United Nations RCE

The Community Sustainability Partnership and the City of Grand Rapids were jointly named a Regional Center of Expertise for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by The United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies in January 2007. Grand Rapids is one of only four RCEs in the United States (only two remain active). There are now over 129 RCEs world-wide, and growing.

An RCE is a network of organizations mobilized to educate on sustainable development in its community. The Grand Rapids RCE has dedicated its work to education and the advancement of sustainability principles among governmental organizations, businesses, higher education and the non-profit sector.

More information on RCEs can be found here.

The UNU RCE of Grand Rapids, Michigan USA seeks to create a virtual conference for the world’s next leaders to dialogue around the regional and universal issues facing their communities as it relates to sustainability.

The world’s dilemmas of tomorrow will be faced by the youth of today and it is imperative that we equip them with the tools to communicate, collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve in order to begin to address these complex issues of sustainability with regard to water, energy, food, etc.

This project seeks to give students the perspective and practice of a global dialogue, in hopes that they will better understand the unique dilemmas facing the regions of the world and in turn reveal and embrace the universal themes of sustainable evolution through dialogue, empathy, and collaboration. To visit the website, click here.