Alma College and the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force Win $10,000 Carter Partnership Award

June 20, 2008 - LANSING, MI – Alma College and Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force received the 2008 Carter Partnership Award. This campus-community partnership was recognized June 19, 2008, at the Fox Theatre in Detroit at the annual Governor’s Service Awards.

Following a history of environmental abuse from a chemical in St. Louis, MI, the Pine River was declared a Superfund site. In 1999, after learning of the Environmental Protection Agencies’ (EPA) recommendation to proceed with a clean up of Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) contamination in the river, Alma College and the community collaborated to form the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force. This Task Force is an EPA sanctioned Community Advisory Group (CAG) which serves as a conduit between the community and the EPA to monitor the Superfund clean up and other activities involving the Pine River. The college and the community work together to ensure the exchange of ideas between the EPA, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the local media and members of the greater community regarding information and ideas concerning the Pine River are heard by all parties. The long term goal of the group is to see a complete clean up of contamination from the plant throughout the county and see the Pine River returned to a state that can be enjoyed by young and old alike.

Press Release - June 20, 2008

2008 Finalists

Alma College-Pine River SuperFund Citizen Task Force
Central Michigan University-Communicative Programming for Prisoner Success
Hope College Interdisciplinary Research Team, Hope College Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA and the Life and Water Development Group, Cameroon
Partners in Preparing Community Centered Leaders: The Student Leader Fellowship Program at Northern Michigan University and the Community of Marquette

Questions about the award
can be directed to:
Molly Hilligoss
Program Specialist
517.492.2455
mhilligoss@micampuscompact.org

2008 Award Information

2008 Award Finalists Announced - Press Release
Award Criteria
2008 Award Application
About The Carters
Award History - Winners, Sponsors and Finalists

2008 Carter Partnership Award Sponsors

Michigan Campus Compact thanks the following organizations for their generous sponsorship of the 2008 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award of Campus-Community Collaboration. Sponsorship opportunities are still available, please review the forms below:

Campus Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsorship Form

Lead Sponsor	Ford Motor Company
Supporting Sponsors	Chartwells-Olivet College
	Ferris State University

Gold Sponsors	Grand Valley State University
	Hope College
	Madonna University
	Mott Community College
	University of Michigan - Dearborn
	University of Michigan - Flint
	Western Michigan University

Silver Sponsors	Alma College
	Kalamazoo College
	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

About the Award

The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration is the premiere award at Michigan Campus Compact and in the State of Michigan and honors exemplary collaborations, undertaken by a college or university in partnership with a community group, which address critical areas of public need. The award recipients receive $10,000 in support of their program to be divided between their community partner and the campus and is the largest unrestricted monetary award of any MCC grant or award.

The Carter Partnership Award was established in Georgia as a tribute to the lifelong efforts of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter to build and strengthen safe, healthy, and caring communities in this country and throughout the world. The Carter Partnership Award Program is part of the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation, Inc. which has been formed with the support of President & Mrs. Carter and whose mission is to “mobilize campus community service partnerships by recognizing and rewarding the best practices in service learning and raising their visibility”. For further information please go to http://www.jrcpf.org.

The purposes of the Carter Partnership Award are to:

Honor a sustained institutional commitment that has resulted in tangible community impact.
Provide recognition for outstanding campus-community partnerships in Michigan.
Increase the number and the effectiveness of campus-community partnerships and promote college/university citizenship.
Encourage cooperation among education, community, government, and business leaders on critical social and economic issues.
Increase public awareness of and support for campus-community partnerships.

The award is named for President and Mrs. Carter as a tribute to their lifelong efforts to develop and support safe, healthy, and caring communities throughout the world. In public office and in their daily lives, they have consistently supported public improvement efforts based on cooperation, mutual learning, and shared responsibility.

2007 Carter Partnership Award Information

2007 Carter Partnership Award Winner- Press Release
Award Finalists Announced - Press Release
Award Criteria
2007 Award Application
2007 Carter Partnership Award Sponsors
The Carters
Letter from Founder & President
Inaugural Year--2005