About Us
MISSION
To serve as a leader, catalyst and resource for building a sustainable and resilient Yampa Valley region.
VISION
We envision a healthy, resilient Yampa Valley united through climate action.
Our Values
Resourcefulness
We utilize multiple pathways, strategies and approaches to address sustainability challenges. We will innovate, be creative and think outside the box to move forward thoughtful and creative solutions with available resources.
Inclusivity
We strive for equal access to our programs, services and opportunities. We are building an inclusive community through collaboration, dialogue and by engaging and honoring different perspectives and values.
Science
We incorporate timely and relevant science into the service of decision making and action in the community.
Hope
Through the delivery and communication of our programs, we provide solutions that bring hope to current and future generations in the Yampa Valley. What we do today matters and makes a difference to preserve the environment we’ve chosen to live and work in.
Respect
We welcome diverse perspectives, talents, experiences, knowledge and contributions to all that we do.
Our Approach
Advocate
for policies, practices and actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience, guided by science and relevant research.
Collaborate
with community members, businesses, governments, and other nonprofits to build community, achieve shared goals and scale impacts.
Educate
the public about pressing sustainability issues and empower them to connect their knowledge to actions that build a more sustainable and climate resilient community.
Implement
projects on the ground that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience.
Integrate
the community’s values, knowledge and needs into processes that address sustainability challenges to protect the cultural and natural heritage of the Yampa Valley.
Our History
Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC) is a nonprofit organization based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, that fosters and maintains sustainable practices in the Yampa Valley region. Through programs, partnerships and education, we strive to bring science, technology and policy research into the service of community decision-making processes and action. We centralize community values and needs in all we do to ensure that the model of sustainability and resilience we work towards both supports and capitalizes on the unique cultural and natural heritage of the Yampa Valley.
YVSC was the first sustainability-focused nonprofit organization in Routt County and the City of Steamboat Springs. The organization’s roots are traced to 2006, when a group of dedicated City of Steamboat Springs came together to create the “Green Team” to centralize sustainability in city planning and community awareness. The Green Team established two of YVSC’s longest running programs — Talking Green and the Green Building Tour – and the first-ever City of Steamboat Springs Green Building. In 2008, the “Green Team ” transitioned leadership to a group of committed community members, who went on to establish YVSC. YVSC obtained its 501(c)3 status in July 2009.
Since its establishment in 2009, YVSC has worked to develop programs that address the pressing sustainability challenges of the time. The community education event series, Talking Green, and the Green Building Tour had important early influences on the City of Steamboat Springs city-planning and green building codes. Sustainable Schools and Zero Waste were valued antecedents to the current Waste Diversion Program, which supported the City of Steamboat Springs and Routt County to create the Waste Diversion Strategic Plan in 2019. The Energy program continues to evolve and over the years has delivered energy efficiency measures to both income-qualified and non-income qualified residential and commercial buildings.
In 2021, we began a five-year strategic planning process to ensure that YVSC programs and partnerships are built in ways that best address the sustainability challenges facing the Yampa Valley region. In order to meet the rising need to address climate change, Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC) expanded our programming across five priority areas including Waste Diversion, Energy, Transportation, Resilient Land and Water and Community Engagement, all anchored in strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resiliency to projected changes in the region. View our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan >
