A series of free summer camps focused on STEM and other career paths seeks to boost the career goals of youth in the agricultural community of Immokalee.

Florida Gulf Coast University has teamed up with the Immokalee Foundation to offer a series of free educational camps for underserved youth in the region. The initiative includes a STEM camp for middle schoolers and four high school camps focused on business management and entrepreneurship, education and human services, engineering and construction management, and health care.

Noemi Perez, CEO of the Immokalee Foundation, explained the value of the program.

"When you take a community and individuals who are just surviving and giving their students, their children this type of opportunity, it just, it creates such a huge impact," Perez stressed. "Not only for the family, but also for the community as a whole."

In its final week, students pitch their ideas to judges, like on the popular show "Shark Tank." The competitive program serves about 1,300 Immokalee students per year. Perez said 100% of participants graduate from high school and attend a postsecondary institution.

Heather Skoza-Acosta, director of the Whitaker Center for STEM Education at Florida Gulf Coast University, oversees the middle school STEM camp. She emphasized the importance of early exposure to science.

"They have four separate STEM disciplines on four different weeks," Skoza-Acosta pointed out. "I think it gives them an opportunity to find their passion, find their skill sets, meet some professionals working in the field. "

During Forensics Week, Florida Gulf Coast University's forensics anthropology team guided students through analyzing crime scenes. During Environmental Science Week, students examined water quality on campus.

Organizers said the initiative is part of a broader effort by both the university and the foundation to support educational equity and create pathways to success for underserved communities.

Alabama nonprofits are coming together to tackle challenges that may threaten their survival, from declining donor support to shifting federal funding policies.

According to the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, the sector generates more than $10 billion a year, holds more than $20 billion in assets and employs about 5% of the Alabama workforce. But as financial uncertainty looms, nonprofit leaders say now is the time to strategize.

Danielle Dunbar, the association's executive director, said a summit coming up next week aims to help these organizations navigate the challenges ahead.

"When something comes down like a federal grant freeze," she said, "obviously nonprofits are going to be very concerned about how they're even going to make payroll to keep people in place to do the work, to serve the people."

Dunbar said many Alabama nonprofits rely on federal grants to fund such critical services as emergency food, housing and education for the most vulnerable populations, making policy shifts a significant concern.

The summit will be held Feb. 13-14 in Montgomery. More information is on the Alabama Association of Nonprofits' website.

Dunbar said the summit will also tackle broader challenges beyond funding, emphasizing advocacy and community engagement. She noted that nonprofits must amplify their voices to influence policy and secure resources to sustain their work.

"We are so often at the bottom of the list," she said, "and if we can advocate for ways to change the systems and structures that are holding some of our society back, then that will be such a fantastic thing for the Alabama Association of Nonprofits to be able to help with."

She said people at the summit will also tackle topics such as how to leverage social media, enhance fundraising efforts and foster bipartisan collaboration. She added that it will be about more than discussing challenges; it's about driving meaningful change to ensure Alabama's nonprofits can remain pillars of support in their communities.


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Elected officials in New York and nationwide joined an amicus brief filed by the Public Rights Project fighting President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship. The order is being challenged on several fronts; a federal judge is blocking it.

Since birthright citizenship is a 14th Amendment right, legal experts feel there's no basis for upholding the order.

Michael Chameides, a Third Ward representative on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, said people born in the county not being considered residents would have grave impacts.

"If you take that conclusion down the line, you could imagine someone who's born here, who then has kids here, who then has grandkids here; you could have generations of people living in the community living as non-citizens," he said. "So, it's even worse than being a second-class citizen. They would be forced to live in the shadows."

Enacting this executive order could divert local and state resources from their intended purpose. Given its broad implications, it could add more red tape for the government, create barriers to health care for families, reduce some young people's ability to get jobs due to discrimination, and harm the long-term economy.

Columbia County residents' feedback to Trump's recent executive orders has been mostly negative given their impacts. Chameides noted it's exacerbating people's fear and uncertainty about the world, and added that residents have other concerns beyond Trump's "culture war" agenda.

"I think what people are seeing is, they are concerned about the rise in costs and those kinds of things," he said, "and that this sort of attack on birthright citizenship is such a distraction from the real things at hand -- which is, how do we make sure working families have the tools and opportunities they need to take care of themselves?"

Some people want the federal government to develop more affordable housing, address health care affordability challenges, and help develop a fiscally sustainable emergency response service.

Chameides said the State of New York is working to fill the gap left by Trump's policies.

"I think New York also needs to step up and make sure it's supporting rural hospitals, that we're making sure health care access is important," he said. "We've had some improvements around support for EMS systems, which is so critically important, but we need to continue to lean in."

Sometimes small changes can have a big impact.

For the Southern Oregon town of Chiloquin, a park that used to be a parking lot is creating space for the community to connect, post-pandemic. The town's first shaded and accessible public seating area was built in part from funds from an AARP Oregon Community Challenge Grant.

Robert Cowie, a city council member in Chiloquin, said the project has improved the livability of the town.

"We see kids out there doing their homework or chit-chatting," Cowie pointed out. "I see people will walk along there and they'll stop and sit and rest for a bit before they continue their walk."

AARP Community Challenge Grants fund quick-action projects that improve public spaces, transportation, housing, digital connections and more. Applications are open now through March 5.

All projects must be consistent with AARP's mission to serve the needs of people 50 and older along with other eligibility criteria. Cowie noted the pocket park in Chiloquin provides a beautiful space for their farmers market and has inspired more positive changes for the town.

"It's a corner that everybody passes several times a day often," Cowie added. "I think it's just brought a sense of renewal to the community."

Since 2017, AARP has invested more than $20 million toward 1,700 projects, including 35 in Oregon. This year's focus includes improving pedestrian safety and expanding high-speed internet, among other things.


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