University of Wisconsin-River Falls
IN-4: Innovation 4

The creation and adoption of a quadruple bottom line (4XBL) approach and set of metrics at St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development (SCISCD) at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls (UWRF) meets the criteria for a STARS Innovation Credit based on the criteria outlined in the Technical Manual. Traditional business and community models for sustainability have for many years focused on a triple-bottom line (3XBL) approach to success. The metrics for 3XBL reflect an integrated approach to the economic, environmental, and social objectives and outcomes, but often either exclude, imply, or simply bundle the outcomes for ‘local community’ amidst the three categories. The UWRF St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development (SCISCD) for several years has been working to perfect the 4XBL model with explicit metrics for the outcomes pertinent to community as a separate and distinct category. To my knowledge, while there are a growing number of US campuses now paying more attention to their sustainable campus-community relations, programming, and outcomes, there is virtually no other campus distinctly titling and pursuing this particular model. The research and interpretation of sustainability at SCISCD explicitly examines the direct benefit to OUR community and region with the idea that a truly sustainable world creates self-sufficiency and resiliency at the local level. The development, adoption, and application of 4XBL metrics at SCISCD and UWRF clearly demonstrate the university’s innovative, out-of the box thinking as it applies to sustainable community development. To my knowledge and in my experience, the SCISCD effort meets the Innovation Credit criteria and is an exemplary innovative practice.