Why build an Olympic-sized swimming pool at your school if there’s already one in the neighborhood that students can use? Got a parking lot or a playing field that the nearby church or Little League could use when school’s not in session?

The purpose of this credit is to build community by sharing school resources with non-school groups, and vice versa. In addition, sharing spaces and services among schools and other community entities can cut down on construction costs and operating expenses, while helping everyone get access to resources they need.

Work your connections

The amount of work involved in this credit will be unique to each school and community. Schools will often informally share the use of various building spaces. If this is already happening at your school, it could cost little to nothing to formalize these agreements in order to meet the LEED requirements. Sometimes minor changes, like adding security gates, may need to be made; these will require some additional costs.

If your school doesn’t have relationships with community groups or experience with sharing facilities, it may take some time and effort to establish these connections.

Safety concerns

Student safety can be a concern whenever you have more traffic in the school building, whether during or outside of school hours. The degree of concern will depend on the strategies you choose for sharing spaces, but often the problem can be addressed properly by installing security gates limiting access to appropriate areas. 

Projects should also consider concerns around liability and insurance, increased wear-and-tear, trash and extending hours of cleaning or security personnel. Whether these are an issue will likely be project-specific.

Three options

Option 1 is to provide at least three shared spaces in the school that are open to the public. You can choose from the auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria, classroom, playing fields or parking areas. Typically the easiest and safest options are playing fields and parking areas. 

Option 2 is to provide two spaces in the school for exclusive use by another organization. This could include an arrangement with the local police department to allow them to have offices in the school or providing a local community group with a classroom. 

Option 3 is to set up an arrangement with two organizations that are willing to allow students to access their facilities. This can include an auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria, classroom, swimming pool, or playing field. An example of this type of arrangement would be for students to have access to the local swimming pool and gymnasium for physical education and after-school events.