Establishing Culture and Sustainable Policy within

the RainDance Community

Windsor, Colorado

STUDENT NAMES AND EMAILS: Emily Girschick: emilypg@rams.colostate.edu

Taya Loran: tlloran@rams.colostate.edu
Wendy Munson: wendywm@rams.colostate.edu 
Allison Olson: allisonolson27@gmail.com
Molly Rosales: mrosa@rams.colostate.edu
Greg Welsh: gjwelsh@rams.colostate.edu

LIST OF PROJECT MENTORS, ADVISORS OR COLLABORATORS: Susan Melzer

COURSE NAME: Applications of Global Environmental Sustainability
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 12/05/21
PROJECT SUMMARY
 
Overview: 
Environmental degradation, global warming, and climate change are all issues that can be
mitigated through awareness and education throughout entire communities. Through
awareness, communities can get together to create plans and policies that promote sustainable
living based on their community’s needs, resources, and values. There are three main pillars
when it comes to implementing a sustainable culture within the RainDance Community. These
involve club engagement, seasonal festivals, and the integration of sustainable lessons into the
Windsor School System. By utilizing the opportunities available through these objectives, the
desired promotion is to cultivate a community centered around sustainability. Empathy learning
is valuable in being able to share the experiences of others; when it comes to sustainability, the
community must consider multiple viewpoints for overall sustainability (Romm, 2007).

Technical Merit: 
The seasonal festivals will allow various clubs, which are to be organized across generations and
schools to share data on the logistics of implementing community-wide initiatives regarding
human health, environmental health, and educational integration. This allows for all sectors of
the community to collaborate to create a better functioning and more sustainable city.  The
potential of the proposed activity is to disseminate knowledge across all parts of the community
and facilitate actions based on that knowledge. This will then be translated into
community-wide events such as the aforementioned festivals, clubs, and sustainable school
lessons. If a community consensus is around sustainability but action is not established, then it
is difficult to expect community members to act on or gather around sustainability initiatives
(Reid et al., 2021). Reaching all parts of the community through transorganizational and
transgenerational clubs can aid in the dissemination of knowledge, and the engagement of the
community, with an emphasis on participation, collaboration, and community insight.

Broader Impacts: 
We will be able to improve human-environmental relationships through festivals, clubs, and
school lesson plans. Sustainability goals will be met primarily through education and building
personal relationships with stakeholders and other RainDance members. The results of these
efforts will have cascading effects on overall community metrics of sustainability. These metrics
include evolving sustainable practices in the RainDance community through consistent
participation. The environment and city benefit from these initiatives because one of the most
efficient and appropriate ways to create a sustainable city is launched through the people that
live there (Werkheiser, 2015). The RainDance community needs to inaugurate both an inclusive
and welcoming identity that is centered around facilitating community sustainability.

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION 

Clubs

With adequate funding, individual clubs will be created that help educate the RainDance
community on current and future sustainability issues and solutions. These clubs will be
volunteer-based, and potentially provide an opportunity for engagement in local schools. The
ideal club would contain members from all generations and represent the diversity of the
community. A holding place for the club may be at the local high school, library, or another
educational institution, whereby anyone can sign up and it is a volunteer position. The focus of
these clubs will differ in their approach to sustainability within the community, whereby each
club focuses on a topic to facilitate a conversation around during the larger events (festivals)
which are being held. For example, these clubs (Aggie, Recreation, and Stewardship club) will
focus on education around adding sustainable actions such as composting to a household, how
to do so, costs, and studying the best method of engaging the community around the topic. This
will culminate in a plan of action devised by the club around implementing their ideas and
following through on their engagement. Funding for clubs will be provisionally based on the
ability to show a plan of action and engagement.
 
Seasonal Festivals

Seasonal festivals that include the aforementioned clubs will be a place for sharing knowledge,
participating in fun and engaging activities, and will be open to the entire public. Festivals will
allow clubs to propose their view of effective and sustainable actions to enhance the RainDance
community based on the work they have done leading up to the festivals and their future plans.
Typical sustainable actions introduced and discussed in these festivals will include but are not
limited to composting, green energy, and cycling.

There can be opportunities for vendors to participate in the festivals based on applications and
permits. The types of vendors the festivals would be looking for include but are not limited to:
household solar energy companies, pick-up composting services, food vendors which have an
emphasis on sustainable or local means of production, or other vendors which cater to a
sustainable mindset and have an investment in the community.

Sustainability Education

In order to create support for sustainability practices in the community and maintain a passion
for sustainable practices, integration of lesson plans into the local Windsor school system to
integrate education with RainDance's sustainability goals is a primary initiative. “Educating for
sustainability seeks to provide knowledge and understanding of the physical, biological, and
human world, and involves students making decisions about a range of ethical, social,
environmental and economic issues, and acting upon them” (Paige, 2017). Ideas include using
recycled materials for use in sustainable art exhibits which can be displayed in RainDance’s
community centers. Having young students be able to connect to similar clubs of RainDance will

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help further engage them and allow them to see what changes they can make in their personal
lives and at school to make these concepts well-known throughout the different demographics
of the community. 

Objective 1: Create clubs that cater to the various interests of RainDance members that are
inclusive, engaging, and align with sustainability goals.

Aggie Club

The Aggie club will have a focus on local agriculture. This club will oversee hosting farmer’s
markets within the community of RainDance. These markets will help establish relationships
between community members and local producers, which in turn, will assist in the push toward
buying and eating local, an important aspect of creating sustainability within communities.
Other events can include pumpkin patches, harvest events, and other community outreach
events such as informative sessions/workshops for regenerative farming practices. informative
sessions will incorporate soil restoration, irrigation efficiency, native vegetation, and seeding
strategies.

Recreation Club

The recreation club aims to promote healthy living through outdoor activities. Activities that will
be available include cycling, hiking/camping, ski trips to local resorts, swimming, golfing, and
fishing. Beyond participating in the activities, stewardship will also be a part of the club’s duties
like trail building/maintenance and trail/park cleanup. This will ensure clubs take responsibility
for their actions which helps deepen their understanding of living and acting sustainably.

Stewardship club

For those that desire to help the community in more ways than one, the stewardship club
would provide accessible ways to interact with the community in many facets. For example,
social activities can include hosting and/or volunteering at a community kitchen/pantry and
hosting donation events for various occasions/goods. Environmental activities can include trail
maintenance, water cleanups, tree planting, and weed pulling/bagging.

Objective 2: Have seasonal community festivals to celebrate and share metrics of the club's
sustainable actions. The seasonal festivals will allow various clubs to share metrics on
community logistics with each other regarding human health, environmental health, and
cultural integration. This allows for all sectors of the community to collaborate to create a better
functioning and more sustainable city. 

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Harvest Community Event

Hosting a fall event that focuses on farmer harvests that are inclusive and encouraging better
farm-to-table practices. This will help create relationships with local producers as well as
provide learning opportunities which will help grow the support of community farmers as the
winter months approach. These seasonal festivals can also include a pumpkin patch, corn maze,
and other fall activities to give members a chance to appreciate the communal benefits of small
farms.

Winter Festivity Event

An inclusive winter event will include activities such as a Winter Solstice celebration, arts and
crafts, sponsored winter sport outings, potlucks, and other community-oriented activities.
Through these activities, community members will gain more insight into energy-efficient
changes that they can make in their homes during the winter months. Understanding how the
community members can change their energy habits individually will likely create a bandwagon
effect, creating knowledge transfer and developing appropriate lifestyle changes

Spring Planting Event

Host a Spring event after the last frost to encourage the planting of new crops in RainDance’s
community farms and gardens as well as introduce the community into scenes of the
production of local farming. Participation and education around rainwater harvesting for
community gardens. 

Summer Sustainability Event 

Host a Summer event that encourages the implementation of sustainable practices throughout
the community. Activities could include a community-wide lifestyle challenge to promote
sustainable practices (i.e. reducing water use, trash generation). This could further support local
businesses, artists, musicians, authors, etc.

Objective 3: Integrate local school systems with sustainability goals and create natural
exhibits promoting sustainability and positive human-environment interactions.

Sustainability School Curriculum 

Our team will work with local schools in addition to city, county, and state parks to integrate an
environmental activity program that highlights the natural areas within and surrounding
Windsor, Colorado. This could include recycling, composting programs, and science-based
approaches to sustainable thinking. Doing so will create a larger impact for neighboring
communities and help give RainDance and the general public appropriate resources for creating
beneficial change in their lifestyles.

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Establish Nature Center

Our team will work to establish an environmental learning center in collaboration with Larimer
County Parks and Recreation. With potential sites including on-site of the RainDance property
or offsite in Eastman Park or Kyger Open Space, we can ecologically enhance a Wildlife Center in
Windsor for schools and the public. This could be integrated into the sustainability-oriented
curriculum and exist as an active learning segment about environmental ethics like
leave-no-trace. 

Methods
Participation

Project participation (through clubs, festivals, education) will be both organic and
recruitment-based. After appointing club leaders through a series of interviews, outreach will
become available to increase participation for the different sectors of this project. Club leaders
may recruit a volunteer pool/network and possibilities for jobs will be feasible with adequate
funding. Additionally, members can be gained through partnerships with other established
groups of NGOs. Part of the adaptive project approach can include incentives if participation is
falling short of demand. Incentives may include a reduction in monthly HOA fees and/or provide
exclusive access to the community’s farmer’s markets/garden harvest events.

Funding

Funding for this project will come from several different sources. Doing so will help ensure this
project continues to have financial stability throughout the years. These sources include:

Fundraising: Crowdfunding campaigns (i.e., Kickstarter) in addition to fees collected

during beneficiary days at the golf course and community pool.

Festival profits: The proposed festival will have an entrance fee in addition to
concessions and other forms of revenue (percentage of vendor profits) which will serve
as a large portion of the project’s operational fees.  Vendors that are not part of
RainDance will also pay a fee to attend the festivals, increasing revenue for Raindance all
while creators can show and sell their art.

Merchandise: The different sustainability clubs will have merchandise (apparel, art,
food, etc.) for sale to help fund individual activities hosted by the respective club. 

Partnerships/investors: Many of these clubs will also have partnerships with local
businesses and nonprofits which help gain funding through grants and local investors. 

HOA: Additionally, the monthly HOA fee will incorporate the project’s proposed actions.

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Budget
Rain Dance will need a certain amount of funding to carry out our group’s anticipated seasonal
festivals, school events, and cultural clubs. This money will most likely come from one of our
proposed funding options, such as merchandise sales, partnerships, and local investors.

Seasonal Festivals

There will need to be adequate funding for all festivals Rain Dance will be holding, such as the
harvest community event, winter festival event, spring planning event, and the summer
sustainability event. Each event will partner with a local organization to have enough resources
and funding to complete each event. With this being said, our Cultural Policy team mainly needs
funding for advertising their events. By partnering with existing companies, farms, and
established recreational centers, we can avoid unnecessary external costs for hosting such
events. Advertising will use $500 of the total projected budget.

Harvest Community Event

Raindance can partner with local organizations and farms to fund the Harvest
Community Event that teaches community members about farm-to-table practices. No
money is needed for this event location. While food vendors, farms, and/or agricultural
beneficiaries can make a profit through promoting their products at Rain Dance events,
Rain Dance can promote their values as a sustainable community, and teach local
community members about eating healthy, farm to table practices, and how to eliminate
food waste.

These seasonal festivals also include a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and other fall
activities to give members a chance to appreciate the communal benefits of small farms.
The pumpkin patch and corn maze will be hosted at the local community farm to avoid
any extra fees for setting up the Harvest Festival location. Some money will be needed
from Rain Dance to set up the event. The money will be used for tents, festival games,
and other activities promoting farm-to-table practices. For current projections, Rain
Dance will need around $1,000 for this event.

Winter Festivity Event

An inclusive winter event will host activities such as the Winter Solstice celebration, arts
and crafts and crafts fairs, sponsored winter sport outings, potlucks, and other
community-oriented activities. First, the arts and crafts winter event will continuously be
held at the Nature Center throughout December, and until the end of January. Rain
Dance will need funding for the crafts- we are currently projecting a $2,000 budget to be
used throughout the winter months. Next, the winter sporting events will be sponsored
by the county and local ski/snowboarding companies, so there is no need for funding.
Last, pot locks will be held at the local community center, and residents are asked to

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 bring their food creations. Funding will just be needed for cutlery and composting. We
predict Rain Dance will need around $1,000 for these two factors.

Spring Planting Event

Rain Dance plans to host a Spring event after the last frost to encourage the planting of
new crops in RainDance’s community farms and gardens. Rain Dance will need adequate
funding to create the community farms, keep the plants watered, and provide proper
maintenance to the vegetation. This will need around $3,000.

Summer Sustainability Event 

Rain Dance plans to host a Summer event that encourages the implementation of
sustainable practices throughout the community. Activities will include education
around sustainable changes to be made in personal homes, community involvement in
local gardens, and community-wide farmer’s market expanding beyond local food
(supporting local pottery, artists, authors, etc.) Educational activities can be held by local
schools or universities. This way, students can volunteer to show off their knowledge for
school/work experience hours, while the Winsor community can benefit from gaining
important ecological knowledge. This cut costs for Rain Dance in this department- we
will only then need just around $700 will just be for the setup.

Nature Center

Rain Dance will partner with Larimer County Parks and Recreation to build the new Nature
Center. Several clubs and other activities mentioned in this essay can be held at this location.
This will be the largest investment for Rain Dance to make, but costs can be significantly cut if
we are allowed a grant from Larimer County. By proving our social mission of helping the
Winsor community members learn about their surrounding environment, this grant can be
secured. We will need around $100,000 to build the Nature Center (BuildingsGuides 2021). The
building will be made of recycled materials and use solar energy for power. This cuts costs
significantly and helps out the environment (Phipps 2021). Below (Figure 1), is an informative
pamphlet on why reusing old building materials cut carbon emissions and why it is a sustainable
practice.

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Figure 1. Pamphlet discussing impacts of upcycling building materials on emissions (Gehrung
2020).

School Curriculum

As per the previous funding option mentioned, Rain Dance can receive a grant from Larimer
County to fund the school curriculum. The curriculum includes a new course on climate change,
and can be taught from kindergarten to 12th grade. Existing teachers at the school will be given
a course on how to teach the material, as well as any crafting items or materials they may need.
Teachers are also given the option to take their students on field trips to the Nature Center and
community gardens, avoiding external costs for any off-site school activities. The proposed
budget for the school curriculum is around $5,000. This will be used for course materials, and
teaching classes for instructors. As previously said, this can come from a government grant.

Employees 
The Rain Dance cultural policy team is made up of both volunteers and local employees.
Owners, appointed club member leaders, festival coordinators, and the community outreach
team will all receive a portion of funding from Rain Dance. Wages for hired team members are
explained in the employee invoice section.

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Next, the members of the Rain Dance cultural policy team will take on groups of individuals
within the community to volunteer in community events such as high school and college
students. These volunteer opportunities include positions such as helping set up events and
festivals, serving food at events, and helping school staff during educational programs. These
are not paid events, rather volunteers from CSU or other universities can earn experience hours
or school credit.

Fringe benefits

All volunteers are allowed subsidized breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the events from vendors
utilizing sustainable food practices (ie. sourcing locally, no single-use items) and educational
programs they are stationed to work at. Raindance employees that work for the cultural policy
team can receive one free meal per day. Raindance employees that work more than 30 hours a
week will also receive benefits such as healthcare and life insurance. Food will be from local
farms and any waste will be composted back into the soil at the Nature Center. This money
comes from revenue earned at Rain Dance events and festivals.

Employee Invoice

wage or salary can receive one free meal per day and receive full and part time employee
benefits

Paydays are bi-weekly on Friday and lag pay periods by one week. Pay Rates: Our goal is to fairly
compensate every team member with competitive pay and benefits based on their position,
qualifications, and performance and on our ability to do so. High performers, regardless of their
position, are paid at the higher end of the pay scale, have greater job security when times are
bad, have more advancement and promotion opportunities, are selected for more choice
assignments, and receive a larger share of profit-sharing distributions (Company Culture and
Policy, 2021).

Working Hours: Our standard office hours are Monday through Thursday 7 am to 5 pm and
Friday 8 am to noon. This adds up to a 40-hour standard workweek.

Measurable Results
To measure project efficacy, the team will begin measuring results by getting feedback from the
community members through surveys and suggestion drop boxes and demonstrating metrics
through the many events and clubs. Demonstrations of these metrics will be displayed for the
public during seasonal festivals which will help keep club members and community members
aware of successes and opportunities. Club leaders will also take part in assessing these metrics
during seasonal meetings to better inform their future actions. 

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Measurable results include: 

A proper monitoring plan will ensure project success and overall support.  If goals are not being
met, appropriate planning, measures, and research will be taken to reassess new policies,
methods, and procedures regarding our cultural planning and policies.

Research will need to be done to assess the community members’ core values. To implement
our project, the purpose will be to match the community’s needs. We plan to incorporate
cultural engagement within the Windsor community, so our plan needs to align with their needs
and values. One experimental method we could use is interviewing community members before
holding our community events to find out what is needed to host the most engaging and
integrative gatherings that produce the most effective results. For example, if the community
wants better access to transportation we would research for better transportation before
planning the location of a community event.

Project Impacts
Statement of technical merit: Through festivals, clubs, and school lesson plans, sustainability
goals will be met primarily through education (designed and implemented by those in clubs
around their areas of interest) and building personal relationships through community outreach
and engagement with all stakeholders in the RainDance community. This can have cascading
effects for overall community metrics of sustainability, as seen in other examples of
sustainability festivals and their contribution to the local economy and sustainability (Pereira et
al., 2021).

The project’s actions are based on the Triple-Bottom-Line framework which emphasizes the
consideration of people, profit, and the planet (Miller, 2020). The idea here is that while profit is
an important consideration, it is not the only consideration. This is the foundation upon which
the proposal is built.

People: This project will assist in creating meaningful relationships, increasing awareness of
RainDance’s identity as a sustainable community with a tie to agriculture while maintaining a
vacation lifestyle (RainDance, 2021). With this knowledge, the intention is to facilitate individual
and community sustainability and to provide the opportunities to do so.

Profit: Clubs and festivals will generate funding through participation to fulfill current/future
sustainability goals and to allocate financial resources back into sustainability education.

Planet: Increased awareness and knowledge of community resources will lead to a positive
ecological impact. Potential of individual actions to have a cascading effect on the overall
sustainability markers such as emissions and waste.

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Project Timeline

Initial Stage (Year 1)

Within the first year, the team will meet with local education departments to establish
relationships and develop ideas to reach sustainability goals (Figure 2). In this stage, the
community-oriented clubs, and educational opportunities for RainDance will be formed once
funding is received. Additionally, the team will meet with local developers to survey potential
areas of environmental interest (i.e., riparian zones, prairie ecosystems) to establish
conservation goals. This will be assisted through collaboration with local school systems and the
RainDance community.

Establishment Stage (Years 2-4)

During years 2-4, sustainable practices will be implemented in the daily routines of individuals
residing in the RainDance community (i.e., reusable products, less water initiatives, compost
stations, etc.) through engagement with community members at public events/festivals (Figure
2). These ‘establishment’ years will also incorporate outreach to local artists regarding the
collaboration efforts to create sculpture and other works of visual art that align with
sustainability goals.

With continued participation in clubs within the community (agriculture club, recreation club,
volunteering club) there will be enough data to begin reviewing the metrics for participation
fluctuations, and overall engagement which will help assist the team in reviewing adaptive
strategies to better align with any changes in the community’s needs. Year 2 will also be where
the project team implements community events (i.e., holiday festivities, farmers markets,
competitions, nature outings).

Final Stage (Year 5+)

During (and after) Year 5, efforts will be made to continue the previous actions of servicing the
community with free, informative public events (Figure 2). As insight is gained, there will be
adaptive solutions to increase accessibility, participation, and engagement measures to keep
momentum in our projected progress toward sustainability and community goals.

Monitoring the project and seeing an increase in efficacy, the project aims to expand outreach
outside of the RainDance community to create relationships with bordering towns and other
communities. This is for the sole purpose of leading by example for Northern Colorado to adopt
similar practices and continue learning and improving Colorado communities. 

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Figure 2. Diagram outlining the temporal steps involved throughout the proposed project

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