Section I: Personal Information

Name(s):
The UNO Collaborative Environmental Stewardship Group
Group Leader: Christopher Schmidt,
Group Members: Abdullah Allahyani, Lauren Butz, Danielle Galvin, Treyten Ozuna

I am applying as a: Group

(If you are the group leader, you will be asked to fill out the names, primary and secondary
email addresses, and phone numbers of your additional group members. They will then receive
a separate email to fill out their information.)

Group Member Contact Information:

Abdullah Allahyani
Primary Email: aallahyani@unomaha.edu
Secondary Email: wolf_0000@hotmail.com
Phone Number: (402) 305.7209

Lauren Butz
Primary Email: lbutz@unomaha.edu
Secondary Email: laurencbutz@gmail.com
Phone Number: (712) 327.8586

Danielle Galvin
Primary Email: daniellegalvin@unomaha.edu
Secondary Email: daniellegalvin7@gmail.com
Phone Number: (402) 657.5850

Treyten Ozuna
Primary Email: tozuna@unomaha.edu
Secondary Email:Ozuna_t@yahoo.com
Phone Number: (531) 329.5577

Primary email: ctschmidt@unomaha.edu

Secondary email: cschmidt366@gmail.com

Phone: (402) 547.8334

Date of birth: June 18, 1998

Gender: Male

Race: Caucasian

Country of citizenship: United States of America

School: University of Nebraska at Omaha

School state: Nebraska

School category: Public 4 Year University

Major: Political Science and Philosophy

University Status:

Expected date of graduation: Spring 2020

Current or school address: 6001 Dodge St. Omaha, NE 68182

Permanent address: 10617 Cuming St. Omaha, NE 68114

How did you hear about CGI U? My workplace: The Collaborative, which is within the Office of
Civic and Social Responsibility

Online presence (optional): N/A

Link to website/blog (project or personal): N/A

Twitter handle: N/A

Link to Facebook page (project or personal): Christopher Schmidt Facebook Page

Link to Instagram page: N/A

Link to Flickr page: N/A

Link to LinkedIn profile: N/A

Link to Google+ profile: N/A

Any additional relevant link: N/A

In the third person, write a short biography about yourself and include any relevant campus
activities, leadership roles, or organizational affiliations. (word limit: 150) *

Christopher Schmidt is a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO),

majoring in Political Science and Philosophy. He has grown up in Nebraska since before
the age of two. Through his life he has stayed heavily engaged in activities such as Boy
Scouts (Eagle Scout as of 2016), Warrior Band, and Debate Club. More recently, once he
became a student at UNO, Christopher has held a 4.0 GPA, become involved with the
Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, begun his work with nonprofits at The Collaborative in
the Office of Civic and Social Responsibility at UNO, and has received an in-college
scholarship with the 470th Cadet Wing of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps
(AFROTC).

For personal enjoyment, Christopher enjoys reading, creative writing, photography, and
outdoor recreation. His future career aspirations are to become a Staff Judge Advocate
(SJA) in the Air Force, and to become a writer.

CGI U and the Clinton Foundation will host a two-day Codeathon in advance of the formal CGI
U 2017 meeting, which will take place in the Boston area from October 12-13. This code for
impact event brings together student designers from across sectors and disciplines to generate
innovative applications, prototypes, and platforms that will make an impact within CGI Us five
focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty
Alleviation, and Public Health. Students who express their interest here will need to complete a
separate Codeathon application in early summer 2017. Please check this box if you are
interested in learning more about the Clinton Foundation Codeathon at CGI U 2017.:

The UNO Collaborative Environmental Stewardship Group would be interested in

attending the Codeathon.

Have you attended or been invited to attend any previous CGI U meetings?

No.

If you have made a previous CGI U Commitment to Action, briefly update us on any progress
you've made.

Do you wish to apply for travel assistance?

No.
Travel Assistance Application (optional)

What type of assistance are you requesting? Please check all that apply. *
From which city will you be traveling?
Explain your financial circumstances and why you are applying for travel assistance. (word limit:
150) *

Check all that apply: *

Provide us with a contact from your universitys financial aid office who can verify this
information. Contact name:

Section II: Commitment Information

Commitments to Action, a unique feature of CGIU, translate practical goals into meaningful and
tangible results. Commitments are new, specific, and measurable initiatives that address
challenges on campuses, in local communities, or around the world.

This section allows you to provide background information on your commitment, including topic
area and geographic region of focus. If you have not yet read our application tips, we
recommend doing so before completing the next two sections.

Commitment name: The Collaborative Residential Winterization Initiative (CRWI)

Commitment focus area: Environmental Stewardship

In the fields below, select primary and secondary keywords that best apply to your CGI U
commitment. If you are selected to attend CGI U, this will enable you to find and contact other
meeting attendees who are doing similar work. (If you are not certain which keywords apply to
your commitment, click here for keyword descriptions.)

Keywords: Conservation, Economic Empowerment, Renewable Energy, Sustainable

Design

In the fields below, you should be as specific as possible when describing when and where your
commitment will take place.

City where commitment takes place:

Omaha

State or region where commitment takes place:

Nebraska

Country where commitment takes place:

United States

When will you complete this commitment? (Commitments should have clearly defined goals and
a timeline for action, usually no longer than two years.)

Our commitment will begin in May, 2017, and be completed by December, 2017, with final
evaluation conducted in March, 2018. It will consist of 4 primary phases 1) Planning, 2)
Education and Training, 3) Execution, 4) Post-Project Evaluation:

1. In the third person, write a short summary of your commitment using the template here. You
will be able to further elaborate on these points in the remainder of the application. (word limit:
120) *
In one to two sentences, specifically describe actions you and/or your group will take to
implement change.
We will train, coordinate, and deploy volunteers and community partners to weatherize low-
income residential homes.

In one sentence, describe how the actions you and/or your group take will impact a specific
global or local challenge.

We will improve Omaha families home heating efficiency, increasing their awareness and
knowledge of energy efficiency, enabling them to save money on heating costs, and connecting
trained community volunteers with residents and their neighborhood associations.

Include strategic external partners you and/or your group will work with.
Explain the outcomes you and/or your group expect to see as a result of your commitment.

We will work with: Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), Habitat for Humanity, One Omaha,
area high schools, and local colleges.

We expect to see lower energy bills, increased family comfort, improved awareness of energy
conservation activities and other local energy programs by volunteers and community members,
and increased sense of community between volunteers and community members.

2. CGI U students work to address specific global challenges. In this section, we want to know
what issue you are trying to solve through your commitment. (world limit: 150) *
What is the problem or issue you and/or your group are working to address?
What is your target population?
What challenges do you and/or your group anticipate encountering?
[Note: If you reference statistics or facts, fully cite your source(s) here or in the Additional
Comments section below.]
We are addressing the problem of wasteful energy consumption and lack of awareness and
knowledge concerning environmental conservation, and seek to improve household energy
efficiency and economic sufficiency.

Our target population is low income neighborhoods in the Omaha area. We will partner with
neighborhood associations to seek their endorsement and help to promote our service in their
community. In this way, we expect to mitigate the types of compliance issues experienced by
the federal Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) (Fowlie, Greenstone, & Wolfram, 2015).

We anticipate the challenge of securing needed tools and materials at a low cost, and will seek
favorable pricing from local businesses.

We will observe best practices to ensure the physical safety of our volunteers using overall risk
assessment practices, physical walk-through of premises, and the coaching and management
of volunteers. We will manage our legal liability consistent with UNO policies and practices.

3. In this section, we want to understand how your commitment is specific and attainable. (word
limit: 250
Define the goals of your Commitment to Action.
Describe the activities you and/or your group will undertake to carry out your Commitment to
Action.
If appropriate, list any external partners.
Include a timeline for proposed activities.

The goals of our Commitment to Action are to help families reduce wasted energy caused by
poorly weatherized homes, and to enable them to save money on their heating bills.

We will engage, train, and direct community volunteers to perform basic energy assessment
and weatherization tasks for residential homes in low-income Omaha neighborhoods.

Planning Phase: Late Spring 2017

Finalize research, engage key community members, identify sources for tools and supplies, and
solicit favorable terms for purchase / rental. Finalize project scope and budget. Further
determine target population. Explore possibility of offering certification of training completion to
volunteers. Secure education and training resources. Identify risk management activities.
Define and write / adapt training curriculum. Develop survey tools for residents, trainers, and
volunteers to collect quantitative (heating costs) and qualitative (home comfort, increased
energy awareness, etc.) information prior to and following project execution. Determine how to
promote the event within the community.

Education & Training Phase: Late Summer of 2017 - Early Fall 2017
Train, select, and assign teams. Conduct baseline surveys.

Execution Phase: Fall 2017

Deploy teams to selected neighborhood(s)

Post-Project Evaluation: Fall 2017 and Winter 2018

Conduct post-event surveys of residents, trainers, and volunteers to assess impact of event,
and another survey of residents in March, 2018.

4. In this section, we want to make sure your commitment is new and different from other
initiatives that are attempting to tackle a similar problem. You are being asked here to
acknowledge other projects worldwide that are doing similar work. (word limit: 150) *
How is your commitment new and/or different?
How do you and/or your group plan to collaborate with, develop partnerships with, or learn from
those with comparable projects?
If you have applied to CGI U with this commitment in the past, how have you expanded your
project either through geographic scope, focusing on a different approach, or working with
new partners?

The UNO Collaborative Residential Winterizing Initiative will be student-led, and leverages and
synergizes existing community groups and resources that are familiar to residents. Our project
will be modeled after and coordinate with several established local programs, will engage key
community members and will collaborate closely with selected neighborhood associations in
order to establish credibility and acceptance of our project with the population we seek to serve.

We researched existing weatherization programs in the Omaha area, and found that 437
houses were weatherized in July 2014 - June 2015 out of 51,000 that were eligible in Nebraska
(Nebraska Energy Office LOW INCOME WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
www.neo.ne.gov/wx/wxindex.htm). Knowledge of existing government weatherization programs
appear to depend on consumers seeking out and applying for services. Our program will target
and communicate with a selected community group and neighborhood associations, making
access to our weatherization program efficient and accessible for them.

5. In this section, we want to know how your commitment is measurable. (word limit: 150) *
What benchmarks will you put in place to measure progress towards your expected outcomes?
Define your goals, both short- and long-term.
Identify specific data and results you will analyze, interpret, and report out on as you make
progress toward achieving your goals.

Short-term Goal: Plan and execute a Collaborative Residential Winterization Initiative

(CRWI) for a low-income neighborhood.
Long-term goal: Expand project to additional Omaha-area neighborhoods.

Quantitative data:
1. Number of houses
2. Average heating bills per house, pre-project and post-project
3. Pre- and post- energy efficiency assessments per house
 4. Tasks completed, costs, and time required per house.

Total quantitative benefit: Total change in 1) energy efficiency, and 2) heating costs from
2016/2017 to 2017/2018, adjusted for inter-period rate changes

Qualitative data:
1. Residents Survey Feedback - Pre- and post-project, to measure perception of
project quality and overall experience working with our teams, and changes observed to their
homes comfort.
2. Volunteers and Community Members Survey Feedback - Pre- and post-project
to measure perception of event planning and execution quality, day of event experience,
practical skills gained, and improved knowledge of and connection with their community.