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Struggling to support herself and her two daughters, Luz Galicia moved from her large house to a manufactured home. A year and a half later the park's landlord decided to sell the property, displacing 100 families. Luz now works to educate and empower park residents.
In 2005 a trailer slated for the dump was transported to Mapleton Mobile Home Park in Boulder and renovated there. Built by more than 50 CU Boulder students, the Trailer Wrap project held lessons for future project-based learning, including a CEDaR-led manufactured home renovation planned for this summer or fall, depending on the state of the pandemic.
For the past 12 years Growing Up Boulder was a part of CU Boulder'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.
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.
"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.”
In a university-city partnership organized by CEDaR, the Longmont Downtown Development Authority plans to use designs created by CU Boulder ENVD students to help transform St. Stephen's Plaza on Main Street from a little-used space to a creative hub and gathering place.