Franklin’s Promise’s OysterCorps gets Duke Energy grant
The Franklin’s Promise Coalition’s OysterCorps is among 10 organizations across the state to share in $285,000 in grants from the Duke Energy Foundation.
The funding is part of Duke Energy’s investment to support the environmental vitality and resiliency of communities across Florida. The grant recipients have initiatives focused on improving Florida’s habitat and waterways through preservation and resiliency measures.
Other grant recipients include The Nature Conservancy, to help preserve the Florida Wildlife Corridor and support wildlife connectivity through resilient communities and equitable conservation; Ducks Unlimited, for marsh wetland improvement; Coastal Conservation Association, for clam restoration, mangrove nursery and restoration site equipment; and the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, to help protect Florida’s bald eagles.
The grants will also go to Bok Tower Gardens in Polk County, to help in building a healthy wildlife and pollinator corridor that includes habitat restoration in two locations between Mountain Lake and Bok Tower Gardens by planting native, flowering plants to benefit pollinators, and supplying food and shelter to birds, as well as gopher tortoises.
Rounding out the list is the Highlands County Sun-n-Lake Preserve improvements; the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Healthy Habitat and Oceans education initiative; Tampa Bay Watch’s Coquina Key bird island coastal resiliency project; and Horse Farms Forever’s 2024 Conservation Summit – Springs Forever.
These 10 organizations are the most recent iteration of a consistent focus from Duke Energy on environmental resiliency investments. Over the last five years, the Duke Energy Foundation has committed more than $3 million to ecological initiatives and natural disaster response in Florida.
The foundation provides more than $30 million annually in philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation is funded by Duke Energy shareholders.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.