Shelburne Farms Partnership Projects Highlighted in 2 New UN Publications

We’re proud to have two of our collaborative projects featured in recently published books by the United Nations University.

The first book highlights Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability, a Shelburne Farms collaboration with UP for Learning that supports youth-adult teams to develop and implement community action projects addressing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Learning for a Sustainable Future: RCE Stories of Action-Oriented Pedagogies showcases Cultivating Pathways as one of many exemplary projects across Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) globally that are effectively fostering local actions for sustainable development by empowering learners. 

The second publication features Burlington City & Lake Semester (BCL), a collaboration between Shelburne Farms and Burlington School District that offers real-world learning to high school students, using the community as a classroom. That book, Learning, Collaborating, and Transforming: The 20-Year Journey of the Global RCE Network also celebrates RCEs, with BCL highlighted as an illustration of global best practices.  

Both Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability and Burlington City & Lake Semester have previously been honored by the U.N. University as exemplary, flagship programs in Education for Sustainable Development, in 2018 and 2021 respectively. 

“Partnerships have been at the heart of the Greater Burlington RCE since it was recognized in 2015,” said Jen Cirillo, Director of Professional Learning with Shelburne Farms. “Shelburne Farms and the University of Vermont, along with dozens of other organizations, have committed to educating for a sustainable and just future, realizing the vision of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. As members in an international community of RCEs, we learn so much from others and by sharing our work here in Vermont. We are thrilled to have these impactful projects highlighted in UN publications.”

Both publications are available online free of charge:

• Learning for a Sustainable Future: RCE Stories of Action-Oriented Pedagogies, Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability is covered starting on page 52
• Learning, Collaborating, and Transforming: The 20-Year Journey of the Global RCE Network, BCL is explored in Chapter 3, beginning on page 60.