The Sustainability Academy is a no-cost education and outreach program designed to raise awareness around sustainability and empower San Mateo County community members with the knowledge and skills to promote sustainability.
“Outstanding course to help families learn the process and implementation of backyard composting. Fun, educational and interactive sessions to help you be successful!”
– Fall 2017 Master Compost and Solid Waste Course Participant
Our diverse range of classes is taught by local experts and offer participants access to cutting-edge sustainability information and best practices. This is a great way to get involved with sustainability projects in your community, build leadership skills, and meet new people who share the same interest!
The Sustainability Academy is a County of San Mateo program that is available to our San Mateo County community members – those who live, work, and go to school in San Mateo County.
Master Compost Course – Fall 2018
The Sustainability Academy’s Master Compost Course is a no-cost 6-week, in-class course that will provide you with:
- In-depth knowledge of backyard and vermi (worm) composting, including skills needed to build and maintain your own piles;
- An understanding of soil biodiversity and the benefits of adding compost to your soil;
- An overview of commercial composting via in-class lecture and a commercial composting facility tour; and
- Communication, leadership, and instruction skills you can use to educate others how to compost.
The course is a mixture of lecture and hands-on learning, with an emphasis on interactivity to teach concrete composting skills.
The Goal of This Course
- Have Fun – Make friends and new connections with a common interest, and join us for Academy volunteer appreciation events!
- Get Involved – Learn cutting-edge composting and recycling techniques and theory from local sustainability experts, and learn what you can do to empower yourself and others to promote these activities.
- Give Back – Educate your friends, neighbors, kids, teachers, and community on the value of composting and turning garbage into gold!
Important Course Elements
- After the completion of the course, we require that you volunteer 40 hours of your time using the skills that you learned in the class to promote sustain
- ability in your communities. Volunteering can be completed with the Office of Sustainability, with a third-party organization, or with a DIY creative project. All volunteering must be completed in San Mateo County within one year of course completion.
- Participants that attend at least five out of six get a choice of taking home a backyard or vermicomposting unit at the end of the 8-week course!
- Once you complete both the course and the required volunteer hours, you will receive a certificate of completion as recognition of your commitment to sustainability and your community.
- You must be 14 years or older to attend the classes.
- Priority will be given to San Mateo County community members, specifically those who live, work and go to school in San Mateo County.
- If you need ADA accommodations, please contact us at least five (5) business days prior to the first class you will be attending.
Course Schedule & Venue
This course will be offered again in the fall of 2019.
Interested in Participating in this Master Course?
Contact Academy Coordinator, Avana Andrade at aandrade@smcgov.org or (650) 599-1459
Master Resource Conservation Course – Winter 2019
The Sustainability Academy’s Master Resource Conservation Course is a no-cost 9-week, in-class course that will provide you with in-depth knowledge of the following sustainability topics:
- Food systems
- Climate change
- Sea level rise
- Energy efficiency and conservation
- Water efficiency and conservation
- Solid waste management
- Transportation
- Other basic sustainability topics
- Local, state, and federal policy
- Communication, leadership, and instruction skills you can use to teach others about sustainability
THE GOAL OF THIS COURSE
- HAVE FUN – Make friends and new connections with a common interest, and join us for Academy volunteer appreciation events!
- GET INVOLVED – Learn cutting-edge resource conservation techniques and theory from local sustainability experts, and learn what you can do to empower yourself and others to promote these activities.
- GIVE BACK – Educate your friends, neighbors, kids, teachers, and community on the value of conserving resources!
IMPORTANT COURSE ELEMENTS
- After the completion of the course, we require that you volunteer 40 hours of your time using the skills that you learned in the class to promote sustainability in your communities. Volunteering can be completed with the Office of Sustainability, with a third-party organization, or with a DIY creative project. All volunteering must be completed in San Mateo County within one year of course completion.
- For those participants that attend and complete at least eight out of nine of the course’s classes, you will each get a “goodie bag” full of fun and useful resource conserving tools that you can use at home and at work, as a congratulatory gift for successfully completing the course!
- Once you complete both the course and the required volunteer hours, you will receive a certificate of completion as recognition of your commitment to sustainability and your community.
- You must be 14 years or older to attend the classes.
- Priority will be given to San Mateo County community members, specifically those who live, work and go to school in San Mateo County.
- If you need ADA accommodations, please contact us at least five (5) business days prior to the first class you will be attending.
COURSE INSTRUCTORS
The course will be led by Laura McKaughan with Envirolutions Consulting with guest speakers, Jessica Coe with Cascadia and other experts in the industry.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date: Thursday evenings February 21, 2019 – April 18, 2019
Time: 6:00-9:00 pm
COURSE VENUE
Room 101, 455 County Center, Redwood City
INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THIS MASTER COURSE?
Registration coming soon! Contact Academy Coordinator, Avana Andrade at aandrade@smcgov.org or (650) 599-1459
Sustainability Workshops
The Sustainability Academy’s half-day workshops offer our San Mateo County community members (e.g., residents, folks who work in the County, and students with hands-on learning experience on select subject matters relating to sustainability that they can take back and practice at home and at work.
The Academy is offering multiple workshops this current program year:
Fixit Clinic
Home Compost Workshops
Creative Reuse and Repurposing
Food Preservation: Pickling, Canning, & More
Priority to attend the workshops will be given to San Mateo County community members, specifically those who live, work and go to school in San Mateo County. If you need ADA accommodations, please contact us five (5) business days prior to the first class you will be attending.
This educational program is made available through the County of San Mateo.
Fixit Clinic
NEXT CLINIC: East Palo Alto!
Date: Saturday, February 2nd, 2019
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: East Palo Alto Public Library, 2415 University Ave
Register here
Fixit Clinics are fun community-based workshops where neighbors, friends, and families work collectively to learn how to repair broken items. We’ll provide a workspace, specialty tools, and volunteer Fixit Coaches to help you troubleshoot and provide routine maintenance to your household items and appliances!
Interested in being a Fixit Coach? It’s easy! Provide participants with 1) guidance on tools and 2) encouragement to investigate their broken item. Let them talk about how they used it and how it broke. That often provides valuable hints as to what’s wrong. See how much you can do without actually handling the item. Empower the item’s owner to do the troubleshooting and disassembly. Register to be a Fixit Coach here.
We’re delighted to be partnering with the Ecumenical Hunger Program!
Contact Shova Ale Magar at salemagar@smcgov.org for more details.
Home Compost Workshops
Learn how easy and fun it is to recycle your fruit and vegetable scraps, leaves, and plant cuttings into compost in this no-cost workshop! These workshops teach composting options suitable for those with or without a backyard. Apartment dwellers welcome! Compost provides valuable nutrients for your garden soil, helps retain moisture, which saves water, prevents erosion, loosens clay and compacted soils for better drainage, and suppresses weeds. It is rewarding to know you are turning what some consider waste into precious organic material for your garden.
Date: March 30, 2019
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Venue: San Carlos Public Library, 610 Elm Street
Registration open soon
Date: April 27, 2019
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Venue: South City Scavengers, 500 E Jamie Ct, South San Francisco
Registration open soon
Date: May, 2019
Time: TBD
Venue: Fair Oaks Community Center, 2600 Middlefield Rd, Redwood City
Registration open soon
Creative Reuse & Repurposing
Description and registration available soon!
Food Preservation: Pickling, Canning, & More
Make the food you buy or grow last longer by preserving it! In these hands-on workshops, you’ll learn how to preserve different kinds of produce using several different easy-to-use techniques that can be replicated at home, including pickling, fermenting, and freezing.
Workshop details and registration available soon!
Presented by Fresh Approach, the UC Master Food Preservers, and the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability
Questions?
Contact our Sustainability Academy Coordinator, Avana Andrade at aandrade@smcgov.org or (650) 599-1459