Conexions: Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

Description

Here is a summary of Conexions projects and a respresentative array of results acheived during a year:

• Enneagram Studies focuses on the nine personality types of the Enneagram System of Personality. In 2008, this project offered several courses on improving relationships, personal deepening, and spiritual growth through studying the Enneagram, and continues to expand its range of courses offered.
  

• EnneBusiness Solutions works with business teams using the tools of conflict resolution, facilitation, coaching and the deep wisdom found within the Enneagram System of Personality to create improved working environments. This year the team provided workshops to Collective Roots, Carnegie Melon West, and Genentech, and will continue to bring their approach to Silicon Valley and beyond.

• Exploring a Sense of Place provides a yearlong course and other programs getting participants reconnected to the bioregion in which they live, while gaining an appreciation for the powerful impact we have on it. Our local year-long program is flourishing here in our bioregion and with our support, numerous additional programs are occurring in other bioregions throughout the U.S. We have orders for our guidebook Exploring a Sense of Place coming in from Europe, South America, Australia, Canada and all parts of the North American Continent, helping people, wherever they are, to discover their own sense of place.

• Getting Going Growing reconnects children to the Earth and their sources of food by providing support to school gardens in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. We offer consultations, workshops, networking opportunities, and in-kind support in partnership with local landscaping professionals. This year we helped districts throughout the two counties apply for funds available through the CA Dept. of Education to improve their garden programs. We provided direct technical assistance to 3 districts cumulatively helping them raise over $100,000. In November we held a School Gardening Network representing 21 schools.

• Sustainovation promotes sustainable business practices as the driver of business innovation in a series of speaker events, dialogs, tours, conferences, networking events, and workshops. Recent events included: o Dani Tsuda, WSP Environmental Strategies: "Design as Environmental Stewardship", o Jim Caldwell, E3 Regenesis Solutions, Inc.: "Putting Waste to Work: Creating Fuel, Energy and New Products," o John Adams, author and executive faculty member at SayBrook Graduate School: "Thinking Today as if Tomorrow Mattered," o Andrew Winton, founder of Winston Eco-Strategies: "Green to Gold", and o Kris Lichter, IBM: "Innovation that Matters."

• Green Fork (formerly Valley of Hearts Delight) Connects participants to local, seasonal, organic food sources and increases our impact on how our food choices have a powerful global impact. Recent initiatives : o A winning proposal for Full Circle Farm to turn 11-acres of school district property into an organic, educational farm o An Edible Landscaping tour with 10 gardens and 230+ participants o A local, organic meal followed by an Organic, fair-trade chocolate tasting o A "Quick and Easy Sides" cooking class with local and organic ingredients, o A sold-out 100-Mile Thanksgiving Celebration, and o Co-developed San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance, and the Healthy Silicon Valley Food Providers Sector.

• Peninsula Permaculture Our newest project offers in-depth workshops that help you create abundance on your land and in your community while learning and taking an active part in improving local self-sufficiency and responsibility for our Planet's resources.