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Partners in Profile
Sustainable Calgary has been committed to the idea of a brighter future for our community for more than a decade. Today, their unique programs and initiatives are providing a great compliment to the imagineCALGARY vision.
Russell Koehler is the Board President of Sustainable Calgary, a non-profit group committed to identifying and cultivating the elements that help build a successful community. For the past several months, he’s also been a member of the imagineCALGARY Steering Committee. This role has helped him see the impact imagineCALGARY is having across the community – and the opportunities for collaboration that imagineCALGARY helps create.
“Being involved with the Steering Committee, you see that a lot is happening with imagineCALGARY that isn’t always being communicated to the rest of the city,” Russell says. “I see what many Partners are doing to use the imagineCALGARY Plan and Targets to make Calgary a better place to live, work and play – and to be sustainable.”
Sustainable Calgary plays a key role in educating Calgarians about the need for change – and giving people the means and information they need to influence decision makers in both the government and the corporate sector. “One strategy Sustainable Calgary uses is to get information to citizens so they can approach elected officials with their views about issues like sustainable transportation and affordable housing. It only takes a small number of people sharing their views to make a difference,” Russell says.
While imagineCALGARY addresses long-term sustainability issues in a 100-year framework, Sustainable Calgary is focused on giving Calgarians an immediate call to action. Their Citizen Agenda is a multi-year project that highlights several key policy and action areas including livable wage, affordable housing, green building standards and zero waste. Results are showcased in Sustainable Calgary’s State of the City Reports.
Sustainable Calgary recently updated its unique Green Map to help get Calgarians on the road to creating a sustainable future. In addition to noting sites that are environmentally significant, the Green Map also encourages greater understanding of sustainability, environmental protection and the connections between nature and the city.
In the coming months, Russell and the Sustainable Calgary team are hoping to more formally align their own strategic plans with the imagineCALGARY Plan. “Our targets definitely do align with the imagineCALGARY Targets, but we haven’t yet lined them up with our three-year business strategy,” Russell says.
The mentoring opportunities that exist within imagineCALGARY are helpful for groups like Sustainable Calgary, offering them a chance to see how other Partners have aligned with the imagineCALGARY Targets, and to learn from their experiences.
For Russell, it makes sense for community groups to work together as they strive to create a brighter future. “We’re more than happy to be involved in a community strategy like imagineCALGARY,” Russell says. “We can accomplish more together – why just work on our own?”
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