Humber College’s Office of Sustainability and Applied Research & Innovation are catalyzing sustainable innovative ideas through a fund to help support projects that benefit our environment and the community. This Innovation Fund will provide financial assistance to current Humber or Guelph-Humber students enrolled in any program with the purpose of enabling new, sustainable innovative ideas for products, inventions and/or solutions. These awards will recognize students’ creativity, originality, problem-solving abilities, and opportunity recognition skills. 

Benefits

1. Positive impact: Your ideas have the ability to positively transform the environment and your community.
2. Co-Curricular Record (CCR): All of the hours you track through this program are eligible for CCR
3. Funding: $500 in VISA gift cards will be provided to the successful applicants
4. Experience: You'll bump up your skills in areas including project management, budgeting, research, problem solving, leadership and networking 
5. Networking: Facilitate campus and community connections to help your project thrive. 

Eligibility

1. Must be a current full time or part time Humber student.
2. Your project should impact at least two of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.
3. Your funding request must be for fixed project costs. Variable costs are not eligible for this program.

How does it work?

1. Develop a sustainable and socially innovative project that addresses at least two of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Submit your project proposal by February 21, 2020 
2. Receive funding at a reception for the winning project proposals to be held in March 2020 
3. Provide a progress report on how the funds were spent and the impact of your project by August 31, 2020

Criteria for evaluating the awards

The awards will be evaluated on:

• Background is relevant to the SDGs
• Scope is concise
• Objectives are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely
• Identified prominent risks to project success and mitigates/ manages risk appropriately
• Timeline is realistic and detailed
• Budget is realistic, detailed, and does not contain any variable costs (i.e. only fixed costs)
• Project contributes meaningfully to at least two of the SDGs

Submitting a proposal

To apply for the Social Innovation Awards, email the completed form to sustainability@humber.ca by 5 p.m. on February 21, 2020 (please include in the email subject “Social Innovation Award Application”).

Questions

If you have any questions, please email sustainability@humber.ca.

Please join us at a Town Hall to hear the latest news about our progress and our next steps in implementing one of the initiatives from Humber's 2018-2023 Strategic Plan: The Unlimited Campaign.

When: Thursday, January 30, 2020
Time: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. – Lunch will be provided
Location: North Campus, KB111 (Seventh Semester)
Register in advance & ensure a seat (You can also register at the door)

Need an accommodation? Contact strategicplanning@humber.ca.
Can’t attend a session? Listen to the Town Hall live stream.
Want more information? Visit the Strategic Planning website.

We're Searching for #HumberLove

Are you a Humber grad? Did you meet your significant other at Humber? If this sounds like you or someone you know, we want to hear from you!

Be a part of our Valentine's Day #HumberLove feature, and tell us your story at alumni@humber.ca.

We are very excited to announce that Humber has partnered with Renewed Computer Technology (RCT) to offer a low-income computer purchasing program for Humber students and community clients this semester (Winter 2020).

Humber is the first higher education institution in Ontario to partner with RCT in this way and offer a purchasing program that aims to make technology affordable and accessible to our learners with financial need. To date, RCT has only worked with non-profit organizations and K-12 school boards. Up to 300 computers will be available during the winter semester. We intend to pilot this program in winter 2020 and then scale up the number of available computers for purchase in the 2020-21 academic year.

Detailed information about the purchasing program will be circulated with stakeholders across Humber’s academic and student service departments, including Ignite. Students will need to apply online using a special code specific to their campus locations.

Computers must be purchased by mid-February and will be delivered to specified North and Lakeshore Campus pick-up locations by mid-March. The purchase cost is $161 for a laptop is and $71 for a desktop package. All computers come pre-loaded with Windows, MS Office, other learning software as well as a two-year warranty. Desktop packages also include monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Low-income eligibility requirements for the purchasing program are noted on the flyer.

In keeping with Humber’s commitment to sustainability, we are also pleased to share that Community Outreach & Workforce Development will be working with Information Technology Services as well as the Office of Sustainability to ensure that this partnership with RCT is connected to initiatives that encourage the Humber community to recycle technology over the next year. ITS has generously supported the collection of computers for RCT’s low-income program in the past and we are pleased that this will continue as part of a collective strategy. Please stay tuned for more updates!

Please find a copy of Humber’s Sustainability Plan here.

Questions can be directed to Nivedita Lane, Manager, Community & Partnership Development, COWD (nivedita.lane@humber.ca).