Sustain Rockford
The mission of Sustain Rockford is to advocate and educate for practices and policies that protect our community’s land, air, and water to benefit all. In an effort to encourage our community to become a more sustainable place to live the group Sustain Rockford hosted its first sustainability summit.
The group along with the Illinois Renewable Energy Association and the Rockford Coalition for Sustainable Suture put on an energy expo to showcase local organizations and companies that are working to better our community. Organizers say they have looked at other communities that have built successful sustainability platforms and want to work together to create a framework here in the Rockford area.
"Frameworks that involve more than just energy efficiency. They involve social equity, they involve food security, they involve education and health. So it is a way of really knitting together all of the important functions of any community,” said convener for the sustainability working group Brad Roos. Organizers say a good sustainable framework is based off a holistic concept. The Sustain Rockford group meets once a month
Brad Roos is President and Co-Founder of Sustain Rockford and is a Volunteer Consultant for the Center for Nonprofit Excellence at Rockford University. Prior positions include Assistant Director and Executive Director for ZION Development Corporation from 1990 to 2014. He was also a Teacher of Chemistry, Math and Environmental Studies at Champaign Central High School and a Special Chemist at Mercy Hospital in Urbana, and Coordinator of Local WOrks and various other positions at empty tomb, inc., a religious organization in Urbana.
He has been involved in many local orgaonizations including: Midtown District Association; Rockford Area Affordable Housing Association; Seventh Street Area Development Corporation; and many others.
Brad graduated from Rockford East High School in 1965. He was awarded a B.S.with honors in Chemistry and Chemistry Edication from the University of Illinois at Champaign and a M.Ed with honors in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Champaign. Brad is married to Susan Roos who is a retired social worker. They have three adult sons.
Brad will talk about Sustain Rockford, how is got started and where it is going in the future. This will be another interesting snd informative program. We encourage you to invite a guest or prospective member to join our Thursday Zoom meeting so they can find out about Rockford Rotary. Russ Johansson will introduce our presenter.