Seventeen community-led bay improvement projects receive $67,000 from Tampa Bay Estuary Program. Guided by neighborhood associations, educators and citizen-scientists, the program’s award-winning Bay Mini-Grant Fund embarks on another decade of restoration in Tampa Bay.
Over the last 20 years, more than $1.8 million dollars in grant funding has gone to community-based restoration and improvement projects in Tampa Bay, totaling nearly 400 grants according to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s (TBEP) recent State of the Bay Progress Report. This year’s 17 projects, awarded to groups from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee Counties, provide diverse opportunities, from nature tours and youth educational activities to habitat restorations and pipefish research.
The 2020 Bay Mini-Grant recipients and their projects are:
- Keep Pinellas Beautiful – Taking Action Against Microplastics
- Raptor Center of Tampa – Outreach for Raptor Rescue
- Eckerd College – Place-based Environmental Science & Education
- St. Pete Sustainability for Crescent Lake – Restoring Diversity: Marsh Reclamation
- Tampa Bay Monarch Project – Impact Academy Butterfly Garden
- Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch – You Can Make A Difference Tote Bag
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The Shores at Long Bayou won a Golden Mangrove Award for restoring retention ponds in the bayfront condominium community. Around the Bend Nature Tours – Educational Programming
- The University of Tampa – Detecting Estrogenic Contaminants: Pipefish
- The Florida Aquarium – Lead the Way to A Healthier Bay
- Florida Native Plant Society of Pinellas – FL West Coast Native Landscaping Brochure
- Palma Sola Botanical Park Foundation – Wetland Plantings & Wildlife Habitat
- Manatee School for the Arts – Exploring Education, Encouraging Stewardship
- Dana Shores Civic Association – Rocky Point Bat Habitat Education
- Coffeepot Bayou Watershed Alliance – Invasive Species Removal & Water Quality Testing
- Blue-Green Connections – Rally Around the Gulf Hope Spot
- Canterbury School of Florida – Full STEAM Ahead: Knowlton Campus
- Boys and Girls Club of Manatee County – Developing Bay Stewards
The Coffeepot Bayou Watershed Alliance enjoys its second year as a Bay Mini-Grant recipient, continuing the collaborative successes experienced last year alongside the Canterbury School’s marine studies program. Alliance coordinator Walt Japp notes that “the funds, expertise, and advice [they’ve] received from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program were a huge reason for their success.”
These grants – up to $5,000 each – are funded directly by sales of TBEP’s Tarpon Tag Speciality License Plate. To learn more about the Tampa Bay Estuary Program Specialty License Plate and Bay Mini-Grants in general, visit tbep.org. Potential applicants interested in applying for grant funds next year are encouraged to reach out to TBEP Program Manager Misty Cladas at 727.893.2765.