Working Big Blue

Name of program: The Big Blue & You Foundation Inc.

Location: Miami

Founders: Daniell “Danni” Washington and Michelle Swaby-Smith

Founded: September 2008

Program target: Boys and girls ages 6 to 18 from all races with a primary focus on communities of color

Program mission: To inspire and empower today’s youth to become stewards of Earth and guardians of the oceans through service learning, visual arts, and media.

Annual cost to run program: Approximately $65,000 per year

How they receive funding: Contest and fellowship awards and small local grants from different agencies and organizations

Short-term goal: Create and build upon programs and events for children and their families focused on ocean conservation using art and media as the main platform of communication.

Long-term goal: Washington would like to develop, launch, and host a nationally syndicated television show for children about marine life.

Ever since she was in pig tails, marine biologist Daniell “Danni” Washington has been in love with the ocean–an interest supported and nurtured early on by her mother, Michelle Swaby-Smith, who remembers her 6-year-old declaring during a killer whale show at SeaWorld that she wanted to be a whale trainer when she grew up. Just a few years later, Washington won a competition to name a baby dolphin at the Miami Seaquarium and spent two days swimming with the friendly mammals. “It was wonderful,” recalls Washington’s mother. “This of course really fueled her fire to continue pursuing her passion.”

Washington attended the University of Miami, where she had lengthy internships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at its Southeast Fisheries Science Center, and spent a year with the Pew Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, both in Virginia Key, Florida. She graduated in 2008 and just a few weeks later entered Roxy Surfwear’s Follow Your Heart Tour contest during which she expressed interest in creating a television show for kids about ocean conservation. Washington won and used the $10,000 prize money to create The Big Blue & You Foundation (www.thebigblueandyou.com) in September 2008.

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News of her victory led to her first post-college gig with Untamed Science, where she gained on-camera and script writing experience, and learned how to explain science to young people. Now 25, Washington provides youth in her native Miami and surrounding communities with a similar exposure to marine life as CEO of the organization she co-founded with her mother. Through community programs and events, Washington works with roughly 1,700 students annually, encouraging them to become guardians of the planet by increasing their awareness and becoming more conscientious about environmental sustainability, and about their role as global citizens. “Since the oceans are the source for more than 50% of the oxygen that we breathe, food, and countless types of recreation, we must move forward in educating youth to protect this critical resource,” she explains.

Untamed Science helped prepare Washington for one of The Big Blue & You Foundation’s signature programs. The One Water Workshop is a five-day filmmaking program through a partnership with Miami World Cinema Center Inc., where students created their own public service announcements about water and worked on a mini-documentary about the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which won an award from the National Council for Science and the Environment.

Vilma Sooknanan, 17, first participated in the One Water Workshop in 2010 and recently became the chair of the foundation’s seven-member Youth Advisory Board. “With a program like this more kids my age will be interested in science. This in turn may change the career paths for individuals,” Sooknanan explains.

Sooknanan is just one of the more than 5,000 youth in South Florida that The Big Blue & You has worked with since its inception. There are

also 10 consistent volunteers. Ideally, Washington would like to have five to seven staffers including a grant writer, marketing professional, and fundraiser to give the organization the power to expand. “With more staff we could work on multiple things at the same time and really expand our reach beyond South Florida to the rest of the United States,” says Washington, noting a goal of reaching youth in urban communities that may not be around large bodies of water.

In late September, Washington was one of 40 fellows who participated in the TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership Program, a five-year initiative sponsored by Toyota and the National Audubon Society, designed to help environmental leaders become more proficient. The selection also netted her $10,000 to invest in the foundation. “We believe that children hold the key to a brighter future,” she says, “and have the power to be the lead messengers of this ‘blue’ movement.”