Leah Voss for the Everglades

Friends of the Everglades is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in Miami in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas that advocates for the protection of Florida's precious natural ecosystems. When pollutants and toxic algae plague our waters, when sugarcane burning harms air quality in the Glades communities south of Lake Okeechobee, and when the health of the Everglades' unique ecosystem is threatened, we educate and activate the public so we can collectively have a positive impact on environmental policy. We walk in the footsteps of our founder, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, by promoting a greater understanding of the importance of protecting, preserving, and restoring the only Everglades in the world.

Over the past year, Friends of the Everglades has:

• Lobbied for changes in the U.S. Farm Bill that impact water quality and air pollution through Congressional meetings in Washington, D.C. and with a Sugar Reform Now petition signed more than 5,500 times.
• Held state legislators accountable through pushes to kill environmentally-damaging bills, in-person meetings in Tallahassee and livestream events with politicians and activists meant to inform the public.
• Fostered the next generation of Everglades advocates with our Young Friends of the Everglades Youth Education Program. 
• Applied public pressure for better water management policy through national press coverage. 
• Engaged in public art initiatives around Miami by sponsoring the Artists in Residents in the Everglades exhibition “Passages” and spoke on a panel at Austin’s SXSW with Hulu ahead of the upcoming installation of a public monument to our founder, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, at Peacock Park in Coconut Grove.