Florida Funding Email Alert

 

 

 

October 17, 2005 

 

 

 

 

Dear Email Alert Readers,

This free service by Florida Funding Publications provides information critical to grant seekers and fundraisers. Visit our website, www.floridafunding.com for more information on the grant seeking world.

Remember each alert comes with several HOT GRANTS due in a given month. Scroll below for 3 October Grants. PLEASE NOTE DUE DATES!

*** Florida Funding is currently in the process of relocating. Answers to your inquiries may be delayed. Backorders may also be delayed while our stock is moved to a new location. We appreciate your patience***

***For those ordering online: Discounts are not being reflected in the online invoice as of October 17, 2005. However, your card WILL BE billed for the correct amount. Direct all price inquiries to agarcia@floridafunding.com***

 

In this update:

I. News

-Florida Funding Sale: 15% of all publications; FIND 2004-2005 CD database only $249.95

-Environment: Snakes Eye Everglades

-Environment: Fish Harvest Dwindling

-Education: Enrollment opens for prepaid program

 

II. Events/Dates

III. GrantWire: October Grants, Part III

 

 

NEWS

 

FLORIDA FUNDING PUBLICATIONS SALE NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER 15

 

We at Florida Funding appreciate your patience as we relocate and restructure our publishing firm.

We take great pride in the overwhelming high level of satisfaction of our customers, and recognize that our usual standard of service has suffered in the recent weeks.

As the primary resource for grant-seekers and non-profits, we realize that many of you depend on timely delivery of our email alerts, prompt delivery of our publications, and exceptional customer service.

To reiterate this commitment Florida Funding is having a %15 off sale of our all publications, and offering the 2004-2005 FIND CD searchable database for only $249.95 from now to November 15.

-Get The Complete Guide to Florida Foundations for only $76.50 (+ S&H and tax for non-exempt organizations) SAVE $13.50!

Here's a link to our products page where you can read how the 4,400 listed and detailed Florida Foundations can help your organization get the funding it needs!

http://www.floridafunding.com/products/index.htm

Sample pages: http://www.floridafunding.com/Pdf/FoundationGuideSample2004.pdf

-Get Florida State Grant Programs 2005-2006 for only $68 (+ S&H and tax for non-exempt organizations) SAVE $12

Here's a link to our products page where you can read how the Florida State Grant Products has been assisting organizations getting State funds for over 15 years. It's even used by the Florida Legislature itself! 

http://www.floridafunding.com/products/index.htm

Sample Pages: http://www.floridafunding.com/Pdf/StateGuide20042005.pdf

-Get Florida Scholarships, 7th Edition*(expected release November 2005) for only $29.95 (+ S&H and tax for non-exempt organizations) SAVE $5

Here's a link to our products page where you can read how our Scholarship Guide is tailored specifically to Florida students.

http://www.floridafunding.com/products/index.htm

Sample Pages: http://www.floridafunding.com/Pdf/flsch2004.pdf

 

-Get the FIND CD, a searchable index of all STATE, FEDERAL, and FOUNDATION resources in one easy to use format, for only $249.95! That's $200 off the list price!

Here's a link to our products page where you can read how the 4,400 listed and detailed Florida Foundations can help your organization get the funding it needs!

http://www.floridafunding.com/products/index.htm

 

 

Scientists brace for snake invasion

 

The giant snakes suddenly seem hungry, gulping a gator, a turkey and poor Frances the cat. As the body count creeps up, so does python paranoia.

Such uneasiness may not be totally irrational.

Back home in Burma and Thailand, pythons live comfortably amid civilization, slithering in sewers and crushing rodents and other prey. Left unchecked, warns Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist with the Florida Museum of Natural History, there is little to stop them from cruising canals to crisscross South Florida.

''Certainly, they can now get into anywhere people live,'' Krysko said. ``What will happen then, we don't know for sure. We do know they can eat people's pets. So, kids, get out of the water.''

For now, the notion of snakes as long as SUVs invading the suburbs remains an uncertain fear. But in the Everglades, Burmese pythons have boomed so fast that scientists say it's time to change the focus from studying to killing.

''Everything tells me that this particular species is quite the generalist, quite adaptable,'' said Skip Snow, an Everglades National Park biologist who has tracked the spread of a species first dumped as discarded pets. ``Nothing suggests this snake is going anywhere without some assistance from us.''

By December, researchers plan to tag a handful of pythons with radio-tracking devices to map their slitherings. As early as next year -- if funding comes through -- they hope to start trapping pythons and dispatching them by lethal injection.

The goal, said Snow, will be eradication. It's a daunting challenge.

NUMBER UNKNOWN

Nobody knows how many might be out there. Biologists have only sketchy ideas about where they live and feed. They are still tinkering with traps capable of capturing an elusive creature that grows large and powerful enough to consume an adult alligator -- at least before exploding.

What they know isn't encouraging, either.

Pythons, after decades of releases by irresponsible pet owners, are definitely multiplying in the wild. They've been found in wet and dry areas, in a wide range of sizes and ages, eggs to adults, in sharply increasing numbers.

Krysko said that between 1979 and 2000, only a dozen were documented in the wild of South Florida. In the five years since, 236 have been found.

''They are absolutely everywhere,'' said Krysko, an invasive-species specialist who is part of the research team working on an anti-python plan. ``That's what is so scary.''

And then there's the sobering fact that an established reptile invader has never been wiped out.

In the most ambitious undertaking, the U.S. government has spent several years and $50 million to remove the brown tree snake from the Pacific island of Guam, where it was accidentally introduced decades ago with devastating results.

So far, the campaign has halted the spread off the island and eliminated snakes in small study areas, said Gordon Rodda, a zoologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who coordinates the program.

But the snake remains entrenched on Guam, where its propensity to climb power lines triggers outages and economic havoc. It also eats pets and bites babies, ''which is something mothers aren't really fond of,'' Rodda said.

The tree snake has had a calamitous environmental impact, wiping out birds, bats and lizards that once controlled insects and spread seeds.

''It's probably the worst-case scenario in the sense you took an ocean island that evolved without a snake and you put a snake into it,'' Rodda said.

In the Everglades, pythons could clearly tilt the natural balance, though how much is hard to predict.

Unlike many of the dozens of exotic species that have found niches in suburbia, such as lizards in backyards and birds in fast-food parking lots, the python is thriving in the wildest place in the state, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.

''That's what is different about the Burmese python -- they are right out there in the Everglades clearly interacting with native wildlife,'' he said.

Because there is nothing like them in the Everglades, creatures that have adapted to survive native predators might prove vulnerable to the all-terrain python, he said. Would the nests of rare wood storks, built in the relative safety of treetops, prove easy pickings?

''That's one of the things about pythons that really raises concern,'' Mazzotti said. ``You'll find them in trees, you'll find them in water, you'll find them in mangroves.''

The snakes, necropsies show, are munching everything from rodents to birds to the occasional alligator. That was documented last month with the discovery of a dead 13-foot python with a dead six-foot gator protruding from its body, the apparent result of a snake with eyes bigger than its stomach.

The python is in competition for food with natives such as endangered indigo snakes and alligators. Gators, judging by encounters documented by Snow and researcher Lori Oberhofer, also can consume snakes, but biologists doubt that gators alone can control the spread.

Clearly, pythons give many people the creeps, even in a place where sharks cruise off beaches and gators lurk in canals.

There is something undeniably disturbing about the idea of being strangled and then swallowed whole -- the manner in which pythons consume their victims.

Scientists remain skeptical about gory tales from Southeast Asia, but Mazzotti found at least two documented killings by captive pythons since 1990 -- teenage boys were suffocated as they slept by their pets.

While pythons are capable of killing people, biologists insist that they pose little risk to adults, although they might be more inclined to target a child, given the opportunity.

Researchers also believe snakes that pop up in neighborhoods are typically freed pets more acclimated to people.

''Your odds are probably better of winning the lottery three weeks in a row than getting bit by a python,'' said Joe Wasilewski, a South Miami-Dade County biologist and reptile wrangler.

In the Everglades, Snow believes the biggest danger that pythons pose to humans may be as road hazards, since they favor warm asphalt and grow to the girth of pine logs.

The fate of Frances, the Miami Gardens feline, shows that pet owners have something new to worry about with pythons, but the snakes have a long way to go before approaching native gators.

The state fields 15,000 gator nuisance calls a year, a fair portion having to do with pet attacks. For perspective, consider that the gut of one caught in Pensacola years ago held seven dog collars.

While the recent serial swallowings propelled pythons into the news, scientists have been drawing up a strategy to take out the snakes for two years, since the first gator-snake tussle recorded in the park.

Snow has charted captures and sightings to help narrow down hangouts.

Last year, Oberhofer began training a sweet-faced beagle named Python Pete to sniff out snakes, a method that helped in Guam.

But the Everglades pose more complications than a small, isolated island. Researchers can't simply spread poisoned mice around without killing other things.

They will have to fashion traps that will float and hold large snakes, but not entice gators or other creatures.

They will have to pinpoint places in a sprawling landscape to lure predators that wait in one spot, sometimes for weeks, for a meal to pass by.

A CHALLENGE

''The challenge in Florida is you have a lot of natives you don't want to hurt,'' Rodda said. ``In Guam, there are no native snakes. If we kill every snake on Guam, everybody is as happy as they can be.''

Any effort to control pythons, scientists say, will be doomed if something isn't done to stop the dumping of pets that grow too big and dangerous.

While it's a second-degree misdemeanor to release exotic species in Florida, the state law is rarely enforced. And the importation, breeding and sale of Burmese pythons remain largely unregulated.

Snow and other scientists said state and federal wildlife agencies should reexamine who can own the snakes.

''It's pretty clear to me that the one and only regulation we have, which is that it's against the law to let them loose, is not very effective,'' Snow said.

.

 

 

Wide net is cast for fishing solutions
 

New approaches to saving fish include no-fishing zones and reorganizing government agencies.

 

In the marine world, nothing is simple.

Not how the government regulates fishing, nor how it counts the number of fish caught. The natural world of the fish itself is equally complicated. Any attempt to strike a balance between the rising demand for fish and the declining supply will have to take into account that complexity.

''Fish don't live in isolation,'' said Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science at the University of Miami. ``In order to manage a population, you've got to pay attention to all the other species the fish interact with, to their environment, to the places important to spawning, reproduction, nursery areas, and water quality, [and] if things are happening on land, such as pollution and runoff.''

Measures to restrict fishing, either commercial or recreational, usually draw strong opposition from industries that pack a strong economic punch in Florida. Commercial fishing in Florida, while declining because of development, is valued at $1.2 billion a year. Recreational fishing expenditures total $8.3 billion, rivaling the $9 billion citrus industry, according to the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council.

In dozens of submerged cages off Bimini and Puerto Rico, Daniel Benetti at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami believes he is working on a significant solution to relieve pressure on wild fish and still meet the demand for edible fish: fish farming. Virtually all of the freshwater tilapia and catfish consumed in the United States today are farmed, as are salmon.

''Within the next 10 years, aquaculture will produce more than 50 percent of all the fish we eat,'' Benetti said.

His 5-year-old project, done in collaboration with the private companies Snapperfarm and AquaSense, are raising cobia in diamond-shaped cages 80 to 100 feet below the ocean's surface.

But fish farming presents problems. The farmed fish are in the same water as wild fish. Critics say ocean farming is fraught with dangers: the spread of disease among fish too closely confined; chemical contamination from dyed fish food; depletion of wild fish that are made into food for farmed fish; too much fish waste beneath giant fish pens that will smother whatever it lands on. But Benetti is optimistic that his and similar research will develop ways of farming fish that will minimize ecological impact. The Gulfstream, for example, disperses fish waste from his cages, he says.

MAJOR REPORTS

Two major reports on the state of the oceans -- the Pew Oceans Commission in 2003 and the U.S. Oceans Policy Commission in 2004 -- have pointed to other sets of solutions: the reorganization of fragmented management of fish, more fishing restrictions, management of total fish habitats rather than one kind of fish at a time and expansion of no-fishing zones.

Conservation groups as well as those two commissions have criticized the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for regulating one species at a time. What's needed, they say, is ecosystem management, an approach that resembles saving whole rain forests rather than one tree at a time.

Jerry Ault, a marine biologist at UM, and three other scientists are working on mathematical models to calculate the interactions among Everglades restoration, water quality and the natural ups and downs of reef fish stocks and fishing. The goal is to forecast change, just as climate models attempt to do.

''We have to think about all these things and link the processes,'' Ault said. ``Fishing is a major [impact], but there are issues of development, water quality and habitat we're beginning to understand. How do we put in place measures to maintain the quality of the system?''

RULING BODIES

Marine fishing in Florida is regulated by both state and federal groups. The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulates water up to three miles offshore on the Atlantic and nine miles into the Gulf.

The federal South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council regulates the water out to 200 miles from the eastern shore and a federal sister group, the Gulf Fisheries Management Council, oversees the same range on the Gulf Coast. Environmental groups criticize the makeup of the councils, saying recreational and commercial fishermen who sit on these councils are unwilling to regulate themselves.

In addition, federal and state regulations sometimes conflict.

For example, the Gulf Council recently banned recreational fishing for all grouper in federal waters of the Gulf in November and December because recreational fishermen caught more than double their limit last year.

But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has refused to shut state waters -- which extend nine miles into the Gulf -- to grouper fishing.

In fact, the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, with 28 chapters of recreational fishermen, filed suit against the federal regulators, claiming they exceeded their authority with the two-month closure and ''essentially shut down the recreational industry,'' said Executive Director Ted Forsgren. Expensive charters are booked months ahead and would have to be canceled if the ruling prevails. The suit is scheduled to be heard before a federal judge in Fort Myers on Oct. 24.

''In the Gulf, more than 80 percent of red grouper are harvested by the commercial fishing industry,'' Forsgren said. ``Last year was an odd blip in the [red grouper] landings of recreational fishermen.''

ZONE DISPUTE

The coastal association objects to using no-fishing zones as a management technique because it keeps anglers from fishing anywhere they wish. Yet the no-fishing zone is a technique the South Atlantic Council has embraced to provide fish with areas where they can rebuild their numbers.

Twenty-three no-fishing zones were established in 1997 in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Spiny lobsters, once used for bait but now a delicacy, are increasing in the reserves, and initial reports show fish increasing.

''We've found abundance increasing inside the reserve but not outside,'' the sanctuary's program administrator, John Hunt, said of lobsters. The coastal association has posted a study on its website that says fish increase within reserves but not adjacent to them, meaning that fishermen don't have access to the increased numbers of fish.

It's clear, Forsgren says, that a no-fishing zone ``sucks more fish in than it lets out. The issue is whether it's a management tool or not.

``Redfish were taken off the commercial market in 1988 and they were put under very strict limits. We now have a huge redfish population and we didn't have any closed areas to do that. The problem is the federal government has been mismanaging fisheries for years.''

During an August special session, the Florida Legislature backed a National Park Service plan to create a 46-square-mile no-fishing ecological reserve in Dry Tortugas National Park. The plan, not yet approved, is opposed by the coastal association.

DIFFERENT METHODS

While the managers haggle, environmental groups are taking other approaches.

Most people in the United States eat fish in restaurants. In 2002, several environmental groups asked 1,000 chefs across the country to drop Chilean sea bass from their menus to give the over-fished and slow-maturing fish a chance to rebound.

Environmental Defense and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California have come up with guides to environmentally sound fish to eat, and Monterey has endorsed a new cookbook, Ocean Friendly Cuisine, which provides recipes for 100 fish not stressed by too much fishing.

LIMIT ANGLERS?

Until the 1960s, everyone believed the supply of fish in the sea was limitless, says Douglas Gregory, Sea Grant extension agent in Key West. The National Sea Grant Program is supported by the NOAA, the University of Florida and Monroe County, and promotes stewardship and conservation and serves as a bridge between government regulators and fishermen. Gregory has commercial as well as recreational fishermen as constituents.

With commercial fisheries regulated, Gregory foresees the day when recreational fishing will be regulated like hunting: by allowing only so many fishermen on the seas at a time, perhaps by lottery.

''It's a matter of a limited resource,'' Gregory said, ``with increasing numbers of people trying to harvest that resource.''

BY GEORGIA TASKER
 gtasker@herald.com
 
EDUCATION
 

Parents can sign up for the state's prepaid college tuition program starting today, locking in the cost of education for their children at a Florida public university or community college.

The enrollment period runs from today until Jan. 31. After that, parents must wait until next fall to sign up.

More than a million families have signed up for the prepaid tuition program in its 18 years.

People who enroll pay a set amount in advance for a guarantee that the tuition will be fully covered, no matter how much the cost has increased in the interim. Tuition has gone up more than 85 percent at Florida public universities in the last decade alone.

Costs to enroll in the prepaid program vary depending on the child's age. If the child doesn't go to college, the money is repaid with interest.

Some financial analysts caution that parents should consider the proposition carefully, however. Some college savings prepayment plans could reduce students' eligibility for grants and loans.


 

 

Please help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here is a list of links to get you started.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a good guide for how and what you can donate. It also has a good list of accredited relief organizations so you can be sure your donations will go where you want them to.

Here are a few: The American Red Cross

The United Methodist Committee on Relief

The North Shore Animal League America

Episcopal Relief and Development

The Salvation Army

Go to the ASPCA if you want to help the stranded pets and other animals.

Catholic Charities

DATES

 

 

Join the Dade Cultural Alliance for an invigorating evening of networking, information and music. Please see attached flyer.

 

Dade Cultural Alliance

Annual Reception & Program

October 19, 2005 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Clarke Recital Hall at the University of Miami, 5501 San Amaro Drive

Located directly behind Ring Theatre & Gusman Concert Hall

Parking & driving directions: www.music.miami.edu/festival

 

5:00 PM Networking Reception   Candidates Caravan

Meet and mingle with arts executives, community leaders and candidates from Miami, Miami Dade County, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and State Representatives.

Fancy Finger Foods, Wine and Select Vodka Bar

 

6:30 PM Dade Cultural Alliance Annual Meeting

featuring

Donna E. Shalala, President, University of Miami

Grassroots Advocacy:

Powerful Impact of Organized Arts Groups & Individuals

President Shalala has more than 25 years of experience as an accomplished scholar, teacher, and administrator. In 1993 President Clinton appointed her U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services HHS) where she served for eight years.

 

Tickets:

Free: Dade Cultural Alliance members

$25: non-members, includes Dade Cultural Alliance individual membership for one year

RSVP by October 15 to jcasbarro@aol.com

 

8:00 PM Stay for the Concert: Festival Miami Performance Frost Chamber Players

Special Offer for Dade Cultural Alliance Members   Tickets: $8

Immediately following the annual meeting DCA members & guests are invited to attend the Festival Miami evening performance of the Frost Chamber Players. (Ticket price for general public is $15)

To purchase tickets go to the Festival Box Office at Gusman Concert Hall and say you are a DCA member to receive the discount.

 

 

This “FYI…” is brought to you by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

 

Marialaura A. Leslie, Chief of Information and Outreach

Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs

111 N.W. First Street • Suite 625 • Miami, FL  33128

305-375-5042 Phone     305-375-3068 Fax

mleslie@miamidade.gov

www.miamidadearts.org

www.miamidade.gov

"Delivering Excellence Every Day"

 

Miami-Dade County is a public entity subject to Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes concerning public records.  E-mail messages are covered under such laws and thus subject to disclosure.

 

 

October 19-21: (Fla.)
Children and youths
"Nonprofit Commitment: It's All About People," annual conference of the Alliance for Children and Families, in Orlando, Fla. Contact: Linda Freeman, ACF, (414) 359-1040, ext. 3688 or (800) 221-3726, ext. 3688; lfreeman@alliance1.org; https://www.alliance1.org/Conferences/National2005/reg2005.htm

 

Non-Profit Governance Project

Good Governance = Good Leadership:

 

A Peer Exchange among Board Members

You are cordially invited to a conversation by and for board members on non-profit governance issues.

Board members of Camillus House, Barry University, and Tigertail Productions will present case studies of how they tackled governance issues to make their boards more engaged and their organizations stronger.

 

Through the discussion, the board members will generate practical advice on issues of conflict of interest, financial controls, and board culture of engagement.

 

RSVP to Edwina Lau, Chase Marketing Group

305-663-1222 or e-mail elau@chasemiami.com

 

Don’t miss this important discussion.

The Non-Profit Governance Project is a collaboration of the Planned Giving Council of Miami-Dade,

Dade Community Foundation and The Center on Non-Profit Effectiveness.

Time: 8:00 – 10:30 am

Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2005

Location: Miami Children’s Museum, Watson Island, MacArthur Causeway

 

 

This “FYI…” is brought to you by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

 

 

Marialaura A. Leslie, Chief of Information and Outreach

Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs

111 N.W. First Street • Suite 625 • Miami, FL  33128

305-375-5042 Phone     305-375-3068 Fax

mleslie@miamidade.gov

www.miamidadearts.org

www.miamidade.gov

"Delivering Excellence Every Day"

 

Miami-Dade County is a public entity subject to Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes concerning public records.  E-mail messages are covered under such laws and thus subject to disclosure.

 

 

GRANTS

brought to you by Florida Funding's Grantwire®

 

  • October 17: Youths (national).
    Applications for Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants, sponsored by Youth Service America and the State Farm Companies Foundation. The awards carry cash prizes that enable youngsters, young adults, and educators to implement service-learning projects on National Youth Service Day, in April. Grants of $1,000 each will be awarded to 100 people organizing community projects. Recipients will be required to present their projects on a national Web site and to complete a post-event evaluation form. Applications and guidelines are available on the organization's Web site. Who may apply: individuals ages 5 to 25, teachers, and school-based community-service coordinators.
     

  • Contact: YSA, 1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20005; (202) 296-2992; fax (202) 296-4030; goodneighbor@ysa.org; http://www.ysa.org/awards/award_grant.cfm
     

 

 

  • Open: Animal welfare (U.S., Canada).
    Applications for grants from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation. Grants ranging from $2,500 to $50,000 each will support animal shelters, organizations that rescue and rehabilitate stray pets, and educational programs about pets in the United States and Canada. Additional information is available on the foundation's Web site. Who may apply: Priority will be given to organizations classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and groups without political or religious affiliations.
     
  • Contact: BABWF, 1954 Innerbelt Business Center Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63114; (877) 789-2327; http://www.buildabear.com/aboutUs/community/bearscanhelp/Grants.aspx
     

 

 

  • Open: Disabled youths (national).
    Concept papers for grants from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, which seeks to help young people with disabilities maximize their potential and their participation in society through technology. Organizations whose concept papers are approved will be invited to submit full proposals, which are due July 1 of every year. Multiyear funding will be considered, up to a maximum of three years. More information and online-submission forms for papers are available on the foundation's Web site. Who may apply: organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that focus on the needs of young people with disabilities, have a national scope and impact, operate programs with the potential for duplication, and represent an innovative approach involving technology.
     

  • Contact: MEAF, 1560 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1150, Arlington, Va. 22209; (703) 276-8240; fax (703) 276-8260; http://www.meaf.org
     

 

_________________________________________________________

This Email Alert is a service of Florida Funding Publications, authors of grants reference materials, including the recently updated and widely used "Florida State Grant Programs". For this and other grants reference materials, visit our home page at www.floridafunding.com.

 

Florida Funding Publications
PO Box 561565
Miami, FL 33256

 

Phone: 305-251-2203
Web site: http://www.floridafunding.com
E-mail: editor@floridafunding.com