Organizational Sustainability Assistance Program Report
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Date
2021-12
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Abstract
In light of the upcoming executive decisions being made on behalf of the city's Climate Action Plan, Smart Columbus partnered with us to explore ways to help those vulnerable businesses and organizations become more resilient and capable of increasing sustainability. we were tasked to seek existing business sustainability initiatives and practices in cities around the country that could help business and nonprofit organizations in Columbus strengthen their position in addressing climate change. The objectives that guided our research were to identify local contexts for sustainability assistance, conduct case studies of assistance programs, and, based on the research findings, develop recommendations for the City of Columbus to accelerate their organizational sustainability efforts. A total of 14 analytical case studies of assistance programs were compiled from Denver, Tempe, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as from federal and national programs. The main finding from these case studies was that five main categories of services are pertinent to sustainability assistance programs: information, technical assistance, network, recognition and promotion, and infrastructure strengthening.
Our team's recommendation to the City of Columbus is to develop an organizational sustainability assistance program tailored towards businesses and nonprofits in Columbus. To help the City construct and facilitate this program, we developed a program design that illustrates its structure and elements, the process for building the program, the goals and strategies for the program success, a list of services they may provide, and a comprehensive summary of the existing resources that could work in tandem with the program.
Description
Course Code: AEDECON 4567
Keywords
sustainability, small business assistance, climate action, non-profit assistance, city program, columbus