As part of GreenStep's efforts to streamline participation and reduce barriers, the GreenStep Cities Steering Committee has adopted an updated Community Category Calculator tool, with 5 simple questions (reduced from 11 questions):
- What is the population of your community?
- Are you located in Greater Minnesota (outside of the 7-county Metropolitan Council area)?
- Do you consider your community rural, suburban, or urban?
- Do you have a sustainability-focused staff person?
- Who will be working on your GreenStep reporting?
The Calculator is most often used when a city or Tribal Nation joins the GreenStep program and is used to identify the community's general capacity and level of challenge assigned for participating in the GreenStep program.
Find your current Category listed on your GreenStep page.
Typically, a Category A community is larger, with dedicated sustainability staff, and therefore is challenged to report a higher number of best practice actions to reach Steps 2 and 3 and a higher number of targets or metrics to reach Steps 4 and 5.
A Category B community is typically medium-sized and may or may not have dedicated staff or officials working on sustainability. A Category C community is typically smaller-sized and generally has volunteers supporting their GreenStep participation.
Current GreenStep participants can, at any time, use the NEW Calculator to assess their Community Category. If you notice a change to your calculation, please inform GreenStep staff at greenstep@state.mn.us so that we can update your Category. New participants joining GreenStep will use this new calculator moving forward.
NOTE: This change will only occur for future reporting and is not retroactive. However, if you are working towards step recognition, you may immediately adjust the requirements needed to reach that step based on your new Category assignment. If you have any questions, please reach out to GreenStep staff.