Niagara College collaborates with many community organizations across the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada, and globally. Collaboration and cooperation between individuals and organizations reduce barriers and provide opportunities to students and community members to learn about sustainability, climate action and social inclusion, ensuring a safe and livable future for generations to come.
NC Team at the Ser Bhum Brewery tasting room in Bhutan.
NC Team visiting The Mongeaue College in Jamaica as part of the SAGE-05 project.
Faculty from the Unidades Tecnológicas de Santander water sampling at restored wetland system while visiting Niagara.
Ongoing Partnerships
Niagara College has many meaningful ongoing partnerships that continue to make positive contributions to the environment, sustainability and local community, some of them are highlighted below.
Niagara College in partnership with the Niagara Region, Brock University and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, coordinates the Niagara Climate Change Action Network (NCCAN), which was established in 2022 to support and accelerate a progressive, collaborative, and equitable approach to addressing the effects of climate change in the Niagara Region.
In 2024, Niagara College partnered with Ontario Nature to monitor the quantity and health of snake species located on the Daniel J. Patterson in Niagara-on-the-Lake, contributing to the province-wide long term snake monitoring protocol to fill in data gaps related to snake species in Ontario. Visit the Snake Monitoring webpage for more information on this project.
Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative is a nonprofit in the Niagara Region working on water monitoring, restoration projects, and visual assessment surveying tools (VAST) across the shorelines of Niagara. The Office of Sustainability has aided in water monitoring and restoration projects in the Niagara Region, on both the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario coasts.
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is the regulatory body for the Niagara Region watershed. They monitor all of the conservation areas, as well as deal with waterways in the Niagara Region, such as the Welland River. The College and the NPCA have a strong relationship that crosses over many programs. Some initiatives done through cooperation include the annual Niagara College BioBlitz, restoration work in conservation areas, and invasive phragmites.
Bee City Canada is a program of Pollinator Project Canada. It focuses on inspiring organizations, cities, and schools to take action and protect pollinators. Niagara College has been a Bee City Campus since 2020.
WWF-Canada lending expertise at Fall Bioblitz
NC Team facilitating a sustainability workshop at the Unidades Tecnológicas de Santander.
Eastern milk snake identified while snake monitoring with Ontario Nature.
Past Partnerships
Niagara College has had many partnerships over the years that have made positive contributions to the environment and local community, some of them are highlighted below.
The Niagara 2022 Summer Canada Games worked with Niagara College to incorporate sustainability by hosting the Sustainability x SPORT summit, course-based projects and work integrated learning opportunities to calculate carbon emissions for the games and events leading up to the games, as well as facility sustainability audits.
Unflood Ontario is a collaborative movement dedicated to reducing the impact of flooding on Ontario, starting in Niagara, Toronto, and Durham.
Niagara Region Public Health coordinates the Memorial Forest, located in Glenridge Quarry, along with many community organizations including Niagara College. The Memorial Forest, founded in 2009, which seeks to reduce the stigma around mental illness and promote greater understanding and compassion from the community as a whole. NC students and employers supported the maintenance of the Forest, ensuring the gardens were looking their best for the annual event in October, eventually transitioning it into a low maintenance rock garden.
International Project Partnerships
The Niagara College Institute for Global Education and Training (IGET) coordinates diverse projects with partners around the world and coordinates projects in many different interdisciplinary areas of specialization including, Environment, Horticulture and Agriculture, Equity Diversity and Inclusion, and Sustainability. Some of these incredible projects are highlighted below.
Niagara College worked with Ser Bhum Brewery (SBB) to support the development of a gender-inclusive and sustainable craft brewing employment sector in Bhutan and to support SBB in expanding operations, production capabilities and market competitiveness while advancing inclusive and sustainable practices. A corporate greenhouse gas inventory, environmental management system, and health and safety plan were delivered on this project. For more information, please visit the project website.
Niagara College partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Department of Economic Development and Transport and Civil Aviation in the Government of Saint Lucia (GoSL) for the project Ensuring Gender-Responsive Approaches in Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Plan. Saint Lucia is one of nine Caribbean countries benefiting from the regional project, Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience (EnGenDER). This project supported the efforts of the government to close existing financing gaps and to leverage sustainable and diverse sources of climate financing with specific attention for gender-responsive and inclusive climate action. For more information, please visit the project website.
Climate change and increased catastrophic weather events have put pressure on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations to become very proactive in agro-food industry development. Niagara College partnered with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), College of the North Atlantic, The Moneague College, Ebony Park HEART Academy, and Global Affairs Canada for the Skills to Access a Green Economy (SAGE) project in Jamaica, which aims to increase the participation of small and medium enterprises in sustainable and gender equitable workforce planning, development, skills training, and certification. For more information, please visit the project website.
Niagara College collaborated with Unidades Technologicas de Santander (UTS) to increasing the awareness of Sustainability through Greening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) working with faculty, staff and students to integrate sustainability across the institution delivering in-person training in Niagara and in Colombia.
NC Team visiting the Universidad de Santander in Colombia.
NC Team at Ebony Park Academy in Jamaica as part of the SAGE-05 project.
NC Team at Ser Bhum Brewery in Bhutan.