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Miami-Dade County Awards Environmental Education Grant to Dream in Green
Nearly $65,000 awarded for implementation of the Green Schools Challenge
September 24, 2013 – Miami, Fla. – Miami –Dade County (MDC) has announced that Dream in Green, Inc. is the recipient of an Environmental Education Community-based Grant and will receive funding for the implementation of its Green Schools Challenge starting in October 2013. MDC received 19 applications from environmental non-profits countywide making the process very competitive. DIG scored the highest of all applicants with a score of 98.8!
“Dream in Green is honored to receive the opportunity to continue expanding the Green Schools Challenge in Miami-Dade schools. We are extremely grateful to Miami-Dade County for its ongoing support.” said Nick Gunia, President and Co-Founder of Dream in Green.
The Green Schools Challenge began in 2006 and has expanded from three to 165 K-12 schools in Miami-Dade. In the first seven years of the program, students saved schools approximately $9.5 million in energy costs while conserving 13.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity through simple low- and no-cost solutions like turning off lights and unplugging electronics. Combined with other projects like planting trees, these student-led initiatives helped reduce or offset approximately 24.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of taking 1,320 homes off the electricity grid for an entire year. This year, DIG will partner with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department to also track water consumption at participating schools. In addition, the GSC will help reinforce the water conservation message in designated impaired water areas by incorporating additional water conversation modules into their GSC curriculum, and hosting workshops for the students’ parents. These areas, as designated by Miami-Dade County, include: North Canal, Cutler Drain, Snapper Creek, Coral Gables Waterway, Miami Canal, Miami River, Little River, Biscayne Canal, and Snake Creek.
Dream in Green would like to thank the Miami-Dade County Grants Division, Division of Environmental Resources Management and Water and Sewer Department, as well as Miami-Dade County Public Schools, for their support and contributions to the Green Schools Challenge. We look forward to working with these community partners to further educate our children, teachers and residents.
Please take a moment to enroll your school in the 2013/2014 Green Schools Challenge program.
Download the Form Today. Save Energy - Save Money.
Healthier Students and Environment. Efficient Buildings and Community.
It is our honor to invite all K-12 public, private, and charter schools to participate in the Green Schools Challenge (GSC). The GSC involves students, teachers and school staff in designing and implementing environmental and energy solutions at their school. Students will learn about environmental sustainability and build leadership skills by getting involved in real world, no-cost solutions, and organizing environmental campaigns and Eco-Summits.
The GSC provides clear guidelines, motivating incentives, and strong support to help schools reduce their carbon footprint, save energy and save money. Your schools’ cost free participation in the program will deepen the impact the youth play in transitioning towards a more sustainable society.
Water-Energy Learning and Behavior Project (WE-LAB)
Dream in Green secured funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to develop and implement the Water and Energy Learning and Behavior (WE-LAB) Program. The WE-LAB Program will be launched with the 2013-2014 Green Schools Challenge (GSC) and incorporated into the GSC program’s curriculum.
The WE-LAB Program focuses on delivering urgent and highly relevant environmental education about the Water/Energy Nexus to Miami-Dade County residents, teachers, and school children. Through educational workshops, classroom learning, and on-line community forums and interactive tools, this program seeks to motivate community-wide water/energy-saving behaviors and foster long-term environmental stewardship, through money-saving actions.
Schools that choose to participate in the WE-LAB Program can also enroll in the GSC program and easily complete both program requirements. WE-LAB will allow school students, parents and teachers to learn about the water and energy nexus. School Green Teams will be asked to choose WE-LAB Activity 6 from the GSC’s Monthly Challenge Component to allow them to earn 10 points towards their final GSC score.
All WE-LAB information will be presented in this website http://www.miamidade.gov/green/. WE-LAB Schools are encouraged to use the interactive blog in this website to tell us and community members about their experience with WE-LAB.
WE-LAB Schools will be recognized at the GSC end-of-year Awards Ceremony in the category WE-LAB Certified.
United States Environmental Protection Agency Awards Environmental Education Grant to Dream in Green
June 21, 2013 – Miami, Fla. – The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Dream in Green, Inc. in Miami-Dade County is the recipient of the Region 4 Environmental Education (EE) Grant and will receive funding for its Water and Energy Learning and Behavior (WE-LAB) Project starting in September 2013. EPA received approximately eighty three (83) applications from the Southeast region of the United States making the process very competitive. The funds will support the development and implementation of the new WE-LAB Program that evolved from two very successful Dream in Green programs, the Green Schools Challenge, Dream in Green’s longest-running K-12 environmental education program, and the two-year community-education series, Home Energy Savings Workshop. The WE-LAB Program will be conducted with support from Miami-Dade County’s Office of Sustainability, Water and Sewer Department, and the Public Works and Solid Waste Department.
The WE-LAB Program will focus on delivering urgent and highly relevant environmental education about the Water/Energy Nexus to Miami-Dade County residents, teachers, and school children. By introducing the concept of Energy/Water Nexus, we will explore the relationship between water and energy use behaviors at home, urgent community issues of climate change, air pollution from Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions and limited water supplies. Through educational workshops, classroom learning, and on-line community forums and interactive tools, WE-LAB seeks to motivate community-wide water/energy-saving behaviors and foster long-term environmental stewardship, through money-saving actions. Each WE-LAB will be delivered in either the English, Spanish or Creole language, depending on the community’s demography. The program will serve as a replicable educational model for implementation in any community in the United States. Regardless of geography or demography, WE-LAB will be able to be used to educate residents about the water and energy nexus, encourage behavioral changes that can save water, energy, and money.
Dream in Green would like to thank Miami-Dade County’s Office of Sustainability, Water and Sewer Department, Public Library System and Public Works and Solid Waste Department, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for their support and contributions to the WE-LAB program. We look forward to working with these community partners to further educate the residents of Miami-Dade County on the Water/Energy Nexus. Press Release
Congratulations to all GSC Schools
for Successfully Completing the Program
This 2012-2013 GSC Recap Video is a collage of the work and videos submitted by our GSC schools this year of their green initiatives. We hope you like it!
Thanks to Pierre Nicholson for making this great video.
More News + Events
• Dec 12, 2012 - Medina Family Foundation Donates to Dream in Green
• Dec 12, 2012 - A Successful Fundraiser for Dream in Green
• Jul 20, 2012 - TD Charitable Foundation Donates
• Jul 17, 2012 - 2012-13 Green Schools Challenge Kicks Off!
• Jun 3, 2012 - Go Green with the 2012-2013 Green Schools Challenge!
• Jun 10, 2012 - DIG & MD County Partner to Promote Green Business Certification
• Jun 27, 2012 - Dream in Green Awards Green Innovator
• Jun 28, 2012- Be part of South Florida’s Circle of Green Leaders! Join Dream in Green!
• May 24, 2012 - 2011-12 Awards Ceremony Honors Forty-Three GSC Schools
• Apr 1, 2012 - Green Schools Challenge to Honor 164 Local Schools
• Feb 3, 2012 - 'Every Drop Counts' Posters Create 'The Ripple Effect'
• Jan 23, 2012 - Green Schools Challenge Mid Year Meeting Hosted by Energy Winners
• Sep 29, 2011 - Full speed ahead for Green Schools Challenge 2011-12!
• Sep 29, 2011 - Back to School: Green Schools Challenge 2011-12!
• Aug 26, 2011 - Green Schools Challenge a Finalist in Inktel Direct Grant
• May 18, 2011 - DIG + Miami-Dade County Public Schools honor 105 Schools!
• Apr 1, 2011 - Dream in Green Celebrates 5th Anniversary
• Dec 1, 2010 - 12 Home Energy Savings Workshops Delivered
