Gilmores (The G-Spot) Promotes Green and BOOST Enters New Jersey Learns Inaugural Class of Educators for Sustainability.

(photo left) Kevin Gilmore, owner of the G-Spot, is committed to greening-up, (photo middle); Jamie Cloud - President and Founder of Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education; and (photo right, pictured from left) Winnie Fatton, Project Manager for the Municipal Land Use Center at College of New Jersey (TCNJ) greets BOOST Board of Directors Tyrone Gaskins, Kevin Wortham, and Professor Monique Simon on May 22 at the inaugural class for New Jersey Learns. Not pictured, but present at NJ Learns is Building Open Opportunity Structures Together's Founder and Executive Director, Tim Razzaq (busy, taking pic.s, as always.)

Development Spotlight: Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education New Jersey Learns Certification Training Program: Class of 2009 a first for the Garden State

Thanks to a generous grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Cloud institute for Sustainability Education has accepted 50 participants from 12 different communities to participate in New Jersey Learns Leadership Training, a training-of-trainers program designed to contribute to NJ’s capacity to educate for sustainability as it prepares educators, trainers, and community leaders to introduce their constituents to sustainability education. On Thursday, May 22, the Board of Directors for Building Open Opportunity Structures Together, also known as BOOST, joined stakeholders from around the state of New Jersey at the Johnson Center for Education, located on the grounds of the D & R Greeway Land Trust in Princeton (NJ), for the inaugural training course of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education's Education for Sustainability (EfS) certification program (http://www.sustainabilityed.org/). *** Cloud's New Jersey Learns Class of 2009 members include four representatives from BOOST and teams from the Municipal Land Center at the College of New Jersey, Project Use, and Farleigh Dickinson University's Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Morris County Community College, and citizen-lead sustainability groups from West Milford, Cherry Hill, Highland Park, and several other organizations, institutions, agencies, and businesses from the Garden State. **** Please re-visit http://www.gss-set.blogspot.com/ for periodic announcments about this historic developmental program and sustainability education initiatives forthcoming.

The ‘G’ Spot Promotes Green & Supports BOOST’s Efforts and Classics Book Fair

BOOST’s own Green, Smart, and Sustainable Stakeholder Education and Training series of public awareness forums and community capacity building workshops launches on Saturday, June 7 from 11am to 4pm, at Gallery 125 located at 125 South Warren Street in downtown Trenton. Classics Trenton Book Fair and Trenton’s 30th annual Heritage Days Celebration serve as splendid backdrops for a screening of Sundance Channel produced, Big Ideas for a Small Planet (the Build episode), and presentations by Mitchell Joachim (http://www.terreform.org/) of Terreform and Archinode Studio; Anastasia Harrison of WESKetch Architecture (http://www.wesketch.com/); Fred Stine for the Delaware RiverKeeper Network (http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/); Jason Kliwinski for Spiezle Group (http://www.spiezle.com/); and Elizabeth Slate-Rutledge for the Alchemical Nursery Project (http://www.alchemicalnursery.org/). For more presenter details, please visit http://www.gss-set.blogspot.com/ and to RSVP, please call (206) 202-2883 or email gss-set@gss-set.com.

Gilmores Café’ (The G Spot), located at 118 S. Warren Street, has been providing BOOST and its partners meeting space for the past two months and its owner, Kevin Gilmore, has made a commitment to contribute to environmental and public good by using eco-friendly compostable cups made from corn, and containers, cup sleeves, utensils, trays plates, and napkins. Gilmore’s also employs a line of natural cleaners that are formulated to leave the G-Spots indoor environment super clean, and best of all, do not pollute the Spot with toxic smells and chemicals. To top your green experience off, Gilmore’s offers 5 cents payback to customers who bring their own mugs, cups, and food storage containers to take home leftovers. As for GSS-SET and the Trenton Book Fair, Gilmore’s is contributing 100 Green Gift Certificates good for 15% off its entire menu for each paying customer who attends GSS-SET activities and/or purchases a book or gift item from Classics Used and Rare Books, co-owned by Laurice Reynolds and her son-in-law, Eric Maywar. Gift certificates will be good for Friday, June 6 and Saturday June 7.

BOOST’s Green, Smart, and Sustainable Stakeholder Education and Training (GSS-SET 2008-09) is the organic outgrowth or natural progression of Building Open Opportunity Structures Together’s work at achieving community benefits for traditionally under-served populations as real estate and economic development growth is steered into New Jersey’s older urban centers and first-suburbs.

Sponsorship Opportunities:

BOOST is deploying GSS-SET in five major cities/regions throughout the Garden State this year: Atlantic-Cape, Camden, Trenton-Mercer, Newark-Essex, and Elizabeth-Union and your company, organization, institution, or agency can tag along and get your marketing message delivered to tens of thousands of potential clients, customers, and constituents.

We are committed to creating win-win partnerships that lead to mutually beneficial opportunities and outcomes. Call us at (206) 202-2883 to work out a customized tactical plan that fits your budget and our mission. Email: sponsors@gss-set.com.

Who is Greening? GSS-SET Saturday, June 7 Launch List of Presenters for Gallery 125 11am to 4pm Activities:

Dr. Mitchell Joachim, Terreform and Archinode

He completed his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Architecture: Design and Computation. His dissertation is entitled: Ecotransology - Integrated Design for Urban Mobility. He is faculty at Washington University and Columbia University.

Anastasia Harrison, WESKetch Architects

AIA member from WESK Architecture, Inc. Anastasia is a licensed architect and one of the first indoor air quality certified professionals in the state and develops environmental design strategies can enhance the aesthetics of a house and improve quality of life and the financial bottom line.

Fred Stine, Delaware River Keeper Network

Citizen Action Coordinator for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN), the only advocacy organization working throughout the entire Delaware River Watershed and defines a “RiverKeeper” as an individual who is the voice of the River, championing the rights of the River and its streams as members of our community.

Jason Kliwinski, Spiezle Group

Jason is a LEED™-accredited professional, is currently Director of Sustainable Design with the Spiezle Architectural Group, and has designed seven educational and two residential projects in the last five years to incorporate the LEED Silver standards, including the recently completed Microsoft School of the Future in Philadelphia PA which received a LEED™ Gold certification.

Elizabeth Slate, Alchemical Nursery Project

Founder of the Alchemical Nursery Project, a non profit organization based in Syracuse, NY that embraces a holistic approach to sustainable urban living, focusing on art activism, urban land reclamation, brownfield remediation, community gardening, workshops on healing mind body and soul, educational outreach, information sharing, community building, green building techniques, alternative energy and waste management, permaculture, the new urbanism, formation of an urban ecovillage, neighborhood revitalization, mixed use neighborhoods, villages within cities, green spaces within cities, biking, and more!

Visit: http://www.gss-set.blogspot.com/ for GSS-SET updates and timely, reliable, relevant, and well-structured information and community-building resources.