What Sets the Lloyd Center Apart?

The Lloyd Center’s Southcoast location makes it part of a community of non-profits addressing different, important needs. As an organization, the Lloyd Center is supported by being part of this group.

At the same time, the public is often confused about what makes the Lloyd Center unique, and everything that happens over the course of a year! Is it open 12 months rather than just the summer? How broad are the education programs? What role does the Research department play? How large is the campus? What are the facilities? How many hiking trails are there? What hours are they open? Is there a fee, etc.

We continuously seek to clarify misunderstandings. We hope E-news readers will now understand the ways in which the Lloyd Center provides distinct and essential experiences to the immediate and extended environmental community through:

• Our long-term educational partnerships with local public schools which serve 12,000 students annually;
• Serving students from high-needs areas; close to 50% of the students we work with are from such areas;
• The affirmation of our hands-on, experiential learning approach by science education and research;
• Our Education Programs which are featured nationally through conferences and professional development;
• Our Research Department work for over 40 years assessing critical habitat for endangered and/or threatened species;
• Our Research Department leading a citizen science program for 35 years;
• Our Outreach Department annually engaging hundreds of community members at the Center and throughout the community through a variety of offerings;
• The permanence of our staff – many of whom started at the Center as students, interns or volunteers;
• The Center’s partnerships with other organizations including UMass Dartmouth, Woods Hole, Tufts University, the Wade Institute, the DNRT, the Audubon Society, the Whaling Museum, Manomet, and others;
• Our facilities include a new Living Building Challenge™ Welcome Center, Teaching Pavilion, Bridge to Discovery Dock, Bond House Education Building, and Main Building, all located at our 430 Potomska Road location in Dartmouth;
• The Lloyd Center’s 82-acres of estuary and maritime forest is open year-round, with seven dog-friendly walking trails open daily dawn to dusk, all at no charge to the public.

We are busy now with 30 summer students, four education interns, steady progress on the new facilities, a professional development program for 25 teachers, participation in a UMass Dartmouth National Science Foundation grant, and in-depth work on all the planned environmental education, research, and outreach opportunities scheduled for the fall.

Click here to learn more about the Lloyd Center. Even more, we welcome you to come by to enjoy the trails and see all that we do!