RCE Partner City of Grand Rapids began construction on a $30 MM biodigester at the wastewater treatment plant. Methane gas produced will be used to generate electric power adequate to run the treatment facility. The City hired a new Sustainability Director. Plans are in place to re-lamp the 19,000 street lights in the city with LED lamp-heads. This $20 MM project will begin in 2018. www.grcity.us/sustainability

RCE partner Kendall College of Art and Design hosted the 2017 Wege Prize, "Wicked Problems of Sustainability". 125 individuals participated, representing 17 different countries, 38 academic institutions and 84 unique academic disciplines. Of the five teams named finalists, two were all undergraduate, two all graduate and one mixed graduate and undergraduate. The winning team consisted of students from University of Michigan and Brown University and focused on the conversion of organic waste from food and beverage processing to insect-based protein used as animal feed. Second place team represented Autonomous University of Nicaragua and Kendall College of Art and Design and third place represented students from four colleges within the University of Michigan. www.wegeprize.org

RCE partner Aquinas College is focusing on cooperatives. Professor Lorr is working with undergraduate students to understand the concept of cooperatives (not common to this region) and has visited cooperative in Spain and Ireland.  www.Aquinas.edu/sustainability-initiative?new

RCE Partner Calvin College continues its work of watershed restoration through Plaster Creek Stewards (PCS). This highly collaborative program involves faculty, students and local schools, houses of worship and community organisations. Receiving $2.3 MM in grants from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and funding from US Environmental Protection Agency, PCS works with at-risk students to reforest and plant native plants in the watershed and learn about watershed ecology. In partnership with City of Grand Rapids, PCS installed over 40 curb-cut rain gardens for stormwater management. www.calvin.edu/go/plastercreekstewards

RCE partner Grand Valley State University (GVSU) works in a low income neighborhood of Grand Rapids through Seeds of Promise. This resident empowerment program has engaged over 4,800 individuals and organisations in neighbourhood planning and economic development. It oversaw $700,000 of direct economic impact, created 50 new jobs for residents, and surveyed over 6,000 residential homes using GIS and GPS mapping through the University's Sustainable Planning and Geography Department. With assistance from GVSU School of Nursing, the Browning Claytor Health Clinic experienced a 35% patient increase. Seeds of Promise provided a book chapter to the UNU-IAS on community-based health services. www.seedsofpromise.net

RCE Grand Rapids continues Youth Virtual Conferences (YVC), bringing secondary school children from North, South and Central America, Europe and Africa together in real time/virtual space for peer education on sustainability. This innovation, organised by Grand Rapids Public Schools and Grand Valley State University covered topics of energy, water, food systems and, scheduled for 2018, climate change. Students present their context-based research on the topic, raise questions and hold discussions using Blackboard technology. RCE Minna, Nigeria, worked with us to host a continent-wide YVC in Africa. www.grandrapidsrce.org/youth-virtual-conference-2016

RCE Grand Rapids co-hosted a conference on circular economies. www.grpartners.org/learn/sustainability-videos/