Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Calendar

Events

Pick It Up, Portland! – Harrison Park

June 24th, 10am-12pm at Harrison Park

Join PCC for a trash pickup event as part of SOLVE’s Pick It Up, Portland! event series.

Address: 1931 SE 84th Ave Portland, OR 97216

What to Bring: Wear closed-toed shoes and dress for the weather. We recommended bringing a re-usable water bottle to stay hydrated during the event. SOLVE will provide trash grabbers, trash bags, work gloves, and high-vis vests, but feel free to bring your own.

Registration is required!

Become a Community Climate Leader

August 14-16, 2023, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Lewis & Clark College

Are you interested in supporting climate action in your community? The “Become a Community Climate Leader” workshop brings together college and high school students from front line communities throughout Oregon and Washington to train, plan, and engage in community-based climate justice work. Through this workshop, students will be supported to complete climate justice initiatives or projects that are unique to their particular communities. Students will become part of a network of diverse community leaders who support each other’s work and will take meaningful steps toward enhancing climate education and action in our region.

The 3-day workshop is free to attend, will include meals, a project stipend, and will be followed by ongoing mentorship, logistical support, networking opportunities, and peer support events throughout the subsequent year. This workshop is open to current high school and college students in Oregon and Washington.

Please check back for a formal detailed schedule. Please apply by June 30, we have 20 spots available. To learn more about our curriculum or apply to participate, see the informational website!

Volunteer

Learning Garden Open Volunteer Hours

You are welcome to stop by the gardens at the below times to volunteer your time. No experience or tools necessary. We are excited to welcome volunteers back!

Sylvania Campus

Mondays, 10am-2pm

Rock Creek Campus

Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9:30am-1:30pm

GivePulse

Explore community engagement opportunities, track your hours, connect with community partners, and share your impact through PCC’s GivePulse site.

Whether you are taking a course with a community-based learning assignment/project or just looking to get involved, GivePulse is your one-stop shop for connecting with community here at PCC! Just a couple of the benefits of using GivePulse include becoming a part of a movement or cause that you care about and creating a community engagement transcript (for your own reporting purposes).

Check out these upcoming sustainability opportunities through GivePulse!

Classes

Upcoming credit classes

The following classes in the Spring 2023 term include sustainability as a component of their curricula:

Sustainability Focus Award

The Sustainability Focus award recognizes students who have completed a broad range of sustainability-related courses. The award is designed to encourage students to learn to see environmental issues from multiple perspectives and to increase their experience in this multi-disciplinary topic. The earning of this focus award can demonstrate to potential employers and transfer colleges that the student has a deep and broad understanding of sustainability issues.

Jobs

We frequently have work-study positions available at the campus and district level. Please see the PCC Work Study page for available positions or email sustainability@pcc.edu. Please note that not all positions may be available at this time.

Sustainability Department

Check back soon.

Student Life & Leadership

Cascade Learning Garden

Rock Creek Learning Garden

Check back soon.

Southeast Learning Garden

Sylvania Environmental Center

Check back soon.

Urban Forestry

Clubs

Student Sustainability Club

This is an organization of students from Portland Community College who believe that a collective effort can make a difference for a better world. Our mission is to build awareness about the issues of environmental degradation and environmental social justice, and to help the community adopt a sustainable lifestyle in their own lives and on campus. We have community outreach projects, volunteer opportunities, and outdoor activities.

Please check out our page on Panther Hub or contact Jade Menchaca at jade.menchaca@pcc.edu with questions or concerns!

Bee Campus USA Committee

Are you passionate about pollinators? Are you interested in increasing pollinator habitat on our campuses? The PCC Bee Campus USA Committee is seeking new members. Your commitment would be to participate in meetings 3-4 times per year, serve as an advisor and help educate the PCC community about the importance of pollinators and their habitat, our campus apiary, beekeeping classes, and our fundraising efforts (honey sales). If you are interested in joining, please email sustainability@pcc.edu.

Tree Campus Higher Education Committee

You have the opportunity to join forces with us to protect and promote trees, enhancing the natural environment in and around all of our campuses and centers at PCC. The PCC Tree Campus Higher Education Committee welcomes students, faculty, staff, and community members to help with this important college-wide effort.

We work together to:

• Establish policies and guidelines for planting, maintaining, and removing trees
• Ensure that adequate funding and staff time is provided in support of the program
• Organize activities in observance of National Arbor Day
• Create opportunities for students to participate in tree-related service learning projects
• Educate the community about the important ecosystem benefits that trees provide

For more information or to join the committee, contact tree-campus-group@pcc.edu.

Cascade Green Team

Are you a student at Cascade and interested in getting involved in sustainability initiatives on campus? Join students, faculty, and staff in the Cascade Green Team! We like to find ways to advance sustainability at our campus through educational events and action projects. Some projects that we have worked on recently include efforts to reduce plastic bottle consumption on campus, supporting the learning garden, and contributing to Earth Week activities. We always welcome new folks and ideas! If you are interested in learning more about the club or attending a meeting, contact Taryn Oakley at taryn.oakley@pcc.edu.

Southeast Food Justice Club

We are here to organize around personally-relevant issues of food justice, challenge systemic inequity, recreate and reclaim healthy community food ways, increase access to food-growing knowledge within the community, and build awareness among students of the many resources on and off campus that relate to these issues. For more details, please contact selearninggarden@pcc.edu.

Southeast Green Team

Are you a student at Southeast and interested in getting involved in sustainability initiatives on campus? Join students, faculty, and staff in the Southeast Green Team! We are in the process of developing a learning garden that will be a comprehensive outdoor learning space for our students to learn, our faculty to teach in, and our Southeast Campus to enjoy. This will provide opportunities for students to work outside of the standard classroom and to connect sustainability and gardening with learning and everyday life. We promote a number of other green initiatives, like the Bike Rental Program and annual Earth Week events. If you are interested in learning more about the club or attending a meeting, contact Davida Jordan at davida.jordan@pcc.edu.

Sylvania Food Justice Club

The Sylvania Food Justice Club/Cohort is comprised of food justice champions from multiple Identity Based Equity Centers (IBEC) including the Queer Resource Center, Multicultural Center, Women’s Resource Center, and Veterans Resource Center. Collectively, the cohort organizes advocacy and education around food insecurity and how to help students in need. Our mission is to tackle the root cause that continues to perpetuate the same outcome. We stand by three fundamental strategies that can address systemic hunger: teaching, connecting, and advocating. This includes policies, practices, and norms here at PCC. At PCC Sylvania, we draw strength from all who support us on campus and in our community. We hope people across the city and state will see our efforts in taking the lead in addressing hunger here in Oregon. All are welcome. If you are interested in being a part of this cohort, email Peter Ritson at peter.ritson@pcc.edu.

Organic Garden Club

The purpose of the LAWNS club (Land Air Water Nutrients Space) is to make gardening accessible to all PCC students, staff, and faculty and open the door to promote the transformation of LAWNS into biodiverse environments that engage all plants and gardeners by bringing access to affordable, sustainable gardening and awareness to food sovereignty. To get involved, contact Peter Ritson at peter.ritson@pcc.edu.

Habitat Restoration Team at Sylvania

Would you like leadership and environmental field experiences? Come join the team! We don’t usually meet for two hours but sometimes we write grants, show movies, do a walkabout, or have a mini-work party. The Habitat Restoration Team, working with the Sylvania Grounds crew, PCC students and staff, and community members, works to remove invasive species, plant NW native plants, and help stabilize creek beds. To get involved, contact April Ann Fong at afong@pcc.edu.

Rock Creek Food Justice Club

Our main goal for this club is to bring awareness to food insecurity among college students and campuses. We want to do outreach to educate others on what the Food Justice Movement means and how they can help. As students and as human beings we have the right to fight for our right to have quality, healthy food for every meal.

Our main goals are:

• Collaborate with local non-profits
• Collaborate with resource centers that are stationed on the Rock Creek campus
• Do service projects on and off campus
• Create one event on campus to do outreach and promote resources that college students can use

To get involved, contact Kathryn Lopez at kathryn.lopez@pcc.edu.

Get involved with the garden and learn more about organic gardening, composting, and greenhouse production. Help host work parties and events in the Learning Garden. Now’s the time to get growing! For more information email Moon Rose Doherty at moonrose.doherty@pcc.edu.

Green Team

Comprised of staff, students, and faculty, this group of dedicated people is the champion of sustainability at PCC. Functionally serving as an advisory committee to the Sustainability Office, this group has a strategic influence on department-level sustainable practices, information dissemination, and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP), as well as serving as contacts for campus-wide initiatives and education. It is this group of sustainability promoters that keeps us going! We always welcome interested folks! We usually meet once per month. The Green Team always has something going on. Please contact Jade Menchaca at jade.menchaca@pcc.edu to learn more.

Thinking of starting a club?

First contact the district sustainability department, which can connect you with people and resources that you will need to know. Who knows – maybe there’s already a club that exists, waiting for someone like you to step into a leadership role!

Resources

Panther Pantry open

*All pantries are closed during finals week and during the break between terms. They will reopen on September 26.

• Southeast: Mt. Tabor Building, Room 152, Tuesday – Thursday, 10am-6pm
• Cascade: Cascade Hall, Room 102, Tuesday – Thursday, 10am-6pm
• Sylvania: CC Building, Room 215, Tuesday – Thursday, 10am-6pm
• Rock Creek: Building 5, Room 113, Tuesday – Thursday, 10am-6pm

The schedule is subject to change. Visit the Panther Pantry website for updates.

Eco Social Justice Grant

Issues of environmental degradation, inequality, and economic disparity impact us all. Here at PCC, we value our students, staff, and faculty and their commitment to sustainability as well as their advocacy and efforts toward creating more equitable, diverse, and inclusive spaces across the district.

We are supporting and fostering a culture of collaborative, innovative problem-solving using environmental sustainability and social justice initiatives to accomplish these goals. From our learning gardens, water bottle fill stations, our great bike programs, and farm stand, to our annual #EcoSocialJusticeEvent, we have been working together to address our community’s most pressing ecological and social challenges with fresh ideas. We also feel that it is important to both celebrate and give thanks and acknowledgment to the amount of time, money, and effort that students have put towards making Portland Community College a nationally and globally recognized higher education institution and leader in the sustainability movement.

In 2008 the Associated Students of Portland Community College (ASPCC) District Student Council approved a ten-cent addition to the student activity fee, creating The Green Initiative Fund. At the beginning of 2018, the ASPCC District Student Council unanimously agreed to change the name of this fund to the Eco Social Justice Grant (ESJG), this name change better reflects the broader scope of what these grants have been and will be dedicated to. This fund exists so that students, staff, and faculty can participate in our culture of innovation and contribute meaningful advances to sustainable practices. At PCC, our goal is to achieve sustainable excellence in all operations, to live our commitment to social justice, and to meet our targeted greenhouse gas reductions as detailed in the Climate Action Plan. If you have an idea for a project that moves PCC towards these outcomes, we want to hear from you!

Learn more and apply for the Eco Social Justice Grant!

Get Current: Monthly Energy Newsletter

Subscribe to this monthly newsletter to learn about PCC energy conservation and how to conserve energy at home. Email jack.rasmuson@pcc.edu for more information.

Sylvania Environmental Center

The PCC Sylvania Environmental Center promotes sustainability, education, and action. We invite students to protect and sustain our local and global community. We are located in the Science Technology building, ST 213. Our office hours are Monday and Wednesday 8:30am – 5pm, Tuesday and Thursday 8:30am-2:30pm, Friday 9am – 3pm. Email peter.ritson@pcc.edu if you have any questions.

Rock Creek Garden Community Plots

Calling all gardeners! Interested in caring for a plot in the community beds at the Rock Creek Campus Learning Garden? Sign-up info coming soon.

Climate Research Guides

An updated climate change research guide is now live on the PCC Library website. This updated guide has a tab highlighting the PCC Climate Action Plan. One of the best ways to support students experiencing eco-anxiety and climate grief is to help them connect with a community doing meaningful climate justice work.

Also, there are two more guides in production focused on integrating climate change into classroom curriculum: Teaching Climate Change in the Community College and Climate Change Curriculum. Would you be able to contribute some PCC-specific content to help complete these additional guides?

Specifically, the guides would benefit from:

• assignments and curriculum related to climate change created by PCC instructors
• PCC instructors and staff willing to advise or support colleagues wanting to add a climate component to their courses

Please reach out to Roberta Richards at rrichard@pcc.edu if you have assignments to share or are willing to be listed as a support person.

The Menstrual Project

Cascade Women’s Resource Center is providing more free reusable menstrual products through the Eco Social Justice Grant to help students and PCC reduce their waste and lower the amount of money used on menstrual products.

Go to our Instagram at @cascadewrc to find more information on the products!

You can directly request products at any time via The Menstrual Project. Request products by filling out this form.

GPSEN College Network of Environmentalists

Stay in the loop of networking events in Portland, discuss goals and ideas for the future, and more!

Want to learn how to be more sustainable on the day-to-day?

Take the Sustainable Choices Pledge.