In 2005, the newly-formed Gulf of Mexico Alliance hosted 8 community-input workshops around the Gulf focusing on the needs of local communities.  The goal was to gather the public's input on local environmental issues and to form a work plan that would address those issues.  Out of the eight workshops, Florida was fortunate enough to host four of them.  On June 9^th, 2005, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve hosted the Gulf of Mexico Alliance federal and state inaugural meeting, where leading environmental officials from the federal government, the White House and the five Gulf states gathered as part of a coordinated response to President George W. Bush's Ocean Action Plan in the Gulf of Mexico. The Action Plan called for development of regional goals and priorities for guarding the nation's oceans.  This meeting was followed by a local southwest Florida community workshop that generated much interest within the community.

After the release of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Action Plan in 2006, the impact of the community workshops was finally seen.   The workshops were proven to be an effective method for gathering the communities' concerns and priorities, and conducting a community needs assessment.  Following this logic model, Rookery Bay received funding from the Florida Coastal Zone Management to host a series of Southwest Florida-specific community Workshops, that would focus specifically on the needs of that community and to raise awareness of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance.  It was the first time a community had taken a successful Alliance technique and applied it to their community.  Since the beginning of this project in late 2006, there have been many community-input workshops, events, and opportunities for the Southwest Florida community to engage in Alliance activities.  The community workshops are now a model program that can be shared with other Gulf Coast communities.

Former Florida Governor,
Jeb Bush

Today, the Alliance is setting an example by sharing science, expertise and financial resources to better protect the health of this complex ecosystem that is the Gulf of Mexico while securing a lasting underwater legacy for future generations.