Sustainability Initiatives at KCC  

Strategic Plan

One of the six priorities of the Kankakee Community College Strategic Plan (2009-2013) is to promote sustainability initiatives as a distinct objective for the college. The Strategic Sustainability Plan integrates sustainable initiatives into KCC's wider strategic priorities.

KCC’s sustainability vision

KCC will be a model of sustainability for District 520, for Illinois higher education, and for Community Colleges nationwide. KCC will also be a leader in sustainability education, preparing students to successfully negotiate inevitable challenges and to live happy and constructive lives that serve the betterment of humanity and future generations.

Strategic sustainability goals

To support this vision, KCC will: 

  1. Achieve carbon neutrality for the KCC campus by involving faculty, staff, and students in creating and maintaining a campus culture that embodies the ideals of sustainability.
  2. Expand KCC’s curriculum to support sustainability and the growing renewable energy industry, and share that curriculum with educational institutions across Illinois.
  3. Create models that illustrate sustainability and share these models with the local community as well as with educational institutions across Illinois.
  4. Create partnerships between KCC and other community organizations to promote and nurture sustainability beyond the college campus.

Reporting progress

STARS charter participant sealBecause the goals of sustainability are broad, the Strategic Sustainability Plan will develop initiatives in accordance with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) STARS program (Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System) for colleges and universities. The STARS system has three categories: education and research, operations, and administration and finance. We will use the STARS system to help prioritize our initiatives and to benchmark against other community colleges in the nation

American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment logoKankakee Community College's president, Dr. John Avendano, is a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment.The ACUPCC, launched in early 2007, is currently comprised of schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  

Participating ACUPCC schools are working to cut a combined estimated 33+ million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. As a participant, KCC's commitment is detailed in our Greenhouse Gas Report and Climate Action Plan.