ST. PETERSBURG, FL (MARCH 19, 2026) \u2013 The St. Petersburg Housing Authority (SPHA) successfully hosted a STEM Spring Break Program for SPHA youth. The two-day program introduced students to real-world environmental challenges while encouraging curiosity about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers.<\/p>\n
On March 16, students participated in a \u201cPesky Pollution Workshop\u201d, where they learned about pollution and micro-plastics, and their impact on marine ecosystems. On March 18, students went on a field trip to The Florida Aquarium in Tampa.<\/p>\n
The Spring Break program was part of SPHA\u2019s Gulf Futures 3D initiative, a grant-funded STEM program designed to build scientific and environmental literacy among youth in SPHA communities.<\/p>\n
The mission of SPHA\u2019s Gulf Futures 3D initiative is to empower students through a dynamic blend of classroom learning and place-based experiences that ignite curiosity and creativity with emerging 3D technologies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSPHA\u2019s Gulf Futures 3D initiative is giving our youth the opportunity to see themselves in STEM careers and understand that they can be part of solving real-world challenges,\u201d said Kiara Lovett, SPHA Director of Social Services.<\/p>\n
The Gulf Futures 3D initiative is funded through a $740,860 grant from the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.<\/p>\n
The National Academies\u2019 Gulf Research Program (GRP) is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The GRP\u2019s mission is to develop, translate, and apply science to enhance the safety of offshore energy, the environment, and the well-being of the people of the Gulf region for generations to come. It supports innovative science, guides data design and monitoring, and builds and sustains networks to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf region and the nation.<\/p>\n
SPHA is the leading affordable housing provider in the city of St. Petersburg, serving more than 4,000 low-income households. SPHA\u2019s mission is to provide safe, sanitary, accessible, decent, and affordable housing to eligible citizens of the city of St. Petersburg, while enhancing and promoting resident self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, FL (MARCH 19, 2026) \u2013 The St. Petersburg Housing Authority (SPHA) successfully hosted a STEM Spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-199154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}