Sarasota County highlights six-week Florida Water Stewardship Program, urges resident participation

Sarasota County communications host Sam Parker spoke with Mike Dimperio of UF/IFAS Extension on a county water-quality update about the Florida Water Stewardship Program, which wrapped up its final session for the year. "This is the last class of the Florida Water Stewardship Program for the year," Dimperio said, noting the course is offered annually each spring.

Dimperio described the program as a six-week course that teaches "the facts behind watershed science" and pairs those lessons with guest speakers on communication and community engagement. "All of the attendees do a group project, and we also have them attend a public meeting to see how those run, see how they can get involved with volunteering, and really make an actual change in their community," he said.

He said each week includes a field trip and that guest speakers come from Sarasota County and the University of Florida; the program is run in collaboration with Manatee County Extension and rotates between the two counties. Dimperio advised prospective participants to check Eventbrite, the program website and social media for registration and scheduling information.

Host Sam Parker praised the combination of classroom learning and practical community tools, saying he appreciated that the program "not only [educates] the community, but [gives] them the tools to actually make a change." He closed the segment by directing viewers with questions about local water-quality initiatives to the county’s web page: scgov.net/waterquality.

The program, as described in the video, emphasizes resident education, hands-on field experience and civic engagement through group projects and attendance at public meetings. Sarasota County and UF/IFAS Extension said the program runs about six weeks each spring and that details and future session dates are posted online.