Park County School District #6
UnCommon Sense
A COLLABORATION WITH THE YELLOWSTONE BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
The UnCommon Sense Program equips businesses and institutions to make desired changes in their operations and empowers them to become sustainability leaders in their communities and industry sectors.
To graduate from UnCommon Sense, each institution is required to complete assignments from eight modules with targeted instruction in Managing Organizational Change, Waste Stream management, Responsible Purchasing, Social and Community Investment, Energy Efficiencies, Water Efficiencies, Transportation Efficiencies, and Business Response to a Changing Climate. Institutions develop Action Plans. Examples of the action items include conducting waste stream audits, measuring waste streams, instituting recycling programs, conducting baseline energy and water audits, developing plans for energy conservation, and enhancing operational function through responsible purchasing policies.
Institutions are required to document and quantify all action and operational improvements made. Upon completing the course, all documentation and action items are presented to the group. This information comes in many forms: spreadsheets and tracking matrices, graphs, work plans, surveys, communications strategies, mission/vision statements, resource lists, job descriptions, photographs, policies, marketing materials. The intent of this reporting is to actually quantify what an institution was able to achieve over the two-year period.
Each graduating class is profiled in an UnCommon Sense annual report highlighting their accomplishments and positive changes over the two-year course. This report will detail each business’ individual accomplishment and how the participants’ collective efforts are improving the region’s economy, communities and environment.