University of Saskatchewan
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

The University of Saskatchewan has the following community sustainability partnerships: Meewasin Valley Authority: The Meewasin Valley Authority is a conservation organization dedicated to conserving the natural and cultural heritage resources of the South Saskatchewan River Valley in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and area. With the support of the Province of Saskatchewan, the City of Saskatoon and the University of Saskatchewan, Meewasin undertakes programs and projects in river valley education, development and conservation. Each of the partners appoints four members to the Board of Directors. Of the four appointees from the University of Saskatchewan, one is the University President. City of Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee: The Office of Sustainability has representation on the City of Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee. The function of the Committee is to provide advice to Council on policy matters relating to the environmental implications of City undertakings, and to identify environmental issues of potential relevance to the City. RoadMap Saskatoon: The Office of Sustainability works closely with and has representation on the board of Road Map Saskatoon, an organization that works with the public, institutions, industries, businesses, and communities to increase understanding of the importance of sustainability, to educate on how to become more sustainable, and to facilitate networking between different groups. Canada Green Building Council – Saskatchewan Chapter: The Office of Sustainability was instrumental in establishing the Saskatchewan Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council and is actively involved in the development and organization of its annual “Building Saskatchewan Green” Conference. Habitat for Humanity RE-Store: The University of Saskatchewan provides surplus building material assets to Habitat for Humanity for resale at its RE-Store, the proceeds of which support the construction of new homes for economically disadvantaged families. Further, the Students' Union has partnerships with the following organizations to further sustainability in the community: Better World Books: Books for Africa: Browsers, our used bookstore and internet cafe, has partnered with Better World Books. This organization collects, sorts, ships and distributes books to Africa with the goal of ending the book famine in Africa. They sell used books and a portion of their profit goes to Books for Africa. They also divert books in damaged condition from the landfill by recycling the books. Hopephones.org: The U of S Sustainability Office approached the USSU to partner in recycling old cellular phones and ipods. The donated used equipment is cleared, refurbished or recycled. Hope Phones earns hardware credits which allows them to purchase usable cell phones that are sent to healthcare works worldwide. Good Food Box Program: The USSU Food Centre has partnered with CHEP - Child Hunger and Education Program - by signing up with the Good Food Box program. Students can come to the Food Centre to sign up to receive a Good Food Box at an affordable price. CHEP works with local producers and volunteers pack and deliver the boxes.