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Plastic Free Cities empowers youth activists at South Florida schools to protect the ocean by working with local businesses to encourage the transition away from single-use plastic. Through advocacy training, outreach to businesses, and community clean-ups, Plastic Free Cities aims to engage upstream and prevent waste from flowing into our precious ocean.
In 2023, 57 students at four high schools earned 370 volunteer hours and increased their knowledge of plastic pollution by 40% and their understanding of sustainable business by 49% as well as increased their comfort with public speaking by 37%. As a result of this activism, Senator Rene Garcia announced a proclamation that recognized Plastic Free Cities for its contribution to making the community of Hialeah a safer and cleaner place to live, and Councilperson Bryan Calvo presented each of our graduates with a certificate of appreciation. Amazing!
We're so grateful to our partners Ocean Conservancy and Debris Free Oceans, in partnership with Miami-Dade County’s Plastic Free 305, for working with us to bring this program to life, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for funding it, and to the incredible students who dedicate their time and effort to this important mission.
Learn more about program details on the blog and watch our conversation with Plastic Free Cities participants and mentors Alexia Lorie and Alejandro Gananza from earlier this year; these students also participated in our 2023 Sea Youth Rise Up program.
WANT TO WORK WITH PLASTIC FREE CITIES?
Are you a student, teacher, business owner, or elected official in the City of Miami interested in working with Plastic Free Cities? We'd love to work with you in 2024! Click here to submit your interest and a member of our team will be in touch.
If you're not in the City of Miami, but want to learn how to bring Plastic Free Cities to your own community, neighborhood or school, download our FREE Plastic Free Cities Student Training Manual below.
Want a copy of our plastic free cities training manual?
Sign up here with your email address to access our Plastic Free Cities Training Manual, including tools and resources to help you take action to reduce plastic pollution in your community!
SEE OUR MENTORS IN ACTION
MENTOR SPOTLIGHTS
“I joined Plastic Free Cities, within the Hialeah cohort and developed the mentorship group to lead and work with new cohorts in understanding the concepts and canvassing. I love working with every single individual and getting to meet them and learn about their perspectives on plastic pollution and the sustainable world that we surround ourselves in.”
“I am interested in participating in ocean and environmental sustainability because I want the environment to be cleaner and use less plastic day to day! One ocean memory that I had was when I did a beach clean up and helped the beach that was very polluted with trash.”
“I have always had a passion for plastic and sustainability. I used to live in an island and experienced first hand these issues. My favorite ocean memories are swimming in the ocean and snorkeling, seeing the animals and water!”
“My favorite memory related to the ocean was when I was about five years old and I released baby turtles that were rescued, since then I knew that I really liked the ocean.”
“I cleaned up a beach with my friends and the plastic we picked up we used to work on a sustainability project in our art class, where we used that plastic to make a piece of art. It helped me turn it into something beautiful rather than harmful to health.”
PFC student from Downtown Doral Charter Upper School, Angela Ucros, was interviewed on the Doral Voice to speak about the programs impact in Doral. Watch the interview below! (In Spanish/En Español)
