TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Florida families are used to the essentials needed during hurricane season \u2014 think water, batteries, flashlights and food.<\/p>\n
Through a new effort, Spectrum is asking students in Manatee County to help families think about another important part of their hurricane plans: staying connected.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called the Invincible Communities NextGen Storm Team Initiative and brings together students, teachers, emergency management professionals and communications experts. The goal is to create public awareness campaigns that help Floridians prepare for hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.<\/p>\n
Students will be asked to create 30-second concepts showing how being connected helps residents receive emergency alerts, follow evacuation guidance, and communicate with loved ones before, during, and after a storm.<\/p>\n
Students with the winning concept will work alongside Spectrum\u2019s media production team to bring the idea to life, not to mention give those students hands-on experience.<\/p>\n
The PSAs that are produced will then air locally.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping communities weather a storm starts with clear, practical information people can use,\u201d said Geoff Banning, area vice president for Spectrum. \u201cThis initiative gives students the opportunity to work alongside communications professionals and emergency management partners to create messages designed for the communities they know best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew Myers, chief of public safety and emergency management for Manatee County, said including students in the effort will offer fresh voices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best public awareness campaigns don\u2019t simply share information. They help people recognize what\u2019s at stake and know what to do when it matters most,\u201d Myers said. \u201cThis initiative gives students an opportunity to contribute to that effort while learning how effective communication supports community safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students may participate individually or in teams using video, animation, graphics and other digital formats.<\/p>\n
\u201cHurricane preparedness is a shared responsibility, and staying connected is critical to keeping Floridians safe,\u201d said Senate President Designate Jim Boyd. \u201cThe Invincible Communities NextGen Storm Team Initiative empowers students to bring fresh ideas to strengthen Florida\u2019s emergency preparedness and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charter is the parent company of Spectrum Bay News 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Florida families are used to the essentials needed during hurricane season \u2014 think water, batteries,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7088,115,275,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-372293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-manatee-county","tag-news","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372293","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=372293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}