United States

Since 1999, ISC has worked with communities in the United States to help them envision and plan for sustainable futures. Today, ISC's main work in the United States includes our Climate Leadership Academy, which works with city leaders to translate their commitment to reducing climate pollution into effective action, and the Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network, which is facilitating stronger connections among communities recovering from natural and man-made disasters.

Tangible Results

• ISC has launched six modules of our Climate Leadership Academy, working with teams of local climate and energy practitioners and senior government officials from 55 U.S. cities and metropolitan regions.

  The Academy addresses some of the primary sectors for achieving meaningful climate action, and each module tackles key, topic-specific challenges based on what city and regional climate practitioners identify as being among the greatest barriers to effective climate solutions.

  Climate Leadership Academy topics have so far included Building Energy Retrofits, Transportation Efficiency, Green Job Creation & Green Economic Development, Climate Adaptation & Resilience, and Sustainable Community Development.

• Through the Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network, ISC worked with coastal communities to build the tools, skills and confidence needed to create more socially, economically, and environmentally healthy and resilient communities in the wake of disasters, with a special focus on connecting smaller towns and rural areas.

  An integrated program of community exchanges, training workshops, technical assistance, and support for emerging leaders provided an avenue for civic leaders from across the Gulf Coast to share information and ideas, learn from and support each other’s activities, and take small programs and local innovations to scale.

  Our goal was to leave behind a lasting legacy of cooperation, so we were delighted to transition ISC’s role as convener and facilitator to the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health in January 2011.

• As Moss Point, Mississippi city leaders created a new post-Katrina vision of sustainability for their city, they also reached out to residents, who are now actively participating in day-to-day decision-making. Two new community advisory task forces help guide major development decisions and serve as an important new model for the city to engage residents and community in the rebuilding effort and beyond.


• After interviewing over 500 people for the New England Futures Project, ISC and its partners published a series of articles in 2006 examining critical issues facing the region that were published in 27 news outlets in all six states.


• From 2001 to 2007, the Leadership for a Changing World program recognized 163 innovative leaders across the United States for their community-based approaches to social change.


• Launched with our help in 1999, the Burlington Legacy Project in Burlington, Vermont continues to change the face of the city through such initiatives as bringing youth onto boards of directors, the adoption of an open space protection plan, a rewrite of zoning laws, a no-idling campaign and ordinance change, bringing healthier and local food into schools, and an anti-racism action plan.

The Climate Leadership Academy

The Climate Leadership Academy offers state-of-the-art training, technical assistance and mentoring programs to help cities ramp up energy efficiency, create green jobs, and tackle climate disruption.

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Creating New Economic Opportunity on the Gulf Coast

ISC launched the Gulf Coast Sustainable Economies Leadership Academy to help smaller, primarily low-income communities explore how energy efficiency, renewable energy, and ecological restoration can revitalize their economies. 20 communities from four Gulf states sent teams to the Academy.

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Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network

Building on our work in Moss Point, Mississippi, we launched the Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network, which is helping communities make informed choices about their future.

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Turning Crisis Into Opportunity on the Gulf Coast

Like its neighbors along the Gulf Coast, the city of Moss Point, Mississippi suffered tremendous devastation during Hurricane Katrina. Today, ISC is helping city officials become stronger leaders, a fledgling nonprofit grow to better serve its community, and the city's poorest neighborhoods—severely flooded by Katrina—engage in the rebuilding process.

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