Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley

The Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley is a free, technical assistance and environmental recognition program that works with local businesses in the Yampa Valley area on improving their environmental performance and recognizing them for their efforts.

What is the Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley?

The Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley (CGBN-YV) is a Regional Partner of the Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN) – a state initiative created through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. We are a free, voluntary program that provides technical assistance to, and promotion and recognition of, local businesses in the Yampa Valley pursuing sustainability goals. Our role is to provide an accessible, Yampa Valley-based team with the knowledge and tools to walk you through the CGBN registration and application process. Our goal is to make it easy to connect businesses with funding, resources and skills that make sustainability attainable across business sector and size.

How it works

The first step to joining the Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley is registering your business in CGBN’s GreenBiz Tracker. This simple (and quick) step of signing up will get you connected to the CGBN newsletter, which includes information about upcoming events and educational and funding opportunities. All freely available.

Once registered and depending on their sustainability goals, CGBN-YV freely supports local businesses through three approaches:

  1. Conducting off-site coaching and on-site technical assistance to any business that requests it. These assessments are a valuable way to identify opportunities for environmental and social performance and resource savings, and to target areas businesses want to improve such as energy, water, waste and transportation.
  2. Providing businesses with a report of recommendations and connections to rebates, grants, additional technical assistance and ongoing coaching and support in the form of trainings, newsletters, workshops, events and networking opportunities.
  3. For businesses that choose to pursue Bronze, Silver or Gold-level certification, recognizing and awarding businesses for exemplary practices that lead to resource reduction. Certified businesses are recognized in a public CGBN directory and receive a CGBN press kit including a window decal for storefront marketing, logo and governor signed certificate. Additionally, certified businesses receive priority permitting within the CO Department of Public Health and Environment, support with regulatory assistance, and letters of recommendation for grant and program applications.

Why register for the Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley?

By just registering for the Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley, businesses have access to free technical assistance and operational assessments. Assessments are about identifying and evaluating opportunities that produce resource and financial savings. These can lead to the reduction of input costs, disposal costs, compliance issues, worker exposure, risk and liability, while increasing performance, customer preference, product differentiation, worker satisfaction and retention.

Another highly noted benefit of registering with CGBN is notification of new and upcoming funding and financing opportunities that will help reduce (or negate) the financial impact of higher cost projects. Most businesses don’t have the time to invest seeking out these opportunities, but through the CGBN newsletter and communications with our team, businesses can learn of new funding opportunities early on.

Equally valued are our networking opportunities and community that is willing and happy to share best practices and procedures. Finally, your business will be featured here on our website to help increase local recognition for your sustainability efforts!

Learn More & Apply:

Register through the GreenBiz Tracker!
Learn more about the state program

Contact Us:

Ashley Dean, Collaborative Initiatives Manager
Paul Bony, Energy and Transportation Director

Your contribution makes a difference

Your contributions and actions matter to the sustainability of the Yampa Valley. By joining this program, not only will you be lessening your environmental impact on the valley that we all cherish, but you will also be advancing economic sustainability for your business. You will be setting an example for the Yampa Valley community to prioritize sustainability, while attracting customers who are looking for businesses contributing to the community and making a positive impact.

Congratulations to our Bronze-certified members!

Thank you to our participating businesses!

FAQ

The Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley provides a support system, mentorship, technical assistance, and statewide and local recognition for businesses that are interested in improving their environmental and social performance.

At our Support Level a business receives;

• Ongoing technical assistance, on and off-site
• Access to our monthly opportunities and funding newsletter
• Access to all of our (free) workshops and events

This is available without any application, and only requires registration in GreenBizTracker

As a CGBN and YVSC Certified Business our recognized members gain additional benefits including:

• A public directory on GreenBizTracker
• Organization name and information on our website
• A press kit from the state including the logo, a window decal, and governor signed certificate
• Priority permitting within CDPHE
• Support with regulatory assistance
• Letters of recommendation when applying to grants and programs

The application for the Colorado Green Business Network of the Yampa Valley is points based, so you don’t need to be able to answer every question in order to receive recognition. Many questions will be related to policies and procedures that the owner or manager will already know about the business, and others may be relating to resource reduction projects that take a bit more time to organize and track. Our technical manual provides an overview of each question, to help you understand the criteria better.

Depending on the extent of your business’ environmental and social efforts so far, the application can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to complete. Over time, you’ll have more information that you can provide.

Examples of items that you may want to collect before completing the application are listed below:
• Utility Bills, including electricity and heating bills, water bills, and waste collection bills
• Records & Policies, like mileage records on vehicles, employment policies, and sourcing/purchasing policies.

If your business leases the space in which it operates, you may be able to get information related to utility bills from your landlord. If you are not able to obtain this information, it’s OK! We can help you brainstorm solutions, but you also may not need them for lower levels of recognition.

Our program is part of a statewide effort to reduce emissions across industry, and all of our services are totally free of charge. Our goal is to make it easy to connect with funding, resources, and skills that make sustainability attainable across business sectors and sizes.

In order to maintain good standing in the Colorado Green Business Network, organizations will need to:

1. Submit annual updates. As a big part of the program framework is tied to continual improvement and engagement in the community, annual updates have been a long standing part of the Colorado Green Business Network. These annual updates are also done through the GreenBizTracker software, and take the form of an update survey that will be sent out each year, and will need to be turned in by the application deadline. This should take no more than an hour or two annually.

2. Renew every 3 years, during which you will resubmit all information provided at time of application, and will undergo an additional compliance check, identical to the check a new member will experience.

Once a business receives recognition, they receive all of the benefits of our program.

Other than that, the program offers many resources for businesses, including workshops.

The Colorado Green Business Program’s official rating system is divided up into 3 levels and is a points based application that rewards efforts in energy, water, waste & purchasing, transportation, and policy.

• Bronze: 25 Points
• Silver: 50 Points
• Gold: 100 Points

Something important to keep in mind is that sustainability is a process. When you first fill out our application, you might have a lot of questions you can’t answer – and that’s OK! Bronze is really designed as an entry level for businesses who have just completed a few efficiency projects, and are wanting to do more.

Become their customer! Write a review of your experience. Buy gift cards. Like them on social media. Tip generously. Thank them for their sustainability efforts.