Advocacy is at the core of every PTA’s mission. Part of our advocacy portfolio often includes better school environments, programming, and student skill development. Partnerships with community resources and integrating the local community into our school environment can be a strong component to successful advocacy. The following resources are available to assist PTAs with enhancing our schools’ involvement with the larger community and vice versa.
College & Career Readiness
Santa Fe Achieve Middle School & Family Program
Santa Fe College is a great resource for the community. The Santa Fe Achieve program prepares our local students for college. SF Achieve Middle School offers the Alachua County and Bradford County public school students the opportunity to explore the Santa Fe Northwest Campus while in middle school. This event which is known as Middle School College Day is designed to introduce students to the college campus, programs of study, and the chance for students to see firsthand what college has to offer and where they could see themselves after graduating high school! It is our goal to help prepare students for college/career readiness. As we reach more and more students early on and provide meaningful resources, in turn, our community will grow a strong workforce built upon the legacy of our local families.
Middle School-related content
High School-related content
Cornelius Dunmore, Santa Fe Achieve Middle School & Family Program Specialist
Email: cornelius.dunmore@sfcollege.edu
Phone: 352-395-5013
Ways to Support PTA: Speak and table at meetings and events
Alachua County Libraries
Tower Road Branch Library, Youth and Teen Programs
Tower Road Branch Library has programs designed for you and teens on topics such as music and gaming.
More information
Cynthia Massre, Children’s Librarian & Teen Program Specialist
Email: cmassre@aclib.us
Phone: 352-333-2840
Sabrina Sturzenbecker, Youth Program Specialist
Email: ssturzenbecker@aclib.us
Ways to Support PTA: Speak and table at events, speak to what the library can offer: programs, activities, library cards, volunteer opportunities
Personal Empowerment & Safety
RadKIDS
Since 2001 radKIDS® 501c3, has become the National Leader in Children’s Safety Education. Empowering children and parents with a revolutionary skill-based curriculum, that strengthens children personal boundaries and parental confidence. Replacing fear with knowledge, skill, and power, by enhancing a child’s critical thinking abilities and physical resistance skills, our programs provide the opportunity for children to recognize, avoid, resist, and if necessary escape violence or harm while remaining joyful and safer in our world today. radKIDS® comes to your community providing the most holistic and skill-based child safety instructor certification available today. We welcome parents, educators, counselors, law enforcement professionals, and children safety advocates to our trainings.
More information
Facebook page
Deputy Cary Gallop, Crime Prevention Bureau, RadKIDS Staff Coordinator & Instructor
Email: info@empmoweru.us
About Deputy Gallop: Deputy Cary Gallop has been a law enforcement officer for over 30 years and served as the School Resource Officer at Idylwild Elementary School. He has been teaching self-defense for over 10 years and is the radKIDS Staff Instructor and RAD for Women Instructor for Alachua County.
PTA Event Example
Empowerment, Safety, and Self-defense Workshop for interested Kanapaha Middle School students and parents/guardians, May 9, 2023 at the Tower Branch Library
Content: Empower students by teaching them to identify behaviors and situations that are unsafe. Students learn to avoid and resist harm and practice techniques for self-defense if fleeing a situation is not possible.
Workshop Format:
- 30-40 minute presentation with questions & answers
- 1 hour Instruction on Personal Weapons (fists and feet), Techniques, & Vulnerable Locations
- 30 minutes of Dynamic Impact Self-defense: striking, hitting, and kicking shields
Science/STEM
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of UF (IEEE)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of UF (IEEE); largest electrical and computer engineering organization at the University of Florida, seeks to develop students technically and professionally through corporate information sessions, technical workshops, community service and outreach opportunities, and an autonomous robot design team.
Community service information
Community service/outreach blog
Emily Wang, UF IEEE Student Branch Community Services Lead
Email: qiyue.wang@ufl.edu
Phone: 571-508-7310
Ways to Support PTA: Table at events with information and hands-on activities for students and families
Hands On Gainesville
Scientists seeking to create a new generation of problem-solvers one community at a time. We reveal the science in sites around town by linking community-contributed, hands-on activities that teach through guided observation and problem-solving practices. Hands On Gainesville mentors others and works with students to design their own exhibits, thus providing a real-world network beyond the classroom through which students contribute back to the community. Hands On Gainesville connects existing community organizations to engage children in the science of their everyday world; observing, inquiring, and evaluating as they develop critical analysis skills relevant to all aspects of their lives. Hands On Gainesville enlists college and high school students to serve as teachers and role models for younger students in school and community programs.
Connects community with science-related organizations that do outreach; for complete list of their contacts, click here.
Adrienne Thieke, President of Hands on Gainesville
Email: handsongainesville@gmail.com, or complete this contact form.
Ways to Support PTA: Connects existing community group and student organizations to engage children in the science of their everyday
UF Swamp Launch Rocket Team
Swamp Launch Rocket Team is an award-winning student design team at the University of Florida that enables for students to design, build, and launch high-powered rockets. Originally founded in 2010 as the University of Florida Rocket Team, the team rebranded to Swamp Launch in 2019. The mission of our organization is to provide our members with tools to develop skills that will benefit their engineering studies and professional development while exploring rocket engineering. The team consists of approximately 75 undergraduate students from a variety of majors.
More Information
Olivia Scarpo
Phone: 813-486-0908
Executive Board (include with any email requests):
Brida Gibbons (president) – president.ufrocketteam@gmail.com
Sofia Ahmed (VP external) – vpexternal.ufrocketteam@gmail.com
Olivia Scarpo (VP internal) – vpinternal.ufrocketteam@gmail.com
Madison Maish (treasurer) – treasurer.ufrocketteam@gmail.com
Ways to Support PTA: Table at events and share information and hands-on activities for students and families
St. Johns River Water Management
The St. Johns River Water Management District is an environmental regulatory agency of the state of Florida whose work is focused on ensuring a long-term supply of drinking water, and to protect and restore the health of water bodies in the district’s 18 counties in northeast and east-central Florida. While the district works closely with utilities on water supply issues, the district is not a water supplier.
More information
Educational Resources
Chris Kinslow & Laura LaBeur, Education Coordinator
Email: ckinslow@sjrwmd.com, LLaBeur@sjrwmd.com
Ways to Support PTA: Per district policy, can only serve at events east of I-75; share information about water quality, supply, conservation, and natural waters systems and can bring water truck (requires an outdoor space)
Alachua County Recycles – Education and Outreach Programs
About & Ways to Support PTA: Alachua County Recycles offers FREE programs to community groups that are interested in learning about solid waste management practices in Alachua County. Invite staff to festivals, fairs, meetings or other events to present our characters and other programs or resources. Also, compost bins are available for groups or home gardening.
More information
Request a tour or educational information
Information to share with school staff
Alanna Carinio
Email: acarinio@alachuacounty.us
Phone: 352-374-5213
4-H in Schools
About & Ways to Support PTA: Present and share hands-on activities for following topics: All About Snakes, Embryology, Environmental Education, Public Speaking, Evolution, Enviroscape, School Gardens; Coming Soon – Ag Literacy Day, Crime Scene Kitchen, Entomology, Marshmallow Tower Challenge
Jesse Price, Alachua County Program Coordinator, 4-H in Schools
Email: jprice@alachuacounty.us
Phone: 352-955-2402
Brochures & Flyers available
UF Florida Museum of Natural History Museum
The Florida Museum inspires people to care about life on Earth and help shape a world in which nature and culture enrich every person. The Museum’s education department offers an array of programs and resources that inspire people to value the biological richness and cultural heritage of our diverse world. Education initiatives are designed to foster science interest, understanding and engagement as well as contribute to our understanding about how people learn.
More information
Outreach programs, learning resources, educational team
Catherine Ward Carey (She/Her), Education Programs Coordinator
Email: ccarey@flmnh.ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-2064