Thank you to all who helped organized and participated in the first World Cafés. Your input, insight and creativity in envisioning sustainability at Algonquin College will help guide the next steps of this project. You will find below a compilation of the key themes addressed; these are organized according to the broad vision they embody and are sub-categorized as action items.

Vision: Community
The College is highly supportive of and highly integrated with the surrounding community. The College fosters a culture of awareness within the community.
Algonquin College is:

• Conducting joint planning with the local community & municipality
• Becoming a central hub by providing services and educational opportunities to local community members
• Supporting the local community by developing business partnerships
• Ensuring an ongoing two-way dialogue with the community
• Designing and using its new buildings (future campus infrastructures) as a community space
• Developing student-lead program to help local businesses with sustainability
• Developing a community garden
• Developing and deploying a solid communication strategy
• Using workshops and incentives to foster community buy-in
• Demonstrating community leadership

Vision: Governance & planning
The College adopts an overarching and proactive approach to promote sustainability.
Algonquin College is:

• Working to network with and model institutions demonstrating best practices
• Developing an institution-wide strategic sustainability plan
• Integrating triple bottom line thinking and considerations to its operations and curriculum content
• Operating an office of sustainability whose purpose is to inform the broader community and offer sustainability related services that ultimately generate income for the college.
• Demonstrating institutional leadership
• Continuing to promote a healthy and safe environment.

Vision: Programs
Sustainability permeates all aspects of the curriculum
Algonquin College is:

• Offering a sustainability diploma
• Designing courses adapted to the local economy
• Integrating course content to campus operations and community projects.
• Developing existing and future courses that incorporate sustainability curriculum
• Developing existing and future courses that incorporate a strong element of critical thinking & analysis
• Offers a sustainability course mandatory for all students
• Offers sustainability training/program for teachers and staff

Vision: Resources
The College's social, environmental and economical capitals are sustainable and/or regenerative
Algonquin College is:

• Monitoring its performance
• Reducing/reusing waste
• Generating its own energy and produces its own food using greenhouses
• Facilitating public transit & bike usage
• Providing incentives to encourage engagement and focus first on the “low-hanging fruits” while keeping the long-term goals in mind
• Enforcing an ethical and sustainable purchasing strategy

Vision: Finances
The College continues to integrate financial and sustainability-related considerations.
Algonquin College is:

• Involved in various funding partnerships
• Accounting for lifecycle costs

Vision: Technology
The College makes appropriate and innovative use of technology
Algonquin College is:

• Generating virtually no electronic waste
• Using technological advances to monitor, manage and reduce energy consumption.
• Operating as a “paperless college”
• Promoting online and distance learning

About World Cafés
An important objective of this project is to engage all College stakeholder groups throughout the process. This will be essential in understanding the unique needs and goals of the community and in developing a strategy that will be successful in the long term. The World Cafés are your opportunity to engage in the visioning process.

The first World Cafés took place on each Campus during the week of March 9, 2009. These cafés are designed to bring together members from the College community from all areas to participate in a dynamic and engaging dialogue. Along the way, participants were asked to define sustainable development at Algonquin, provide their thoughts about the long-term vision of sustainability at the College, and highlight the types of actions required to achieve that vision.

Please join us for the World Café 2 near you. These events are open to the public as sustainability stretches beyond the borders of our campuses.

For more information on The World Café format please visit The World Café Community Foundation at: www.theworldcafe.com