The Gulf of America Alliance is pleased to announce a new partnership with Alabama Power as it becomes the most recent organization to join the Alliance’s Gulf Star Program. They are also the first organization to join in the state of Alabama.
The Gulf Star Program is a unique public-private partnership that leverages contributions from agencies and businesses to address key priority issues specific to the region. The Alliance provides additional capacity for these projects to reduce barriers that are often a challenge for small communities and organizations, such as high administrative burden and match requirements. All projects in the Gulf Star Program accomplish actions co-developed by the five Gulf states to support healthy beaches, clean waters, productive ecosystems, and thriving coastal communities.
As a part of this collaboration, Alabama Power is funding a project that will expand the Native Plant Producer Network to schools in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Alabama. Objectives include:
- providing hands-on STEM opportunities for middle and high school students;
- growing native plants for restoration; and
- restoring marshes to improve habitat
“At Alabama Power, we believe in doing more than just keeping the lights on. We also believe in the power of education to spark opportunities and we know that this project will make a tangible difference for students of Baldwin and Mobile counties,” said Stacey Turner, Alabama Power Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “Programs like this reinforce our mission to strengthen our communities, and we look forward to partnering with the Gulf of America Alliance on this vital work.”
“We are excited to start the new year by announcing this partnership with Alabama Power, which further underscores our mission to enhance the environmental and economic health of the entire Gulf,” said Laura Bowie, executive director for the Gulf of America Alliance. “We are hitting the ground running with this project and can’t wait to see what’s next with Alabama Power as our new partner.”
Alabama Power joins the following Gulf Star partners: 1PointFive, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, Shell, Motiva Enterprises, Valero, Oxy, Freeport McMoRan, Sempra Infrastructure, Chevron, Williams, Clean Gulf Associates, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the five Gulf states.