Intercollegiate and Community Collaboration
City Colleges of Chicago promotes collaboration between colleges in Illinois. We serve on the Illinois Green Economy Network steering committee and the United States Green Building Council's Illinois Green Schools Higher Education Committee.
Illinois Green Economy Network
The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) is a consortium of Illinois community colleges that creates and mobilizes innovative, collaborative partnerships among higher education institutions, businesses, and community organizations to establish and share sustainable best practices, promote energy efficiency, clean energy, and drive growth in the green economy.
IGEN is a community college president-led initiative, overseen by the Presidents’ Steering Committee. The Steering Committee consists of five college presidents and one senior Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) representative. Chancellor Cheryl Hyman serves on the IGEN Presidents’ Steering Committee, approving the strategic direction of the Network and provides ongoing oversight and leadership for the IGEN Administrative Team and all 39 community college districts and 48 campuses in the state that are dedicated members of IGEN.
U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council–Illinois Chapter is the local affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a national non-profit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED® provides a roadmap for measuring and documenting success for every building type and phase of a building lifecycle. The USGBC-Illinois Chapter furthers the work of USGBC through a variety of programs, events, educational and research initiatives, advocacy campaigns, and resources for the local green building community. Annually, the Chapter offers over 100 events and programs for its members and the general public.
The Higher Education sub-committee, within the USGBC-Illinois Green Schools Committee, serves as a state-wide resource for Illinois colleges and universities on LEED, sustainability issues and the green economy. Led by Co-Chairs John Brophy (City Colleges of Chicago) and Paul Matthews (Roosevelt University), this group of dedicated volunteers will drive the creation of USGBC Student Chapters and provide mentors to support Student Chapter Presidents. Please view this document for the USGBC-Illinois Higher Education Sub-Committee’s Mission, Vision and Goals.
Students and Employees can register at www.usgbc.org. Click “sign in,” then click "Create One" to make a new account. This doesn’t cost anything. Then link your account to "City Colleges of Chicago." Once you are signed up you will have free access through your “Online Access” tab to LEED resources.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) brings together Chicago-area college sustainability leaders for quarterly discussions on best practices in sustainability student engagement and operational integration. NWF also hosts national meetings dedicated to fostering sustainability career readiness at the collegiate level.
The Global Philanthropy Partnership gathers Chicago area college sustainability leaders for monthly discussions on energy and finance, connecting the City Colleges to incentive partners and government officials to allocate funds and track progress made by the Chicago area colleges as a whole. The Global Philanthropy Partnership also supplies funding for sustainability focused internships.
