Flows To Bay is a network partner of the San Mateo County Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Partnership Network, which supports school district leaders in addressing their community needs to be climate-responsive and prepare for a changing environment in a way that increases their capacity and resources. Through the network, school districts will work collaboratively with a range of organizations who will offer technical assistance to help districts transform their campus facilities and operations to be green and climate-ready. Example technical assistance includes:
- Consultative Services and Coaching: Provide background and overview (includes policies and expectations), share best practices, identify needs and assets, and problem-solve together.
- Training and Professional Development: Deliver training and professional development for a wide variety of stakeholder audiences including faculty, staff, leadership teams, students, parents, and community partners.
- Assessment and Strategic Planning: Give baseline or benchmark assessments as well as support for the development and implementation of strategic plans that focus on the big picture or on specific focus area efforts.
- Project Management: Support or direct the management of green facilities projects.
- Networking: Connect school stakeholders to relevant community-based partner organizations, utility companies, funding agencies, or other school leaders in San Mateo County.
Learn more about the partnership network and the three steps to sign up from the San Mateo County Office of Education here.
Partnering with Flows To Bay – Rainwater Resilient Schools
There are a variety of ways to connect with our program to advance your goals with respect to climate-resilient campus improvements. We offer three scales of partnership:
- Site Improvements – From rain gardens to cisterns, we have the planning, technical guidance and resources to change how water is managed at your school.
- Safe Routes to School – C/CAG helps administer the Safe Routes to School program in San Mateo County (including walk-audits and program-based safe routes activities) – we also have funded Safe Routes to School and Green Streets Infrastructure Pilot projects, including 10 pilot projects in recent years!
- Regional Stormwater Capture – Schools are huge opportunities for managing stormwater runoff at a watershed-scale, through large subsurface water retention/detention systems that can be used to reduce local flood risk, recharge groundwater, off-set potable water use for irrigation and more – a large project like this can also introduce new field amenities and other campus improvements, like outdoor classrooms, playgrounds and more.
How To Get Involved?
We are eager to find willing partners to advance schoolyard greening and curriculum connections – please reach out to Reid Bogert at rbogert@smcgov.org or 650-599-1433. Learn more on a handout here and through the video below.