Environmental Education Program for Expanding Conservation and Stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico

 

On Saturday, Florida A&M received a $497,663 cooperative agreement for the “Environmental Education Program for Expanding Conservation and Stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico” project from the Gulf of Mexico Program.

 The nation’s largest natural disaster is the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding areas. The Gulf Coast has just started the clean-up process from the spill.

 Global awareness has attracted people from all over for the aid and assistance to the people and of wildlife. On Florida A&M’s campus the Green Coalition is working to show the students that the Gulf Spill affects them too.

 The heads of this project are Katherine Milla, Ph.D. and Sunil Pancholy, Ph.D. at FAMU’s Center for Water and Air Quality. They are hoping to increase the knowledge of the situation in the Gulf. They are using the historically-black land-grant universities to help the cause for the underrepresented and undeserved communities.

 The FAMU Green Coalition is helping the project.

 “At our next meeting on Nov. 4, we are hoping to have a presenter come in and talk about the impact that the spill is having and its direct connection to the students here on the hill,” said Kokeeta McLendon, a graduating senior business administration student from Washington.

  “A major goal of the project is to increase citizen awareness of the value of natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico and its coastal regions, and to promote conservation and restoration of the waters of the Gulf,” said Milla at the press release on Saturday. “The project will be developed, in collaboration with partners from Gulf coastal states, through a multifaceted approach, including K-12 teacher and student experiential education opportunities, public education and outreach activities.”

 This cooperative agreement is part of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Regional Partnership Projects and supports the Governors’Action Plan.