Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway

Business Profile 2012
* Name: Friends of A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway
* Address: 2175 Mizell Road
* City: St. Augustine
* State: FL
* Zip: 32080
* Country: USA
* Phone: 904-425-8055
*Sallie O’Hara, Byway Program Administrator; E-mail: Sallie_OHara@scenica1a.org

The Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway is a non-profit organization that protects, preserves, and enhances resources along the A1A National Scenic Byway. This citizen’s advocacy group collaborates with municipalities, governmental agencies and other civic groups to maintain and improve resources along a 72 mile corridor in Northeast Florida. The organization's mission is to preserve, protect, promote, and enhance the outstanding resources of the A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway in a manner that provides a unique experience for visitors, and maintains an unhurried lifestyle and "Old Florida" ambiance for all. Strategies to achieve that include implementing a corridor management plan with strategic goals and objectives that include resource protection; transportation planning and safety; government support and community participation; education and communication; economic development and tourism and organizational management and sustainability.

Major operating programs include 1) Special Program Projects targeted at resource protection and transportation studies; 2) the Volunteer Program which garners community and government support and participation through beach and roadway cleanup campaigns; 3) the Education Program which focuses on natural and environmental education for children and civic groups; 4) Hospitality Programs for economic development focusing on cultural and heritage tourism distributing news via website and other event media; and 4) Organizational Management which focuses on governance and transparency for citizen participation in projects along the corridor.

Background
The U.S. Department of Transportation designated the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Highway as a National Scenic Byway in 2002. The 72-mile corridor covers both St. Johns and Flagler counties, spanning from the Volusia/Flagler County Line to the St. Johns/Duval County Line on the east coast of Florida. The Byway is 1 of 150 National Scenic Byways in the country and 1 of only 6 in the state of Florida. The A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal National Byway consists of three state scenic highways, A1A Ocean Shore (Flagler-south),A1A River to Sea Trail (Flagler-north), and Scenic and Historic A1A (St. Johns). Each state scenic highway has its own Corridor Management Entity (CME), with its own executive board, volunteers, and subcommittees. Designated a National Scenic Byway in 2002, the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway is a marriage of these entities. Bringing these three CMEs together offers a strength that the little CMEs are unable to offer individually. It is important that the Friends of A1A board reflects representation from all of the CMEs and that those representatives embrace the corridor-wide mission and strategic plan. To that end the Board adopted a Strategic Plan in 2008 unifying all Corridor Management Plans with new goals, objectives and strategies.

Organizational Structure
From it beginnings in 1997 as scenic highway citizen advocacy groups, the greatest strength of the Friends of A1A organization is their people. The current organization consists of several components including the board of directors, staff, volunteers, programs, and technical advisors. These entities work together to achieve the Byway mission. The board of directors is comprised of fourteen representatives from throughout the Byway corridor, each serving 3-year terms. Lewadership is alternated between counties. The purpose of the board is to implement the goals as outlined in the Corridor Management Plan for the A1A corridor including promote conservation, preservation, and beautification of its resources and to promote positively managed development. The board is fiscally responsible for and liable for Friends of A1A actions. The board participates in regular meetings and meets quarterly on the last Wednesday as scheduled to discuss accomplishments, ongoing projects, and upcoming events. The organization sustains operations through federal, state, local grants and private donations. A Byway Program Administrator, funded through grants and donations, serves as the executive director with Byway staff to manage all aspects of the Byway program, including special projects, volunteer programs, website development, and fundraising efforts. Approximately 1000 volunteer members from 13 different communities along the corridor assist the Byway staff. Twelve technical advisors, five from Flagler County and six from St. Johns County also assist the Byway staff. Lead volunteers drive the implementation of goals and objectives defined in a 2008 Strategic Plan. Accomplishments include creation of tours, videos, park facilities & byway events.