DEP Awarded $535,294 to Increase Waves of Ocean Literacy for Florida Classrooms

TALLAHASSEE –The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will receive a $535,294 grant for the project Gulf Alliance Partnership: Building Cultural Competency in Experiential Environmental Education from the Gulf of Mexico Program.

The Gulf Alliance Partnership is designed to increase the environmental literacy of 2,400 students, provide professional development for 32 teachers, strengthen the cultural competency of the eight organizations engaged in nonformal experiential environmental education (E3), and achieve measurable improvements in local environmental quality.

“This grant brings students to the water's edge to discover - through hands-on science labs - the connections between their lives and the ocean,” said Greg Ira, Director of DEP’s Office of Environmental Education.

Through hands-on environmental education, the project will increase environmental knowledge, improve environmental attitudes, motivations and behaviors, enhance programmatic capacity of nonformal educators and teachers, and enhance the local environmental quality.

“The commitment of this year’s projects to meet the collaborative goals of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance is a high watermark for EPA and the Gulf states,” said Bryon Griffith, Director of the Gulf of Mexico Program and federal co-lead for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. “The work our partners are completing this year will achieve measurable successes in protecting the health and environment for our families, friends and neighbors in the Gulf.”

For more information about the Gulf of Mexico Program, please visit their website at http://www.epa.gov/gmpo. For more information about the Gulf of Mexico Program, please contact: Dr. Troy Pierce at pierce.troy@epa.gov; (228) 688-3658; or, visit http://www.epa.gov/gmpo. 

DEP is the state’s principal environmental agency, created to protect, conserve and manage Florida’s environment and natural resources. DEP enforces federal and state environmental laws, protects Florida’s air and water quality, cleans up pollution, regulates solid waste management, promotes pollution prevention and acquires environmentally-sensitive lands for preservation. The agency also maintains a statewide system of parks, trails and aquatic preserves. For more information about the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, visit www.dep.state.fl.us.