July 2020

The YBG Sustainability Initiative is going strong.  We are working to send a proposed plan to President Salovey and Provost Strobel soon.

Outreach – The outreach committee had paused for a bit during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, but it is now on a push to gather endorsements before the end of July.  If you have been hesitating, now is the time to add your name so that we have as many as possible to reference for the plan to President Salovey. We have endorsements from every school within Yale, from alumni, faculty, students, and staff – the support is broad. Please sign your name if you haven’t and if you have , please invite 5 friends to sign.  Click HERE

Mentoring  – The Mentoring committee is working to get a Mentoring web page up in August, so that we can be ready to match mentors in September when school starts again.  We plan to have two tiers – Ad hoc mentors, and longer term six-month to one-year mentors.  We are looking now for folks interested in the longer-term mentoring – our target is about 10 potential mentors to have some variety to match to 5 long term mentees in the fall.  The YBG Mentoring Program enables connections among Yale community members, to provide educational, professional and volunteering guidance to those with interest in a career in the sustainability and environmental fields.

Leadership – the Leadership committee is working on the proposed plan, and on a new effort, Green Blocks Initiative, a resource that offers event ideas for a turn key sustainability event, to help drive societal change.  See below for more info.
Endowment – The Sustainability Initiative Fund is active now.  It benefits Yale’s Office of Sustainability. Please consider giving.  Information on how to give is on the Sustainability Initiative website. https://yalebluegreen.org/initiative-fund/
Reunions and Divestment are quiet for now, but volunteers are always welcome as we gear up in the fall for virtual spring reunions.  Email Lauren if you are interested.

New Green Blocks Initiative:
Want to help be a founder of YBG’s Green Blocks Initiative, a new alumni engagement resource that offers event ideas for alumni to put on in their town or neighborhood?  Each Green Block module would offer suggestions for how to put on a turn key sustainability event, with research for further discussion and ways to publicize the event, driving societal change.  The Green Blocks Initiative committee of YaleBlueGreen is looking for you to help create the program including reference pages for these events or programs, which events or programs to do, how we would fund this, how we would create awareness of these event opportunities.   Some examples might be: how to set up community gardens, caring for urban forests, tracking climate change, or publishing your suggestions.  Please email Anne Crawley ascrawley5@outlook.com or Margot McMahon mcmahonmargot@gmail.com