Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, a Keep America Beautiful award-winning affiliate, has recently been recognized as “Nonprofit of the Year” by the Tampa Bay Business Journal in the Environment & Animals Category.

The affiliate, led by Executive Director Debra Evenson, who is also a member of the Keep America Beautiful board of directors, provides environmental education and volunteer service opportunities throughout Tampa Bay.

In 2015, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful (KTBB) received an Affiliate Sustained Excellence Award, which recognizes affiliates who receive Affiliate Award recognition in the previous two years. During the year in which the recognition was considered, KTBB had nearly 16,400 volunteers contributing more than 41,300 hours of service. KTBB recruits and trains volunteers through its Ambassadors Program and uses the ambassadors to lead its successful Adopt-A-Road Program, the Great American Cleanup and its Trash Free Waters Initiative.

Another long-standing partnership is with the Florida State Fair Authority, which works with KTBB on its one-acre interactive Florida Learning Garden. This interactive learning garden is located at the Florida State Fairgrounds and is open year-round for tours and volunteer programs.

KTBB also hosted America Recycles Day – The Tampa Bay Way, which provided a full day of activities to help residents better understand the importance of recycling. The program received a 2015 America Recycles Day Award. One of the highlights of this program is the Trashy Flashy Fashion Show, which enlists students and designers to create fashionable apparel from at least 75 percent recycled materials. Moreover, the affiliate conducted the Battle for a Healthy Bay, which featured a recycling-themed fitness challenge in partnership with Camp Gladiator, among its many high-profile America Recycles Day events.

Evenson, who helped bring together Tampa Bay Beautificiation and Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful together to form KTBB in 2012, was also a recipient of Keep America Beautiful’s 2015 Sue Smith Leadership Award.