculture and assesses it for accessibility and efficiencies.  Successful completion of the project saw the production of a report detailing how much locally produced agriculture is consumed in Sonoma County and identified weaknesses and barriers to accessing these goods.

Do 1 Thing For A Week For Sustainability

The key objective of this project was to inspire, educate, and engage community residents in making a commitment to take 1 action for a week during Earth Week that will reduce their environmental impact.  The group put together a tool kit with concrete suggestions as to what people might choose to do and provided information and supplies to support them in their commitment.  The group handed out these toolkits at various events including a community wide Earth Day fair at SRJC.

From Seed to Plate and Beyond

This project group developed a replicable course in sustainable gardening and cooking using locally grown fresh produce. The project targeted one underserved neighborhood and was designed to provide instruction for 4 to 8 households. The Seed to Plate workshop was held on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at Sheppard Elementary School in Santa Rosa. Topics included tips and techniques for growing and eating organically from seed to plate. The group also went to Landpaths' Bayer farm to learn about composting and growing from Rick Kaye.

Green Realtor Action

The key objective was to educate, inspire, and engage the Sonoma County Realtor community to become aware, inspired and proactive about green home features. This included the development of compelling materials to educate realtors and local policy makers about the benefits of selling green home features.

Homescale Water Harvest: Rainwater Harvesting

This project promoted homescale rainwater catchment and assessed the practicalities and economics of doing this in Sonoma County.  It included a feasibility study as well as resource lists that outlined materials, descriptions and sources.

Countywide Environmental Clearing House

Members of this group reviewed the websites for Sustainable Sonoma County and the Leadership Institute’s Sustainability Resources and developed a plan to expand the calendar of Sonoma County events, connections to sustainable products available in the county, and online information and resources for sustainable businesses in Sonoma County.

Bee Sweet Sustainable Bee Keeping Project

This project promoted the practice of homescale sustainable beekeeping.  It also provided education and outreach to sponsors and community members.  Outcomes included the creation of a Bee Sweet Project Journal including documentary photos and the delivery of hands on workshops.

SRJC Sustainability Week

The SRJC Sustainability Week was developed and organized by this project group and offered a weeklong series of Events & Lectures to Inspire a Better Planet for All from April 12 – 19, 2008.  It was Co-Sponsored by Student Affairs, the LeaderCenter, the Associated Students, the Institute for Environmental Education and Arts & Lectures with additional funding by the SRJC Staff Resource Center and the SRJC Foundation.

CLASS OF 2007

Junior College Neighborhood Straw Bale Placemaking

The Straw Bale Placemaking Project in the JC neighborhood of Santa Rosa began May 4th, 2007.   Many neighbors placed straw bales in their front yards, inviting others to hang out and relax there.  The intention was to bring diverse, inter-generational groups of neighbors together, through creating common gathering places.  This intention has already been met, just by the nature of the gatherings that have taken place to plan the project.

Sonoma Mountain Village Marketing and Educational Plan

In 2005, with the purchase of a vacant 200 acre campus containing approximately 700,000 square feet of developed office and warehouse space, a primary goal for Codding Enterprises became to redevelop the property into a sustainable and healthy community.  Our objective through the course of the next several years is to build a marketing and educational plan that engages local business, residents, and consumers on the benefits of working and living in this healthy community.  In 2006, Codding Enterprises relocated their corporate headquarters to the newly re-named Sonoma Mountain Village demonstrating its’ commitment to this community.

Political Action Committee (PAC)

The objective of this group was to form a Political Action Committee (PAC) as a tool and mechanism to raise money, awareness, and to encourage good and committed elected officials to run for political office in the nine cities and in the five districts of Sonoma County and to identify and support new or existing politicians and/or candidates who support important environmental issues and policies and who encourage local governments that are “dedicated to insuring a sustainable future” for all communities in Sonoma County.

Sustainable Beef

The purpose of this project was to support locally grown, locally slaughtered beef, locally purchased in Sonoma County.  The project found a wealth of information on grass-fed beef producers and evidence of consumers hungry for local beef as well as politics surrounding advocates for local slaughterhouses and opposition from vegetarians, animal rightists, and NIMBY (not-in-my-back-yard) omnivores.

Healdsburg Plaza Gazebo

The development of a new gazebo in the Healdsburg Plaza, designed, built, and paid for by community donations motivated this group. The project was a great example of community spirit. More than 200 businesses and families have donated to the project.

Solar Sonoma County

This project explored countywide expansion with the Solar Sebastopol steering committee. Needs included an initial funding source and a framework to streamline multiple interests and engage all stakeholders. Public-private collaboration seems essential to budget conscious municipalities’ participation.  The project identified the need to align with other sustainability projects to optimize benefits of solar energy beyond utility cost savings.

Burbank Gardens and Juilliard Park Village Center

This project worked with residents and business owners in the Burbank Gardens and Juilliard Park neighborhoods, prospective investors, and the City's Advanced Planners to encourage the development of a walkable "village center" with neighborhood-friendly retail, including a grocery store, restaurants, coffee shop, and hardware store, along Santa Rosa Avenue between Sonoma Avenue and Hwy 12.

Citizen U

This project was a series of educational forums designed to educate Ukiah citizens about land use planning in the Ukiah Valley, to promote robust and respectful public conversations, specifically to inform the concluding decisions of our Ukiah Valley Area Plan. Strategic co-sponsors were enlisted to set the tone of diversity/impartiality. Citizen U created moderated dialogue on the topics: Water, Economic Development, Affordable Housing and Community Health, with attendees numbering 200 for each forum.

Sebastopol Community Index: A Regional Wealth Index

Measuring the condition of the key assets that comprise our wealth, the Index is a tool to assess how we are doing and were we are headed. Having been unanimously adopted by the City Council, we are an eight-member grass roots Committee that has contracted with an outside agency to collect data on indicators we find to be of utmost importance—in some cases we will establish baseline indicators which will require data collection in the future.  In the fall of 2007, the committee released and discussed the Index at the Sebastopol Economic Summit and Community Expo.

Permaculture Education

This project addressed living systems exhibit patterns, behaviors and properties that express complex phenomena through form, process or ecosystem. The project raised awareness about these functional relationships and how they relate to ecological restoration. Local and global case studies demonstrated applied bioremediation utilizing biomimicry, living systems and natural cycles.

Bike Routes in Santa Rosa 

Using the Santa Rosa Bicycle Map (2005) as a guide, the author rode all routes to analyze each for general safety, safety for senior riders, route problems, and pleasurable aspects of each route.  The study resulted in a comprehensive report of recommendations for improvements and for alternative routes.

Keep Petaluma Eggcentric Campaign

The East Washington Place mixed-use retail development project proposed by Regency development was the perfect incubator to address issues of economy, ecology and equity in our "Keep Petaluma Eggcentric" campaign. The standard big box business model does little to address critical local needs or resources.

Conflict of Interest Policy for Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition

This project was aligned with lending legal skills to a noble cause.  Accordingly, an attorney Fellow drafted a “Conflict of Interest” policy for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition to assist their Board of Directors in maintaining their stellar reputation in our community.

Incorporating the 3 “Es” into the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Management Plan

This project was to incorporate environment quality, economic prosperity and social justice into a goal for the Sonoma Valley Basin Advisory Panel whose job it is to develop a groundwater management plan for the basin.  The following was approved by the panel on 3/22/07.  "The goal of the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Management Plan is to locally manage, protect, and enhance groundwater resources for all beneficial uses, in a sustainable, environmentally sound, economical, and equitable manner for generations to come."

Multi-State Resource Management Policy Partnerships

The purpose of this project was twofold: To develop multi-state partnerships on policy and legislative initiatives regarding sustainable resource management and identify opportunities to collaborate and influence the development of federal policies and action; and to track common statewide policy, legislation and regulation regarding sustainable resource management issues facing the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah and New Mexico.

Building Consumer Dialogue for Sustainability

The objective of this personal change project was to build consumer dialogue for sustainability, confidence in gathering great resources, inspire friends, and foster a belief in oneself as a leader to affect and influence change, gradually and steadily.

Designing Successful Science-Based Restoration and Management Programs

In order to help make appropriate decisions on land use and best land management practices in Sonoma County, it is important to design successful science-based restoration and management programs using historical accounts and baseline information on ecological systems in conjunction with long-term monitoring datasets. This streamlined approach was especially pertinent to the many natural, agricultural, and urban interfaces in the Santa Rosa Plain, and around the Hwy. 101 corridor in Sonoma County, CA. 

Sustainability Indicators for Sonoma County

This project started with the idea of creating “Sustainability Indicators” for Sonoma County. Based on research into past sustainability indicator projects in the North Bay, its focus narrowed on measuring progress in water conservation, energy use and green house gas reduction. A list of local leaders who are sustainability stakeholders was compiled,and the team helped to organize and document the first in a series of meetings with them held by the Sonoma County Water Agency. The meeting initiated a discussion on how organizations can take practical actions toward meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals and promoting sustainability in Sonoma County.

Resources Murals in Public Places

The goal of this project was to seek a grant to create a Resources Mural Project. Murals would depict the full environmental impact of common daily activities such as: the number of trees that are cut to produce one Sunday publication of the NY Times newspaper, ink used and any relational pollution.  Specific murals would be researched and designed by students in a competition.  A prize would be given for the best design and stencils created to be sold to building owners.  Students volunteer to paint stencils on walls (ex: public bathrooms).

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy for the City of Santa Rosa

This project involved developing a policy model for the City of Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa spends $26 million dollars in goods and services yearly.  This buying power is used to reduce waste, pollution, increase the recycled products market, and save money by institutionalizing consideration of the environmental impact of every purchase.  The Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Policy was adopted by Santa Rosa on 3/20/07. 

Climate Protection Article

The goal of this project was to write an article about the larger context of climate protection entitled “Climate Catastrophy or Evolutionary Opportunity?”  The article was published in Sonoma West, the Healdsburg Tribune and the Windsor Times in the end of March. 

Sustainable Water Plan for Dry Creek Valley

The problem addressed by this project was that the Sonoma County Water Board wanted to take clean water from the Dry Creek Valley (DCV) and replace it with wastewater. As a DCV Association member, we took the water agency to court and won, therefore nullifying the DCV agreement.  The solution was an R.O. system that would clean the water so it would be fine for agricultural use and compatible with a sustainable water plan.