WHAT WE’VE MOVED FORWARD IN 2014 Citizens drive change on the ground demonstrating sustainability in action at the community level
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register as Citizen Planners to get practical tools and knowledge in planning for sustainable communities
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become Champions for Change who received additional hands-on training and technical assistance to develop a community-based project Workshops and Technical Assistance Champions receive additional training from staff at UB School of Architecture & Planning to create a plan for change. Learning Sessions Citizens learn from the network, experts working in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Panel discussions focus on two-way learning. Citizens Planners and Champions meet others who are active in their communities. Toolkits offer additional resources, funding opportunities, and related planning efforts.
The Program The program provides citizens of Erie and Niagara counties with tools to increase the sustainability of their communities and ultimately, the Buffalo Niagara region at large. All participants attend issuebased lectures, have access to online tool kits, receive a Certificate of Completion, and attend a Sustainability Idea Summit that celebrates the work of all program participants.
In 2014 The Citizen Planning School Universities & Research Centers invited members of the County Governments community to become a Citizen Planner and also offered an Business Community additional level of training called Champions for Change. Nonprofits Champions for Change are Local Governments Citizen Planners that want to take their Local Foundations engagement one step further by creating a micro-plan for a sustainability project in their community, attending technical assistance hours to create this plan, and presenting it at a Sustainability Idea Summit.
Moving Our Values Forward The community, as an integral part of the network, is directly involved in implementing change. New projects are ripe for implementation building a baseline for scaling up for greater impacts across our region. New data is created out of the program to measure our future progress. Learning from this program will guide future collaboration and participation.
SUMMIT One Region Forward: A New Way to Plan for Buffalo Niagara
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