We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Meredith Bass. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Meredith below.

Meredith , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Blue Scholars focuses on serving youth from Title 1 Schools and a variety of Community Based Organizations that serve inner city youth. We prefer to call these populations “kids on the brink of success or KOBS”. Our goal is to introduce our curriculum on Biscayne Bay marine ecology and marine biology to these populations as they normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience it. It is also these populations that are the most vulnerable by climate change and sea level rise and living in a coastal community like South Florida this is a prevalent issue.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have grown up most of my life in, on, or around the water. I was fortunate to grow up in a family that made experiencing nature and our ocean environment a priority. In my early 20’s after graduating from University (with a completely different degree than what I am doing now,) I realized that there was so much of our local, urban population that didn’t have an opportunity to experience the water even if they lived within a mile of Biscayne Bay. I realized my personal passion was something I could give back through education. I started volunteering at an organization focused on introducing people with disabilities and also inner city youth to the Bay and it was there that my career in this industry grew!

I went on to then work in different parts of the world on expedition ships before returning back to Miami and continuing my work as an outdoor educator.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the hardest things in our industry is dealing with the general fear and the bureaucracy of getting youth out on the water. Here in Miami we live in a coastal community yet most of the population doesn’t know how to swim! This is a huge hurdle to overcome and because of the rules from the public school administration (our largest source of participants) students are required to pass a swim test in order to participate in our on the water program. Even though many school administrators say no to their students being on the water for fear of liability we are steadfast in continuing to pursue our program and build relationships and trust with these entities. It is our hope they will see the value in what we do and how their students will greatly benefit from exposure to this incredible environment.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Educating as many youth and community members about Biscayne Bay, connecting it to our worlds oceans and showing the importance of preserving and protecting this environment that we are all so dependent on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluescholars.org
• Instagram: @bluescholarsinitiative
• Facebook: Blue Scholars Initiative
• Twitter: @BlueScholarsIn1
• Youtube: Blue Scholars Initiative