New College of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University Receive $500,000 Southwest Florida Coastal Watersheds Grant as Part of New Florida Initiative

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New College of Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University have been awarded a $500,000 Coastal Watersheds Grant from the Florida Board of Governors to improve the collaborative integration of scientific research, education, and policy development related to coastal management in Southwest Florida.  The grant, which was announced by the Board of Governors during a statewide press conference on November 15, 2010, is part of the BOG’s New Florida Initiative. 

According to the terms of the grant, New College will act as the lead institution and will receive $300,000 in funding, while Florida Gulf Coast University will receive an additional $200,000.  Both institutions will match part of the funding through their own sources.

The goal of the Coastal Watersheds Grant is to create better connections between scientific research and policy making related to coastal management in Southwest Florida from the headwaters of the coastal watershed to the continental shelf.  New College and Florida Gulf Coast also hope to use the grant funding to improve materials for K-12 science programming related to our coastal environment and to help develop new methods and materials for nature centers and other environmental education sites in the region.

In total, the Board of Governors has announced more than $12 million in grant funding made possible by the New Florida Initiative in 2010.  Those funds were made available as part of the state budget approved by the legislature and governor in June.  The goal of the New Florida Initiative is to identify opportunities to help Florida overcome its historical dependence on agriculture and tourism as economic drivers and instead to help the state develop a knowledge-based economy sustained by high-technology, high-wage jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For more information on New College’s Coastal Watersheds Grant, contact the College’s Office of Public Affairs at (941) 487-4153 or email [email protected].

For more information on the Florida Board of Governors and the New Florida Initiative, visit their website at flbog.edu.