Best Practice Packages

What is an IGEN Best Practice Package?
IGEN Best Practice Packages are “how-to” guides for the successful implementation of a sustainability initiative on community college campuses. These packages combine the experiences of IL community colleges to provide the resources, examples, and arguments necessary to make a strong case to a college’s administration, create a proposal, and implement the initiative. The goal is to give colleges (and sustainability professionals) the tools to implement best practices without “recreating the wheel” or experiencing the lessons learned by other colleges.
Topics and Scope
IGEN Best Practices Package topics are determined through the IGEN strategic vision, identified needs of IGEN colleges, and successful initiatives at IGEN colleges that can be replicated. Topics may also be identified during the creation of IGEN Task Force White Papers, and their creation listed as a recommendation of a Task Force. Data, resources, and case studies for best practices will be collected from Illinois Community Colleges that have successfully implemented the best practice. This will then be compiled into the Best Practice Package.
Final Products and Review
IGEN Best Practice Packages will be available as resources on the IGEN website, and will include an overview of the initiative’s importance and benefits, expected outcomes, challenges and barriers, pilot timeline, critical actions, financing, resources, examples and case studies. Before a Best Practice Package is made available, it will be reviewed by the IGEN administrative team and Presidents’ Steering Committee co-chairs. An Advisory Council, composed of experts within the field, may be selected to advise and review the resulting Best Practice Package before it is made available online.
Best Practice Package Development
Best Practice Packages will be developed through three different avenues:
  • Through the collaborative effort of a Work Group formed for the purpose of researching a sustainability initiative
  • By an IGEN liaison or college sustainability professional who collects data from multiple Illinois community colleges that have already implemented the sustainability initiative; or
  • By the IGEN administrative team through data collected from Illinois community colleges.
Coming Soon!
-- How to Create a Sustainability Center
-- How to Assess and Identify Energy Training Needs for Community Colleges