Sunborne’s community outreach program

August 13th, 2009

Sunborne Nursery is not only in partnership with our suppliers and customers, we are also in partnership with the Bayview - it provides us with our greenhouse facility and a great worforce that we appreciate tremendously.

While we employ a number of Bayview residents already, including our General Manager and our highest paid employee, we fully appreciate the fact that we can do more for the community with our business and horticulture experience and connections. That is the reason why we have taken on a number of community outreach programs. 

Below is a quick summary of some of the work that we are involved with, and some that will begin very shortly. If you would like more information on any of the programs described below, please reach out to Dan at 415-821-7726 (or dan@sunborne.com). Similarly, if you would like to participate in any of the programs we are leading, or if you have other ideas for community outreach opportunities, please give Dan a call. We are always open to new people and new ideas.

  1. Sunborne created a partnership with Young Community Developers (YCD) in early 2011 focused on providing employment and job training to residents of the Bayview Hunter’s Point community. While the relationship continues to grow and evolve, here are some of our successes and plans for the future;
    • Sunborne has hired 2 JRT graduates in 2011 as full time employees. Our hope is to hire an additional 1 to 2 more JRT graduates for full time employment in 2011 if our sales continue to grow or opening should develop
    • Sunborne has provided part-time employment to 7 JRT graduates in 2011 (through May) and we intend to hire an additional 8 JRT graduates through the end of 2011. In addition to providing regular paid part-time employment to the JRT employees, Sunborne provides comprehensive hands-on training on such things as plant ID and care, greenhouse operation, customer service, shipping and receiving, and sales instruction. With this training, the part-time JRT employees are positioned well to get a full-time position at Sunborne or any horticultural business in the area; should they want a full-time position we will use our industry contacts to find them a job, coach them through the interview process, and provide mentorship them should they be interested.
    • Sunborne participates in YCD’s Job Readiness Training program as a guest speaker and local employer with insight into the needs and expectations of the businesses in Bayview Hunter’s Point area. To date we have spoken to two JRT classes to reinforce the principles of the JRT program, as well as to provide an overview of Sunborne, career opportunities in the horticultural industry, and the skills and attitudes businesses like Sunborne looks for in new employees. Sunborne has been asked to continue participating in the JRT program and will be a guest speaker at the next three JRT classes scheduled in 2011.

Sunborne’s partnership with Green Plants For Green Buildings

August 13th, 2009

 Sunborne believes so strongly in the work of Green Plants for Green Buildings that we are partnering with them in the ‘Just a Buck’ campaign.  The campaign that we have launched is totally voluntary and involves customers giving the okay to Sunborne to add a $1 charge to their invoices. Again it is totally voluntary and we will not add the charge unless the customer tells us to do it. At the end of the month we will tally up the charges and Sunborne will donate all of the money, including a matching donation from Sunborne, to GPGB. 

For those of you unfamiliar with GPGB, it is a non-profit organization whose sole mission is to promote the use of live plants indoors. It represents Interiorscapers, Nurseries, Garden Centers, and anyone else – like you – whose livelihood revolves around indoor plants and related products.

Examples of your GPGB dollars at work:

Project Carbon is an ongoing research initiative developed by GPGB and funded by NFF (National Foliage Foundation). It involves the quantitative measurement of how much Carbon is removed by plants inside buildings. This promising research, being done by the University of Georgia, should prove that plants do in fact help reduce the carbon footprint of buildings – a huge plus for us in the ‘Green’ world we live in!

LEED Points for Plants is another GPGB initiative, co-funded by the IIC (Interior Industry Coalition), that involves the development of a Pilot Program for LEED credit, based on the use of plants indoors. If the submittal is successful, plants would then be eligible for LEED credits – another huge accomplishment for us in the specifier and building industries.

For more information on GPGB please visit our web site at www.gpgb.org. We hope you agree that GPGB’s   ‘live plants are an integral part of the Indoor Environment!’  message is a cause worth supporting!