Statements

Mission

At Urban Green Lab, we teach communities how to live sustainably. Founded in 2009, we work to ensure all of us have access to sustainable living education. Through a focus on classrooms, households, and workplaces -- places where culture begins -- Urban Green Lab transforms spaces into "labs" for learning what it means to live sustainably by training professionals, organizing and facilitating the exchange of best practices, connecting institutions with services, and encouraging people to feel good about being part of the solution.

Background

Urban Green Lab was founded in 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee, and incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2011. The organization began as a group of friends with a shared mission of sustainability education and an idea to build a brick-and-mortar center where the community could learn the basics of sustainable living. In 2013, Urban Green Lab hired its first executive director, and in 2016, shifted its outreach to a mobile laboratory that delivers sustainable living education to schools citywide. Today, our mission remains the same but thrives in unique, systemic ways throughout all areas of society.

Impact

The impact of Urban Green Lab can be seen and felt throughout our flourishing community, in the K-12 Metro Nashville Public School teachers we've trained citywide, in the sharing of best practices between hundreds of organizations who are members of our Nashville Sustainability Roundtable, and in the curricula we write in collaboration with educational experts, in the steering committees who advise our work, and in the countless and inspiring public-private partnerships that bring us together and make our work happen every day. At Urban Green Lab, a little change goes a long way, and we see positive changes in each and every person who joins our movement to live more sustainably helping to sustain our people, planet, and prosperity for the next generation.

Needs

Our most pressing need now is to get more individuals involved in our organization - as program participants and donors. As our organization has matured and our programs gained traction, we see the largest area of potential growth in building a community of individuals who can help us build a culture of sustainable living in Nashville to support our people, planet, and prosperity for the next generation. To do that, we are working on a broader and more robust communication plan, and building bridges to all facets of the community. Each person's efforts, collectively, can move mountains.

CEO Statement

Thank you for your interest in Urban Green Lab and our mission of sustainable living education. Visiting us means you care about our mission as much as we do and feel equally responsible for ensuring that we protect our incredible resources by making better choices in our daily lives. Urban Green Lab depends on vibrant partnerships community-wide and people like you make us stronger every day. With your contributions to our work, we can make a lasting difference through the power of education, together. As we say at Urban Green Lab, your support means the world -- literally. Todd Lawrence, Executive Director, Urban Green Lab

Board Chair Statement

As president of Urban Green Lab's Board of Directors, it's both a great honor and enormous responsibility to make sure this organization, given its vital mission of sustainability and at this important crossroads for our planet, not only succeeds but has the support, guidance, and resources it needs to broaden and deepen its impact, in Nashville and beyond. I, along with our incredibly diverse and expert board of directors, understand that in order to do this, it's all hands on deck. Thank you for your interest in Urban Green Lab and all your support.

Parry Healy
President, Board of Directors
Urban Green Lab

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Environment  - Environment NEC
Secondary Category:	Education  - Education N.E.C.
Tertiary Category:	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy  - Civil Rights, Social Action, & Advocacy N.E.C.

Areas Served

Davidson County

TN - Davidson