Partners and Sponsors

Below are partners and sponsors that share our vision.

US Composting Council

About Us

Our Mission

The US Composting Council advances compost manufacturing, compost utilization, and organics recycling to benefit our members, society, and the environment.

Our Vision

We believe compost manufacturing and compost utilization are central to creating healthy soils, clean air and water, a stable climate, and promoting a regenerative society.

Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

“The USCC is committed to growing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the organization and throughout the compost industry by institutionalizing DEI in our operations and initiatives.”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Our History

The US Composting Council was formed in 1990 by compost producers and corporate sponsors (notably Procter and Gamble, a company that was researching compostable diapers at the time).

The USCC held its first conference in 1992, and has grown since to more than 800 members, about 500 of whom are manufacturers of compost, with the remainder in compost research and soil science; consulting; marketing; allied products and compostable products, as well as a group of individuals and enthusiasts. About a third of the membership is local, state and federal government employees, many of whom are in the business of compost manufacturing or organics recycling.

The USCC’s mission is focused primarily on commercial compost manufacturing and marketing, and includes training, certification and education of compost facility operators; certification programs for compost testing; and lobbying and advocacy campaigns at the state and federal level.

In 2022 USCC celebrated our 32nd anniversary and our 30th annual conference COMPOST2022! Take a look at our video and other resources on our history page.

Johnny's Selected Seeds

OUR MISSION

Our mission is helping families, friends, and communities to feed one another by providing superior seeds, tools, information, and service.

GIVING STATEMENT

We are committed to assisting agricultural and horticultural nonprofit organizations with programs that align with our mission. Areas of support include land access and preservation, new farmers, agrarian equity, food sovereignty, and healthy eating for young students.

About the company: Johnny’s Selected Seeds is a 100% employee-owned seed merchant and plant breeder, founded in 1973. The company headquarters are located in Winslow, Maine and its research farm is located in nearby Albion, Maine. Johnny’s is committed to helping growers and gardeners succeed with superior seeds, tools, information, and service. Quality vegetable, herb, cover crop, and flower seeds, including a large selection of certified organic seed.

ReFED

Our Mission

ReFED is a national nonprofit dedicated to ending food loss and waste across the U.S. food system by advancing data-driven solutions.

With our holistic view of the food system, we’re working to achieve a 50% food waste reduction in accordance with the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals – and we do it with purposeful action. Action that’s driven by solutions to specific challenges. That’s grounded in data. That’s targeted to where it can benefit the most. That’s coordinated across multiple stakeholders and evaluated to ensure success.

It’s action that can solve the food waste crisis.

We believe it’s possible. And purposeful action will get us there.

We protect America’s most critical lands and waters to provide greater access to nature, strengthen local economies and enhance climate resiliency. Top-ranked for efficiency and effectiveness, we have worked in all 50 states since 1985 to protect more than 8.8 million acres of land.

At The Conservation Fund, we believe in conservation that makes economic sense. Every project places conservation at its center, and our entrepreneurial staff create and implement innovative, practical ways to benefit the natural world and the well-being of Americans from every walk of life. We inspire new, innovative models that prove strategic conservation is good for both people and the environment.

OUR WORK

PROGRAMS

Keep Okaloosa Beautiful Mission & Background: Keep Okaloosa Beautiful was certified as a local affiliate of the Keep America Beautiful and Keep Florida Beautiful organizations on February 7th 2023. To promote environmental awareness and educate the community on how to reduce litter from our natural resources, beautify our recreational and private areas, improve recycling efforts, and keep our county beautiful.

Keep Okaloosa Beautiful sees a future where every community within Okaloosa county is clean, green, and beautiful! We strive to see our residents partake in efforts which support a healthy and inviting place to live. If you would like to participate in clean ups, tree plantings, recycling events and more please request a volunteer form by emailing: khiemier@myokaloosa.com.

Goals

End littering
Improve recycling
Beautify communities
Restore native habitats

Clean-Ups/ Litter Prevention:

Keep Okaloosa Beautiful hosts cleanups along city and county roads. Every year KOB must complete the litter index survey also known as the “Community Appearance Index”. This survey consists of four volunteers assisting the Executive Director in judging 50 sites within Okaloosa on a scale of 1-4. 1 being not littered or very mild litter (1-2 pieces) up to 4 being illegal dump site or heavily littered. Throughout the year these 50 sites will be monitored and cleaned in hopes that the community starts to see a sense of ownership, to deter from continuous littering. While we do focus on our sites within the litter index, we do go out to locations requested by the public as long as they are not on private property.

To see a list of or if you would like to participate in a Keep Okaloosa Beautiful clean-up please click HERE .

Beautification:

KOB is in search for partners who would like to start or have on their site a beautification project! Making areas greener and more presentable will help in deterring common problems such as litter, vandalism, and other negative behaviors. KOB is currently working with other organizations to create beautiful areas for the public to enjoy! Stay Tuned!!

Recycling/ Waste Reduction:

Recycling is important and should be practiced when possible whether at home or out in public while vacationing. According to the EPA recycling and reuse activities are responsible for about 681,000 jobs, recycling, reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals, prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials, saves energy, supports American manufacturing and conserves valuable resources.

Keep Okaloosa has created a recycling activity sheet which will work in conjunction with the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliances “Grasses in Classes” lessons/field trips. The activity sheets are given out during in class lessons, then during the field trips KOB sets up a fun interactive table that displays multiple items such as composite board, soda bottle fibers, carpet, trex, and playground padding all of which were made from recyclables. This helps show the full circle of recyclable materials and teaches the students the amazing things that can be created with something so simple as a water bottle. Next we play a game where students must throw a mini frisbee (which has an attached object on it, either belonging in the trash, recycling bin, or compost bin) into the correct bin. Before each throw, as a group we discuss the item and where it belongs/why it belongs there.

Placemats discussing recycling/ storm water awareness were created and will be disbursed to businesses in the county to help spread awareness on these important topics. Each placemat will have engaging activities to promote a fun learning experience while waiting for your meal!

Outreach: KOB promotes recycling/ waste reduction education by tabling at events, as well as setting up pop up tables out in the community where the public can engage by participating in activities or asking questions!

Rob Greenfield and the Live Like Ally Foundation.

Why We’re Doing This

The US American food system is broken. Less than one hundred years ago, we knew where our food was coming from and could recognize what we were putting on our tables. Today, a handful of mega-corporations control the majority of our food. As a result, we end up eating more and more food-like substances instead of actual food.

The average meal in the USA travels 1,500 miles from farm to fork and has a massive fossil fuel footprint. Food deserts, urban areas where good-quality food is hard to come by, exist all across the nation. Nearly fifty million US Americans are food insecure, including tens of millions of children and elders.

Even most organic food at the big supermarkets comes from Big Organic corporations, which use an incredible amount of fossil fuels and adopt lower standards than true organic.

All you need is a handful of seeds, some soil, and water, and you can feed yourself AND your community year after year. As Ron Finley says, “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.”

Help the Free Seed Project and Get Involved

Like the Live Like Ally Facebook page and follow them on Instagram @Live_Like_Ally Follow the stories of new gardeners, get tips on how to grow food, and be the first to know when we have opportunities for free seeds and fruit trees!

Send us photos! Share your story with before-and-after pictures of the garden you’ve created to growfood@robgreenfield.org.

Share food with your community. Let’s create a culture of sharing our home-grown food with each other. Stand up against the big food corporations by creating a resilient community of people who can produce their food!

Save some seed. If you let one or two of each plant go to seed, then you can turn one seed we supplied you into thousands!

Save your seeds and increase the size of your garden each year without spending any extra money or resources.

Share your extra seeds with people in your community! Here is our Seed Saving Resource Guide for all the information you need on the topic.

Teach someone. We are focused on helping beginner gardeners, but if you’re an experienced one, we’d love your help!

Maybe you have a neighbor or friend who’d benefit from growing their healthy vegetables. Share the seeds with them, and help them get growing! And please subscribe to our Facebook Group to help us answer questions from novice gardeners.

Hateless Foundation

The HateLess Foundation was Founded in July of 2016 in Montgomery Al. The founder Jarvis Provitt believed in purpose and wanted to fulfill it through Christ love. The Mission Statement is “We feed, cloth, and educate undeserved people of all ages world wide to reach their full potential”. As a non-profit our goal is to reach those that are in need of necessities and to also reach people to become better all around individuals. With our programs that we have in place, we believe through Christ we can make a difference in the world. With your help we will continue to be servants and to love our brothers in sisters inside our communities.

King Hill Community

The King Hill Community in Montgomery, Al is revitalizing the area with dedications to Claudette Colvin through the Claudette Colvin Community Garden and through the King Hill Community Garden.

The north-central part of the city is home to the King Hill Community Center. The center offers a large meeting space and one additional smaller space, a small kitchen, a computer room, as well as office space. Outdoor features include a paved walking trail, playground, vita course, a ballfield, and blacktop for basketball. In addition, the center has two picnic pavilions with tables. A program for senior adults is offered several days a week, and an after school and full day summer program are offered for children. The center is available for community meetings and rentals.

EAT South

EAT South is an urban teaching farm that engages our local community by gathering around, learning about and growing food. We empower people to change the way food travels from the ground to our plates.

We envision a food system where people can access fresh food from farmers, grow and prepare their own food, and are healthy as a result. We believe that a thriving local food system includes: healthy soil, air and water, profitable farms and other food-related businesses, access to seasonal produce, access to information about growing and preparing your own food, a healthier community, access to land, capital and resources by people previously excluded from food and farming systems.

Last year, EAT South participated in over 50 community events, maintained 37 business partnerships and added 19 new local partnerships; we sustained local school gardens by training 70 teachers through the Sprouts Teacher Training Program and over 200 people attended workshops for families, gardeners and everyone in between; our farm engaged over 400 volunteers that contributed over 1400 hours to continue our efforts throughout the city of Montgomery.

We provide hands-on experiences that give the community actionable lessons that they can apply to their own lifestyles. The farm engages visitors through all five senses, encouraging education through immersion and practice. We encourage access to knowledge on the local food system, farm bills and other government oversight so that citizens can effectively engage in the policies that dictate the food that we consume every day, combat food insecurity and encourage individual sustainability.

Your support is essential to continuing our outreach and we are so grateful for it.

Kicking For Change

Here at Kicking for Change, we are driven by a single goal; to use a kid’s game to impact the health and social aspects of our community.

Kicking for Change is in the business of changing and shaping lives. The work we do at our Nonprofit Organization is aimed at providing a viable, proven effective solution to obesity within a fun environment.

At Kicking for Change, we are dedicated to stepping up our efforts in addressing this issue. Curving domestic and youth violence by using the game of Co-Ed kickball creating lines of communication and mutual respect.

With this initiative, our goal is to promote great opportunities for those in need. With access to the right resources, people can become empowered by their own abilities and gain the confidence to fulfill their potential. Learn more about our work by getting in touch with our team today.

Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network

ASAN’s Mission and Vision

ASAN’s vision is a resilient agricultural system in Alabama. We believe that strong relationships are essential to resilient systems; strong, personal connections between growers, eaters, institutions and businesses make our agricultural system thrive and therefore our mission is to deepen relationships between the people of Alabama, the food we eat, and the place we live.

Core Beliefs

A resilient agricultural system is ecologically regenerative. In order to flourish, our agriculture should replenish the soil, protect the air and watershed, and enhance the ecosystem. We must understand ourselves to be humble participants in an interdependent ecological community.
A resilient agricultural system centers around those who work the land; for an agricultural system to thrive, farmers and farmworkers must be able to sustain themselves economically and socially.
A resilient agricultural system is just. Inequity and exploitation in any form, from producer to consumer, are threats to sustainability. All laborers within the food system must be justly compensated and treated with dignity. The historic and modern racism and sexism that pervades current agricultural institutions and practices must be specifically addressed.
A resilient agricultural system is intergenerational. Agricultural knowledge and wisdom inherited from our elders and ancestors should be maintained and celebrated. The system we sustain and work for should be worthy of our children and youth, who should be engaged and invited to participate in growing, harvesting, and consuming healthy foods.
A resilient agricultural system is rooted in community. A network of strong, personal, place-based connections between/among members of the entire food system stabilizes and drives a thriving agricultural system.

Note: This list of beliefs is considered a living document, presented to the membership for discussion and revision (if needed) each year at the Food & Farm Forum.

Biodynamic Association

Biodynamics is a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition.

Biodynamics is rooted in the work of philosopher and scientist Dr. Rudolf Steiner, whose 1924 lectures to farmers opened a new way to integrate scientific understanding with a recognition of spirit in nature. Biodynamics has continued to develop and evolve since the 1920s through the collaboration of many farmers and researchers. Around the world, biodynamics is alive in thousands of thriving gardens, farms, vineyards, ranches, and orchards. The principles and practices of biodynamics can be applied anywhere food is grown, with thoughtful adaptation to scale, landscape, climate, and culture.

The Biodynamic Association (BDA) awakens and enlivens co-creative relationships between humans and the earth, transforming the practice and culture of agriculture to renew the vitality of the earth, the integrity of our food, and the health and wholeness of our communities.

The BDA is a participatory, membership-based nonprofit organization that works to nurture the North American biodynamic movement as a diverse, collaborative, and thriving ecosystem. We aim to incubate strong leadership in the biodynamic community; grow the community of biodynamic farmers, ranchers, gardeners, and land stewards; communicate the powerful vision of biodynamics and the potential it holds for the Earth; and nurture the deep spiritual roots and insights of biodynamics.

Welcome to Montgomery!

We are proud to share highlights of our beautiful city with you. Learn why more than 197,000 residents are proud to call Montgomery home. We hope you’ll plan a visit or look for your forever home in Montgomery soon.

History

Incorporated December 3, 1819, Montgomery has a long and intriguing history. Once home to the First White House of the Confederacy, Montgomery grew to become the center of the Civil Rights Movement, notably the Montgomery Bus Boycotts.

Whether enticed by the amazing sunny weather or the heaps of potential, the City attracted entertainers such as Hank Williams, innovators like the Wright Brothers, and even the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Today, Montgomery is known for our historic downtown and focus on the future. Our southern charm is only elevated by our high-tech innovations to make life as pleasant as possible.

Entertainment

You will never run out of things to do in our thriving city! We have attractions for visitors as well as residents. We are home to ballets, sports complexes, museums, civil rights memorials, city parks, and a vibrant riverfront housing Riverboat Harriott II.

Economic Development

In 2004, the City landed a $1.8 billion project when Hyundai Motors built its first assembly and manufacturing plant in the United States. It employs over 3,000 team members and shows the confidence Hyundai has in Montgomery.

If you’re looking to open a small shop, develop a startup, expand an existing business, or find a great job, we have the resources you need.

Education

Montgomery Public Schools are positioned to engage, educate, and inspire our youth.

We are proud to offer a wide range of excellent educational programs through colleges and universities within Montgomery, including a Historically Black College and University at Alabama State University.

About The Conference

The United States Conference of Mayors is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are over 1,400 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.
The Conference holds its Winter Meeting each January in Washington, D.C. and an Annual Meeting each June in a different U.S. city. Additional meetings and events are held as directed by the Conference leadership.

Conference members speak with a united voice on organizational policies and goals. Mayors contribute to the development of national urban policy by serving on one or more of the conference’s Standing Committees. Conference policies and programs are developed and guided by an Executive Committee and Advisory Board, as well as the Standing Committees and Task Forces which are formed to meet changing needs.

During the Conference’s Annual Meeting in June, Standing Committees recommend policy positions they believe should be adopted by the organization.

At this time, every member attending the Annual Meeting is given the opportunity to discuss and then vote on each policy resolution. Each city, represented by its mayor, casts one vote.

The policy positions adopted at the Annual Meeting collectively represent the views of the nation’s mayors and are distributed to the President of the United States and Congress.

In addition to the ongoing work of the Conference’s Standing Committees, mayors are organized into Task Forces to examine and act on issues that demand special attention such as civic innovation, exports, hunger and homelessness, and brownfields.

Coastal ArborWorks is your local tree care company serving Fort Walton Beach, Shalimar and the surrounding areas. We specialize in providing expert tree care services including proper tree pruning to industry standards, plant healthcare, pre-construction tree preservation, tree removal, tree planting, and professional climbing services.

At Coastal ArborWorks, we believe that trees are an essential part of our environment, but they can also become hazardous if not cared for properly. That’s why one of our primary goals when assessing your trees is to increase safety for your home, family, business, and the broader public. Our team of experts will work with you to identify potential hazards and develop a plan to address them safely and efficiently.

We are dedicated to providing the most tailored services for you and your trees. We take great pride in our work and are committed to exceeding your expectations every time. Our team is highly trained and experienced in the latest techniques and equipment, ensuring that every job is completed safely and efficiently.

Contact us today to get a free, no obligations quote for your tree care needs. We would love to help you with all of your tree care needs, and ensure that your trees stay healthy and beautiful for years to come. Thank you for considering Coastal ArborWorks as your tree care provider.

Turning Interest Into Action

Dealing with the challenges of today requires problem-solvers who bring different perspectives and are willing to take risks. Pounds of Care emerged out of a pursuit to inspire and support the community, and a desire for actions to speak louder than words. Established in 2000, we’re an organization driven by progressive ideas, bold actions, and a strong foundation of support. Contact us to learn more and get involved.

Mission

Pounds of Care is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It’s mission is to provide assistance to disadvantaged individuals who lack adequate skills to achieve economic independence as well as to provide comprehensive programs to promote self-sufficiency. It also consists of programs such as Affordable Communities, Job Training, Job Placement, Land Acquisition, Housing, Employment, Literacy Counseling, Temporary Shelter, Teenage Pregnancy, Substance Abuse Awareness and Prevention, Tutoring, AIDS, Elderly Care and other programs to aid those in need.