The Green Schoolhouse Series will break ground on the first of 18 environmentally friendly and LEED Platinum-certified for Title 1, low-income public schools built entirely by community volunteers Thursday, December 1 at 9:00 a.m. Roadrunner Elementary School in Phoenix will be the first of its kind in the Valley adding the new 6,000 square foot state-of-the-art schoolhouse named “Safari”, with select campuses in Phoenix to follow in its carbon-reducing footsteps in 2012 including Orangewood Middle School and the Green Phoenix Learning Center on the Rio Salado Community College Campus.

Not only is the facility going green, but Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) is partnering with the school to offer a healthy living curriculum and sustainable green gardens on each campus, making the campus an unique opportunity for students to live a healthier lifestyle. BCBSAZ employee volunteers will take a hands-on approach, caring for the vegetable gardens at each Green Schoolhouse campus which will serve as a student-parent healthy-lifestyle learning center. Arizona ranks 25th in the nation for childhood obesity, and nearly 29 percent of low-income children ages two to five in Arizona are either overweight or obese.

Safari, designed by Stantec, will also feature a solar rooftop, rainwater harvesting capabilities and more.

The Green Schoolhouse Series is a collaboration of corporations, foundations, school districts, communities and more to build high-performance, environmentally friendly low-income public schools.

Rendering by Burt, Hill

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