RISE Center at Coastal Carolina University

In January 2017, Coastal Carolina University, in partnership with the North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and Georgetown County, founded RISE - a United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development. RISE (Resilience, Innovation, and Sustainability through Education) assists Georgetown County and other local governments, community organizations, and businesses to use and measure sustainable development goals. Faculty, NERR staff, and community members work in collaboration to enhance knowledge, research, and experiential learning on sustainable development in S.C. The United Nations Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) were created in 2003 in response to the Decade for Sustainable Development to further generate, accelerate and mainstream global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate. There are 200 UN RCEs around the globe. UN RCE Georgetown, locally known as RISE, is the only one in the coastal Southeastern U.S. RISE promotes science-based research and decision-making by unifying community members, educators, businesses, elected officials, and youth within the county to initiate a sustainable and resilient future for Georgetown County. The RCE network brings together multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary members who might not usually work together. As such, RCEs are uniquely placed to help create solutions to sustainability challenges through dialogue, education and learning. They are highly influential policy advocates, able to test policies individually and work collectively to bring policy to scale and to provide advice on future actions. Through these efforts, RCEs help prepare local leaders of tomorrow with the tools and information they need to make smart and sustainable choices for the future. RCE efforts encourage innovation and new approaches to sustainable development. They translate existing know