La Trinidad, Benguet — Cordillera Career Development College (CCDC) has strengthened its collaboration with local communities in the maintenance and stewardship of shared land ecosystems during Academic Year 2024–2025, through formal partnerships with local government units, community gardening initiatives, and student-led environmental outreach.
A landmark engagement was the CUBE Partnership’s three-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Municipality of Atok, Benguet, signed on September 12, 2025. The partnership — comprising CCDC, the University of Baguio (UB), Baguio Central University (BCU), and Easter College — committed to “inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven development across the Cordillera region” in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The signing was attended by Atok Mayor Franklin Smith, five of the municipality’s eight Punong Barangays, the Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representative, and the Municipal Tourism Officer, reflecting broad community participation in shared land and development planning.
At the community level, CCDC’s NSTP and extension services collaborated with local residents in establishing community vegetable gardens in urban settings as a sustainable approach to food security. This initiative engaged students, faculty, and barangay members in cultivating backyard and communal plots, with Barangay Kagawad Mercidonna Alos noting during a planting activity that the goal is to “create self-sufficient homes, reducing food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty”.
The College’s institutional sustainability report for AY 2023–2024 also documents key partnerships with Local Government Units (LGUs) for environmental programs, alongside collaborations with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for tree-planting and waste management, and with non-governmental organizations such as the Philippine Volunteers for Environmental Protection (PVEP) on environmental sustainability. These partnerships extend CCDC’s environmental stewardship beyond the campus and into shared community landscapes.
CCDC’s collaboration with the Municipality of La Trinidad further illustrates shared land-use governance. In September 2025, CCDC faculty member Mr. Lourence Miguel was recognized by the Municipal Government for contributing research outputs to the Land Use, Infrastructure, and Urbanism Sector under the municipality’s Comprehensive Development Plan 2026–2031. The recognition underscores what the College described as a “continuing partnership” between CCDC and the La Trinidad LGU in “advancing evidence-based policymaking and sustainable development planning”.
Through these partnerships, CCDC affirms that maintaining shared land ecosystems requires collective action — bringing together the academe, local government, and community residents in sustained stewardship of the Cordillera’s natural resources.
