8B, Resilient Communities Project

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lt �-AI"ILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: February 11, 2013 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers Patrick Klaers, City Administrator FROM: Meagan Beekman, City Planner SUBJECT: Resilient Communities Project Requested Action Review the Resilient Communities Project (RCP) and direct Staff on whether to move forward with an application. Background The Resilient Communities Project (RCP) is a program through the University of Minnesota and administered by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). The program selects one Minnesota city per year to participate. The program matches University coursework with community projects that have a sustainability impact. The program defines sustainability broadly to include environmental, social, and financial sustainability for a community. The projects should have a relatively narrow scope and clear deliverable. Once a city is selected, CURA staff match up the individual projects with graduate courses at the University of Minnesota that have a community-project component related to one or more of the city's needs. The purpose of the program is intended to better connect University resources with communities, regional entities, and organizations interested in sustainability in the Twin Cities and other metropolitan areas in Minnesota. RCP provides the community with access to hundreds of students and faculty across a range of academic disciplines, from design, planning, law and engineering to business, environmental sciences, and the humanities. The selected community and their projects are imbedded throughout the University of Minnesota curriculum, which provides extensive resources to which the community would not otherwise have access to. In addition, the program offers students real-world opportunities to apply their knowledge and training, as well as to engage with City of Arden Hills February 11, 2013, Regular Council Meeting Pagel of 5