Livingston Way Foundation

Community initiatives and partnerships: during the fiscal year ended 11/30/2024, livingston's way partnered with the beach bucket foundation to turn routine shoreline cleanups into immersive conservation classrooms. More than 250 children, parents and teachers donned gloves and grabbed buckets provided by beach bucket to remove over 80 pounds of debris from florida's beaches. Turtle scientist andrea whittaker joined each cleanup, connecting volunteers' efforts to the real world impacts on sea turtles and marine ecosystems. By transforming trash collection into hands on lessons in wildlife protection, these events instilled a lasting sense of stewardship and empowered the next generation to see themselves as active ocean guardians.beyond the immediate environmental benefits, these cleanups instilled a lasting sense of responsibility and stewardship in the next generation. By providing young people with hands-on opportunities to engage in conservation work, the program empowered them to see themselves as active participants in protecting the ocean. The experience not only strengthened their understanding of conservation issues, but also fostered a community-driven commitment to sustainable practices and civic responsibility.in fall 2024, hurricane helene's torrential rains and record storm surge unleashed more than four feet of saltwater into clearwater marine aquarium disabling life support pumps, flooding critical animal care areas and endangering rescued dolphins, sea turtles and manatees. In response, livingston's way awarded an emergency relief grant that funded the rapid reinstatement of cma's critical animal care unit and re-instated the student and family focused outreach programs. Today, clearwater marine aquarium amplifies our partnership by showcasing the future wavemakers competition and scholars program and kids summit across its digital channels and collaborating on a dedicated future wavemakers event series extending our shared mission of marine conservation education to even more young floridians.

Future wavemakers educational kids programs: future wavemakers kids summit series educational programming at cox science center and aquarium in west palm beach: during fiscal year 20232024, future wavemakers launched its inaugural kids summit series to deepen its statewide impact with immersive, expert led stem outreach. In west palm beach, over 300 students and their families gathered at the cox science center & aquarium, where dr. Sylvia earle delivered a dynamic keynote inviting every child to join in protecting nature. Shark and turtle scientist carlee jackson and marine educator madison toonder demonstrated how anyone at any age can "dive in" to conservation through hands on activities and real world examples.in miami at the phillip and patricia frost museum of science in miami dade county, hundreds of children and parents explored interactive oceanography exhibits and heard inspiring talks from founder gabrielle raymond mcgee and dr. Earle. Frost science's your shores high school cohort-an initiative that removes financial and logistical barriers to empower underserved students through hands on coastal conservation projects also attended and met sylvia and gabrielle in an intimate meet and greet. Together, these inaugural community events demonstrated the power of expert led stem outreach and innovation to unite students in a shared mission: protecting our planet and its wildlife.

Wavemakers community events & symposium: bridging education and conservation: during the fiscal year ended 11/30/2024, future wavemakers hosted its inaugural "champions of conservation symposium" at manatee lagoon, bringing together over 200 college students, educators and community leaders to advance our mission to ignite conservation minded stem leadership. Everglades filmmaker luca martinez opened with immersive storytelling; coral ecologist alannah vellacott and conservation scientist madison toonder shared breakthroughs in reef restoration and citizen science fieldwork; 4ocean foundation ceo jack lighton spotlighted sea turtle protection strategies; national geographic's film maker of path of the panther, tori linder framed youth as environmental advocates; and friends of the manatees' anne messer highlighted hands on rescue operations. Fau's ai research team capped the program with a virtual reality tour of florida's coastal habitats, transforming complex science into an inspiring, interactive experience that spurred attendees to think about the importance of restoration. Manatee lagoon underscored the strength of our collaboration by waiving venue fees, promoting the symposium across its channels and coordinating event logistics. In post event surveys, 90% of participants reported new confidence in leading local environmental initiatives, and several action teams have since launched neighborhood cleanups. This symposium not only demonstrated the power of expert led, ted style stem engagement but also laid the groundwork for ongoing partnerships and follow up workshops fueling our continued effort to unite florida's community leaders, educators, students, and more.during the fiscal year ended 11/30/2024, future wavemakers hosted its capstone community event - a culminating gathering of 160 parents, community leaders and entrepreneurs committed to advancing conservation across south florida. National geographic explorer at large dr. Sylvia earle opened with a stirring keynote on the pivotal role youth play in safeguarding our planet, then joined dr. Wallace j. Nichols for a candid dialogue on the "blue mind" science and the need to protect our waterways. The wavemakers community talks also featured national geographic's path of the panther co-founder tori linder and was a small gathering of community leaders in discussion on ways to bring conservation to our classrooms and connect with nature. This community event brought together a select group of local educators, professors, school board members, policymakers, and business leaders for an intimate event of idea-sharing on scaling stem education and entrepreneurship to schools throughout florida. National geographic's path of the panther co-founder tori linder opened the discussion with inspiring examples of youth-driven ecosystem projects, then guided participants through a collaborative workshop to identify action steps.