Grant: 24-013E
Project Title: Amigos de Las Tortugas: Empowering Conservation Ambassadors in Hispanic Communities
Project Manager: Yvette Fernandez
Organization: Inwater Research Group (Non-Profit Organization)
Grant Amount: $15,341.47
Completion Date: 2025-10-15
Summary: Education plays an impactful role in sea turtle conservation by educating communities on what is affecting these animals and creating empathetic pathways that can shift attitudes and change behaviors. These behavior changes directly and positively impact the environment while inviting citizens to become ambassadors for the animals they're protecting. Unfortunately, this messaging does not equitably make its way to every community. With the growing number of immigrants moving from Spanish-speaking countries to the United States, conservation education gaps have formed throughout Florida. Language, socioeconomic, and cultural barriers often keep these communities from gaining access to basic conservation education, leaving them without the tools to preserve their own "backyards". The Amigos de las Tortugas Program was created in 2018 to address these barriers. The goal of this program is to form ambassadors of all ages who will raise awareness and promote the conservation of sea turtles through education in their native language. This project will provide continuity of this program in the Tampa Bay area, multiply the number of workshops offered, and expand the program to communities across Florida.
Results: Miami-Dade and Orange counties were selected for program expansion based on data from the EPA's Environmental Justice (EJ) Screen tool and demographic analysis. These areas have significant Hispanic populations and were identified as high-priority regions for extending culturally relevant environmental education. This strategic selection guided the successful establishment of new partnerships and workshop delivery in both locations during the reporting period. Training and program implementation were completed with our two new partners in Miami-Dade and Orange counties. Both organizations are now fully equipped and have expanded the Amigos de Las Tortugas program's reach beyond the Tampa Bay area and into new communities across Florida. Each partner conducted a total of four workshops. The first three sessions were co-facilitated as part of the onboarding process, while the final workshop was led independently to demonstrate their readiness. Collectively, the eight workshops delivered by both partners engaged 104 participants across these two counties. The program demonstrated resilience and continued progress. In the Tampa Bay area alone, we delivered 22 workshops, engaging 601 participants. Combined with outreach in new regions, the program reached a total of 705 people this year. These numbers reflect the strong community interest in conservation education and the commitment of our team to adapt and continue delivering meaningful programming under changing circumstances.