PSC Action Across the Continent by Anthony Colangelo, Education and Outreach Specialist, Pollinator Partnership
Published September 30, 2025
Hello! My name is Anthony Colangelo. I am the Outreach and Education Specialist at Pollinator Partnership, and the program lead for our Pollinator Steward Certification (PSC) program. PSC is an online educational program that provides participants with information on how to help protect pollinators and become pollinator conservation advocates. The program includes a comprehensive seven-part training series with a wide variety of topics including bee basics and biology, who the pollinators are and why they are important, technical sessions on creating habitat in different landscapes, and how to communicate about pollinators through public outreach.
Once the live training sessions are complete, participants are asked to use what they’ve learned to take action in their own communities by completing outreach and habitat activities before receiving their official Pollinator Steward Certificate. One of the best parts of my role is reading about the incredible habitat and outreach work happening across North America through the PSC program. So far, more than 800 people have completed their full certification and are making a positive change for pollinators. In this blog, I want to share with you our latest group of Star Stewards who have gone above and beyond to help pollinators and support healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
PSC Action Across the Continent
Canada
CANADA
Jeanne is the founding president and board chair of Blooming Boulevards, a volunteer-run nonprofit in the City of Mississauga, Ontario. Within the last year, she worked with her board of directors and volunteers to grow and distribute 10,000 locally-adapted native plants, the majority of which they donated to residents and community groups to provide low-maintenance green infrastructure. This created naturalized areas across Mississauga, supporting their municipality's Climate Change Action Plan. Jeanne presented more than 30 free workshops to the public on a range of topics from designing and building pollinator habitat gardens, propagating native plants, to information on sourcing and planting specific species. Together with volunteers, she facilitated the creation of 50 new habitat gardens in 2024, bringing their city-wide total to 310 pollinator habitat gardens. This effort supports pollinator health by providing forage and nesting corridors linked year-round to larger green spaces.
United States
Mary Bernard and Dennis Durkee are co-chairs of a pollinator garden committee for the Sabine-Neches Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists. In cooperation with the Big Thicket Biosphere Reserve, the committee has been establishing pollinator gardens in several public places across Jefferson, Orange, and Hardin Counties in Southeast Texas. They are also advising schools and other local groups who are starting their own pollinator gardens.
Sage creates gardens that focus on habitat creation and native plants from the Pacific Northwest. Since completing the PSC program, she's held the health of pollinators as a priority in her garden design and care work. Each garden she designs and installs implements a diverse set of mostly native plants and habitat elements. Through educating clients, she's able to inspire others to take action such as leaving flower stalks throughout the winter and keeping fallen leaves within their gardens to benefit pollinators. Sage also teaches workshops through her city, where she educates the public about how to garden for pollinators and other wildlife while growing less lawn. Her passion is to create gardens that support the flourishing of all our neighbors - humans, animals, insects, trees, plants, soil microorganisms, fungi, and bacteria.
his summer, Cathy and her team transformed a small flower bed into a vibrant 20x19 ft habitat, rescuing daylilies and a rose bush, and creating a butterfly-friendly garden with various plants. Her team diligently maintained it through the Pollinator Stewardship program, documenting their findings on SEEK and iNaturalist. They also expanded their efforts to their manufacturing plant in Greenfield, Ohio, overcoming drought challenges to beautify the area with more native plants. For outreach, they created conservation slides for their 180 associates, and engaged local manufacturing plants during Pollinator Week. Additionally, they launched the 'Sustainable Synergy' newsletter to promote Weastec's eco-friendly initiatives, focusing on biodiversity, CO2 reduction, and resource conservation, driving their green revolution forward.
Mexico
Alfredo and Nelly have been working on multiple projects related to pollinators. They recently held a workshop to obtain their certification and supported environmental education events with organizations that they collaborate with. They participated as speakers celebrating "World Bee Day" collaborating with the Unidad de Biodiversidad, a research unit attached to the state university (USAC). Together, Alfredo and Nelly are a Pollinator Steward Certified team!
I hope that reading about the work our Star Stewards have accomplished has inspired you to make a positive change for pollinators in your own community. If you are interested in joining next year’s PSC program, you can sign-up to our email list here and be the first to hear when registration for the 2026 program opens. PSC is ideal for gardeners, community scientists, land managers (large and small), farmers, teachers, or anyone that wants to do more to support their local pollinators. For any PSC related questions, you can also email our team at stewards@pollinators.org.