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For the past 12 years Growing Up Boulder was a part of 鶹ѰBoulder's Community Engagement, Design and Research (CEDaR) Center. Now one of the most successful child-friendly city initiatives in the world, GUB is transitioning to an independent nonprofit, a model for how the university can develop, nurture and then spin off nonprofit activities.
In this collaboration between the city of Denver and the university, the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR) and the Denver Department of Health & Environment are jointly tackling how to best manage information and activities among dozens of small and large Denver food banks during times of increased demand.
Pollinator-themed designs are now being accepted for a new Colorado license plate honoring bees. Pollinators are necessary for many crops and sustain many of the wildflowers and flowering trees and shrubs on Colorado’s wildlands, says Louise Chawla, CEDaR fellow and professor emerita in the Program in Environmental Design. Chawla serves on the leadership committee of People and Pollinators Action Network, a statewide group that works for healthy ecosystems and biodiverse habitat for pollinators.
In February 2021, Louise Chawla, CEDaR fellow and professor emerita in the Program in Environmental Design, was invited to give an opening speech for a weeklong Festival of Early Infancy (birth to 6 year olds) in the city of Strasbourg, France on the topic of “Connecting Children with Nature to Foster Wellbeing and a Caring Relationship with the Natural World.”
Do you love bees and want to help them? You can make a difference by showing your support for a new Colorado pollinator license plate. This month the state legislature is considering a new special license plate that will support
Louise Chawla, environmental psychologist and CEDaR fellow, recently completed a review that brings two bodies of research together: one on connecting children and adolescents with nature, and the second on supporting healthy coping when they realize they are part of a planet in peril. The review shows that when children and adolescents feel connected to nature, they are more likely to report good health and a sense of well-being, more likely to get high scores for creative thinking, and more inclined to show cooperative, helping behaviors. On the flip side, city families stuck indoors during COVID-19 reported mounting stress and deteriorating behavior in their children.
GUB Director Mara Mintzer presented to the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative, which supports schools and districts nationwide to develop outdoor spaces as cost-effective tools for keeping schools open during a pandemic.
Early-childhood experts often like to say that a child’s environment is one of their most important teachers. But what can our built environments learn from children? In this "Raising Curious Learners" episode of "Britannica for Parents," Mara Mintzer, co-founder and director of Growing Up Boulder, discusses the importance of involving young people in the city planning process.
"Her words, love of cats and endless memes, brings humor and light to the studio space."
Doctoral student Stefi Mitova successfully defended her dissertation, “Integrating Electric Vehicles and Solar Photovoltaics into Smart Cities with Smart Charging and Storage: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Impact Analysis Using Systems Engineering Methods.”