Team Internship Program - City DPW

Sourced from GCC Business Challenge on March 28, 2024.

Challenge Overview

The City of Glendale is committed to promoting sustainability and reducing organic waste by implementing a community composting program. This challenge invites students to develop a comprehensive composting program that incorporates community compost centers, utilizing a three-tier composting system (curing, cooking, and final product), and engages volunteers who will be trained to manage the process effectively and actively participate in the development of a community composting program.

Business Challenge

How can the City of Glendale develop a comprehensive composting program that incorporates community compost centers, utilizing a three-tier composting system, and engages volunteers trained to manage the process effectively and actively participate in the development of community composting program?

Objectives

1. Design a comprehensive composting program that can be implemented city-wide, starting with pilot neighborhood composting clusters at City Parks.

2. Develop training materials and sessions for volunteers to ensure they understand their responsibilities at each stage of the composting process: curing, cooking, and final product.

3. Identify suitable locations for community compost centers and establish partnerships with local organizations, such as community gardens, to promote composting.

   1. L.A. Compost

   2. California Alliance for Community Composting

   3. Griffith Park Composting Facility

   4. City of Pasadena Community compost hubs

4. Conduct research to support the development of pocket parks in southern parts of the City, with a focus on integrating composting sites and promoting sustainable practices such as community gardens.

Understanding the Context

Boeing has provided information about its current initiatives and programs. However, company histories help us understand why certain communities are not active participants or common targets for recruitment and retention. To find innovate solutions to this issue, we need to know the context of this problem, or in other words:

• What do we already know?
• What do we need to know more about or understand better?
• What are the concepts, events, people, places, etc. that are involved?
• How are these concepts related to one another and/or my issue?

What do you need to find out to accomplish the deliverables?

• Composting steps
  • Curing
  • Cooking
  • Final product
• Composting programs
  • What are other cities doing?
  • What do trusted organizations recommend?
  • What do researchers recommend?
• Locations
  • Where are the potential locations for composting centers?
  • How can I narrow these down by
    • accessibility,
    • environmental impact,
    • land availability, etc.?
• Training volunteers
  • What do volunteers need to know?
  • How do other organizations run their volunteer programs?