🛠️ What We’re Building

Connecting people, organizations, knowledge, and resources to strengthen communities.

Protect the Collective finds what already works, connects what is separated, and helps communities build what is actually missing.

FIND → CONNECT → BUILD → SHARE

🌱 Current Projects

🌻 School Food & Learning Gardens

Connecting schools with farms, educators, universities, volunteers, funding, and existing garden resources.
→ Explore Project

🎓 Community-Centered Education

Connecting students and educators with real community needs, organizations, research, and projects.
→ Explore Project

🚌 Community Transportation Connections

Connecting transportation resources, researchers, organizations, and communities experiencing access barriers.
→ Explore Project

🏘️ Community-Centered Housing & Development

Exploring affordable, sustainable, community-centered housing and neighborhood models that can be adapted elsewhere.
→ Explore Project

🤝 Local Community Networks

Connecting organizations, resources, businesses, institutions, and residents already working within the same communities.
→ Explore Project

📍 Protect the Collective — Marietta

Building a local network connecting residents, organizations, resources, and community projects in Marietta.
→ Explore PTC Marietta

🌎 Community Collaborator Network

Helping individuals make useful connections, support existing work, and bring successful ideas between communities.
→ Become a Community Collaborator

🤝 Organizations in Our Growing Network

Organizations participate in different ways—from sharing expertise and resources to exploring partnerships, projects, and community connections.

🌱 Mission of Mary Cooperative

Urban agriculture, food access, garden education, seed resources, and helping other communities learn from their model.

🤝 The Kenekt Cooperative

Exploring opportunities for community connection and collaboration with PTC.

🌎 Cobb Community Foundation

Connected with PTC to learn more about the initiative and explore community connections.

💜 LiveSafe Resources

Connected with PTC around community needs and opportunities for collaboration.

🚌 Perimeter Community Improvement Districts

Connecting with PTC around transportation, infrastructure, development, and community wellbeing.

Organizations may participate in different capacities. Inclusion here does not imply endorsement of every PTC project, position, or initiative.

🔗 Want to Work With Us?

Your organization might have:

Knowledge • Resources • Students • Volunteers • Space • Funding • Research • A successful program • A community need

You don't need to create another program or arrive with a complete project.

Tell us what you're already doing, what you can share, or what your community needs.

We'll look for where the connections are missing.

[ADD ORGANIZATION INTEREST FORM HERE]

Find what works. Connect what's separated. Build what's missing. Share what works.

Interest Form

PROJECT NAME: Meyers Park Food Garden

COMMUNITY: Miamisburg, OH

FOCUS AREA: Food Access

STATUS: Connecting/Networking

WHAT WE'RE BUILDING: Community food garden in Meyer Park

ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED: pending

COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS: pending

PEOPLE PARTICIPATING: 1

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Join PTC Community and find Meyer Park Food Garden Project

PROJECT NAME: Curriculum Ecocentric Housing Initiative

COMMUNITY: Multiple

FOCUS AREA: Education/housing/environment/food access

STATUS: networking

WHAT WE'RE BUILDING: curriculum additions

ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED: pending

COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS: pending

PEOPLE PARTICIPATING: 1

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Email Beccar760@gmail.com if interested in contributing

PROJECT NAME: KSU x Lifeline internships

COMMUNITY: Atlanta area

FOCUS AREA: Marketing increase for shelter animals

STATUS: CONNECTED!

WHAT WE'RE BUILDING: internships to increase animal visbility

ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED: KSU & Lifeline Animal Shelters

COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS: Bec Retherford

PEOPLE PARTICIPATING: N/A

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: N/A

Protect the Collective works by connecting existing organizations, knowledge, resources, and people around real community needs.

Some projects are in early development. Others are actively building partnerships or resources.

This page will change as projects grow.

🌱 SCHOOL FOOD + LEARNING GARDENS

Connecting food, education, sustainability + community.

PTC is developing a replicable approach to help schools connect gardening, food education, environmental learning, community partnerships, and existing agricultural resources.

Current work includes outreach and resource-building around:

School gardens
Farm-to-school programs
Composting
Food + nutrition education
Environmental science
Community agriculture
University involvement
Local agricultural partners

The goal isn't to create an entirely new system for every school.

It's to help schools identify what already exists, who can help, and how those pieces can work together.

Initial outreach and development has included communities and potential partners in Ohio, Georgia, and beyond.

🎓 COMMUNITY-CENTERED EDUCATION

Bringing community connection into learning.

PTC is developing free resources that educators can use to connect classroom learning with real communities, relationships, environments, and problems.

Areas being explored include:

Empathy + cooperation
Communication + conflict resolution
Community participation
Environmental learning
Food systems
Local government
Community problem-solving
Nature-based learning
Student-led projects

Resources are designed to be optional, adaptable, low-preparation, and easy to integrate into existing classrooms rather than requiring schools to replace their curriculum.

🚗 COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION CONNECTIONS

Looking at transportation as a community-access issue.

Transportation affects whether people can reach:

Jobs
Healthcare
Education
Food
Community resources
Public services
Social support

PTC is exploring community transportation barriers and potential solutions through connections with university research, community organizations, regional transportation resources, and people directly affected by transportation gaps.

This work includes early collaboration around a potential Kennesaw State University capstone project examining community transportation needs and opportunities.

🏘️ COMMUNITY-CENTERED HOUSING + DEVELOPMENT

Exploring how communities can be designed around people, resources + sustainability.

PTC is researching models of housing and community development that combine:

Affordable and diverse housing
Shared community spaces
Walkability
Food production
Environmental sustainability
Local businesses
Transportation access
Community participation
Resource sharing

The long-term goal is to identify existing models that work, understand the policies and systems that make them possible, and create resources communities can adapt rather than starting from scratch.