Pathfinder Outdoor Education, St Petersburg Group and St Petersburg Foundation are collaborating with community partners to revitalize the former home of the Science Center.
With an emphasis on equity, the coalition will develop a base for STEM education and innovation in St. Petersburg. The facility will be home to local nonprofits offering impactful programming, classes and camps to serve residents and visitors of all ages.
Our goal is to build an iconic destination with regional impact augmented by close ties to local schools, nonprofits and government.
Reactivating this beloved institution, which served as many as 22,000 children per year in its heyday, will enable new generations of Pinellas children and families to immerse themselves in STEM/STEAM learning while building community connectedness and enjoying family–friendly programming.
Pathfinder Outdoor Education is positioned as the lead nonprofit organization and fiduciary on the project.
The organization’s expertise in Experiential Education, inclusive leadership, team building, collaboration, and conflict resolution position them to be the perfect Backbone Organization for a Collective Impact model approach to building a Science Center for Pinellas County that will provide youth development and educational opportunities for children and families as well as prepare our future workforce for jobs in STEM/STEAM industries.
— Fay Hanley Brown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review
A successful Collective Impact initiative relies on a diverse group of participants, brought together under an aligned mission and common agenda to build infrastructure for change from a community-wide strategic lens.
For the Science Center, SPF will work with Pathfinder Outdoor Education to assemble a diverse group of individuals, organizations, philanthropists, business owners, program leaders, educators, and representatives from the community and government to implement the strategic plan and drive the mission.
SPF will pull inspiration from several collective impact models and science centers operating successfully across the US to create a custom framework for collaboration to bring a next-generation Science Center to life.
“DIFFERENT LIFE EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES ARE VITAL TO THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS—THEY HELP SPUR CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO DIFFICULT PROBLEMS AND ENSURE THAT NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND INNOVATIONS CAN BENEFIT ALL OF US.”
The SPF team is built to solve complex problems. To reactivate the Science Center through a Collective Impact Model and remodel and update the existing facility, we will bring together deep industry expertise to determine project needs and budget, develop a strategy for implementation and revenue sourcing and build a plan for sustainable operations and future growth.
The groups listed here deeply care about the development of Pinellas County and improving the lives of the citizens who live there. As such, each has committed to being available to assist in any way with this project to support the efforts of Pathfinder Outdoor Education, expand their capacity to take on this project and ensure that the vision to bring back the Science Center becomes a reality.
The St. Petersburg Foundation builds capacity at the organizational and community level for social impact. We leverage public, private, and philanthropic resources to help solve our community’s most challenging
issues.
© 2020 St. Petersburg Foundation
