By Natalie Belva
The PIE Center’s grant-writing workshops produced its first winning proposal.
Three Escambia County Extension and Sea Grant county Extension faculty worked with University of Florida and University of West Florida faculty at the workshops to review and revise a previously rejected grant proposal. This time, the BP Gulf Tourism and Seafood Promotional Fund funded the grant to promote eco- and agri-tourism in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
The recently awarded grant will allow the agents to update tourism websites, print marketing materials and develop a smartphone app so that “somebody visiting Pensacola knows places to go besides the beach,” said Carrie Stevenson, a coastal sustainability agent.
“We had a good idea and a good project, but the PIE Center feedback helped us get over the hump,” she said.
The workshops, held in February and May, aimed to promote stronger collaboration among community resource organizations to address the needs of the communities they serve. Participants established networks and processes to foster the supportive and encouraging relationships required to transform an idea into a funded project.
The PIE Center developed the workshops as part of the Healthy Gulf, Healthy Communities project, a five-year, $6.5 million grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences that includes UF and four other universities. Sebastian Galindo, research assistant professor in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, hosted the workshops with Sam Mathews, associate professor emeritus at the University of West Florida.
Workshop attendees received information about real funding opportunities and a chance to develop a proposal. Galindo and Mathews reviewed the teams’ progress and supplied feedback along the way.
PIE Center Director Tracy Irani was meeting with Healthy Gulf, Healthy Community stakeholders when Stevenson and her partners learned about their funding. Agriculture Agent Libbie Johnson and Sea Grant Agent Rick O’Connor co-authored the proposal.
“In the social sciences, you don’t often identify the result of your effort that clearly,” Irani said. “When you see it, it’s incredible to witness and recognize an actual impact of your work. Our idea with the grant-writing workshops was to come up with innovative projects that would help sustain the economic activity of Gulf Coast communities, and this project is squarely in that ballpark.”
