Last September, Grand Valley State University and the City of Grand Rapids formed a partnership to work toward long-lasting sustainable solutions for the city and the larger Grand Rapids community. It was the first partnership of its kind.

According to a GVSU press release, the City Commission approved the creation of the Transformational Research and Analysis Team (TRAT), a group of GVSU students brought together to conduct research and analysis in areas necessary to transform and improve city departmental operation and service delivery models.

“The TRAT was specifically put in place to work on projects that would assist the administration and departments of the City of Grand Rapids with the work they are doing to become even more efficient,” said Olwen Urquhart, project manager of TRAT. “Grand Rapids is looking at a bigger picture to determine the effectiveness their administrative and functional operations. In many cases the research has been found that (Grand Rapids) is ahead of the curve.”

Three graduate students and one undergraduate student were chosen to serve as TRAT members: Margaret Carney, Shane Schamper, Farrah Curran and Aaron Ferguson.

Ferguson, an undergraduate senior, described the TRAT as a student consulting firm for the City of Grand Rapids.

“The city wants to make all the different departments more efficient, so they need someone that can do research for them and present that information in a usable way to the departments,” he said. “The connection this group has made with the city serves as great real world application of academic learning, which is sometimes lacking due to few opportunities.

“The Grand Rapids community will benefit because our research is based on the Triple Bottom Line principle of keeping environmental, economic and social values equal,” he continued. “This makes operations more efficient and focused on the total health of the community, not just the monetary aspect.”

Tom Almonte, assistant to the city manager, helped select the students for the team.

“We’ve had student interns before, but never at this level of interaction,” said Almonte in the press release. “This partnership is unique because these students are working on projects with top management. They are in high demand around here because most of the city’s departments are in need of sustainable solutions that will help them reduce operating costs and help city’s economic and environmental goals.”

Norman Christopher, director of the GVSU Sustainable Community Development Initiative, said in a press release that the team has already provided many hours of research and has completed eight projects since its creation in September 2010.

“This clearly shows how much the students are in demand, and how much they are contributing to the future of Grand Rapids,” Christopher said. “Through this partnership, we are learning a great deal more about the in-depth issues the city is facing and how sustainable solutions can be developed.”

Christopher said he expects to see a continued momentum for additional project requests by the Grand Rapids.

“I believe the City sees this as a model for many cities and communities whereby they draw upon college and universities for applied sustainable development best practices. Internships provide the capacity for on -the-job training and real life critical work issues for cities, municipalities, and communities.”

[email protected]