No one can deny that 2021 has been challenging on global and individual scales. In a year that has proven to be a roller coaster of hope, disappointment, sadness and joy, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC has focused on getting clear about our strengths and defining our future. We are fortunate to be among so many passionate advocates in doing the work to move our schools toward becoming models of sustainability for their communities, and we know that we have the responsibility to lead boldly into a future that will sustain one another and the planet.

Reflecting on 2021, I am proud that we rose to meet the moment, took time to think about our future and laid the foundation for important work ahead.

Meeting the urgency of this moment

In our estimation, the most urgent global conversations happening right now that intersect with our work on green school buildings are around meaningful climate action and equitable access to healthy indoor air. These current imperatives are influencing and being influenced by federal policy, local decision-making and grassroots advocacy.

We worked hand in hand with USGBC’s Advocacy and Policy team to successfully demand that facilities become an allowable use of federal COVID-19 relief funds, and we advocated in the U.S. Congress for federal funding for the nation’s underresourced school facilities, for climate change education, for electric school bus resources and more.

In addition, we worked to direct action decisively, by publishing resources, raising media attention, and hosting professional development and peer learning opportunities for over 2,000 members of our USGBC community and our national network of school districts.

Here are just a few examples:

In March, soon after Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, we published Five Guiding Principles: How Districts Can Use COVID-19 Relief Funds to Advance Healthy, Green Schools, which emphasizes how the federal resources flowing to school districts can be used to support climate action and ensure healthy indoor air for students and teachers. We followed the initial publication, which was viewed by nearly 4,000 people, with detailed briefing documents, speaking engagements at education conferences and a training for advocates in July.
In April, we published Preparation in the Pandemic, our report from a national survey we released with ASHRAE to collect information about school IAQ decision-making and implementation. A second survey is now wrapping up, and the report will be released in the spring of 2022 with assistance from ASHRAE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories.
In June, we hosted 500 attendees at the virtual Green Schools Conference, focusing the content on cutting-edge climate action, youth voices, the role of green schools in promoting equity and racial justice, and connections between sustainability and social-emotional learning. We are proud that we were able to offer scholarships to 100% of eligible applicants.
In October, with new support from Flu Lab, we published the first five of our indoor air quality fact sheets, aimed at providing important technical information about critical air quality topics to people without a technical background, such as teachers, administrators and parents. These initial fact sheets have been viewed on our site by 3,500 people so far, and three additional fact sheets are planned for release in January.
In November, we were invited by the U.S. Climate Action Center at COP26 to present the case for K–12 schools to be centered within conversations about the climate emergency.

Planning for the future

Toward the end of 2020, as we reflected on the 10 years since the founding of the Center for Green Schools, we began a strategic planning process to reimagine our next 10 years. When we were founded, a couple of dozen school district staff members were implementing sustainability in their schools, a handful of researchers and model schools were defining sustainability education for the field, there was little published about environmental health in school buildings, and there were a few hundred LEED-certified schools.

Over the past decade, we have been providing a center of gravity for a green school movement and leading the way for greater numbers of schools to pursue green school goals. Today, there are hundreds of school district staff responsible for sustainability goals and a federal Department of Education–Green Ribbon Schools awards program to recognize excellence. The case for healthy school buildings is accessible to the general public, strong local and national nonprofits are supporting green school action around the country, and over 2,600 schools are LEED-certified.

The green schools movement has matured, and leadership for the movement now does not look the same as it did in 2010. We have taken the time to reflect on our progress and chart the course for the future of the Center for Green Schools, undergoing an intensive strategic planning process that involved multiple interviews with over 50 stakeholders in education, environmental and school operations fields. Our interviews informed a Theory of Change model that clarifies how we believe our schools and school systems move toward sustainability, where we think key leverage points exist and what the most powerful role is for the Center for Green Schools moving forward. We look forward to articulating more about our long-range plans early in 2022.

Diving into what’s next

In the near term, our focus is on helping school districts access federal resources—both the COVID-19 relief funds and the funds within the infrastructure bill—and on supporting school districts in implementing meaningful air quality improvements. We maintain our position as a strong convener and source of professional development and peer networking for school district staff across the country, a network that grows approximately 20% each year. Also, we are excited to continue partnering with teams across USGBC on important work to develop the green workforce, through programs and resources like Building Learners, Learning Lab and more.

We’ve recently received new grants and sponsorships that will help us be a stronger convener and advocate for green schools, and we are hiring for new people to support these initiatives. USGBC members are the core financial support for the Center for Green Schools’ work and make possible all of the impact we are able to have on schools around the country. Our mission has never felt more pressing and critical than it has within the last year, and we invite you to be part of our future by joining USGBC or donating to support this work.

Learn more about the Center for Green Schools

2021 milestones at the Center for Green Schools