Ursinus College through the Office of Sustainability offers a Bikeshare program where students can pay $10 a year to use a set of a dozen bikes during the school year. This project might entail the acquiring of more bikes and even expanding this program to include residents of Collegeville.

Ursinus’s 2-acre farm hosts a number of vegetables during the summer and early autumn months, both from our students and community members. A series of small plots exist for those of the faculty or local community to use to grow their own small gardens. This is a great start to a community garden, but this project could see an expansion in these existing plots or the beginning of a larger whole garden either on the farm or elsewhere in the Borough. This would both allow for food produced nearby and also bring members of the community together to do it.

In partnership with the Collegeville Parks and Recreation department that oversees the Hunsberger Woods, the Reimagine Project seeks to assist in the maintenance of the health and vitality of our local 27-acre natural area. Collaboration between Ursinus College and Collegeville Parks and Recreation has resulted in the planting of over 600 trees native to Southeastern Pennsylvania such as birch, maple, hickory, dogwood, oak, poplar, and white pine, and other trees in the Hunsberger Woods. However, more collaborative work must be done. Invasive species need to be identified and removed from the area, rain gardens need to be rebuilt to prevent erosion, a bridge needs to be repaired, and other upkeep projects need the assistance of the community in order to help the woods thrive. Please refer to the Collegeville Website for more information about the Hunsberger Woods.

Collegeville once had a Farmer’s Market several years ago, but costs started to outweigh the profits for local farmers. However, these days of increasing supply chain uncertainty could spur renewed energy around supporting local agriculture and bringing weekly community to Main Street. We have some possibilities for local farm contacts, but could use someone to help follow up!

To some extent, single-use plastic waste is an issue that affects all communities across the globe, and the Collegeville community is no exception. Single-use plastic waste threatens the health of local wildlife and contaminates our water and soil. In order to be better stewards of the environment, reducing single-use plastic usage and waste is of utmost importance to the mission of the Reimagine project. Waste collection methods and single-use plastic policies in the area must change in order to reduce our impact on the environment.