Palm Beach Atlantic University

Parker Avenue Consortium

Map courtesy of Google Work is well under way to bring to fruition this artist's concept of PBA's Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Athletic Campus, which is bordered on the east by Parker Avenue. The campus will include neighborhood park set aside for community use. Click here to learn more about the campus. Outback Steakhouse founder and part-time Palm Beach County resident Tim Gannon has created Kettle Comfort, a non-profit partnering with Palm Beach Atlantic as part of the Parker Avenue Consortium. Click the photo to view a WPEC-Channel 5 news report about Kettle Comfort.

Among Jesus’ greatest teachings is his commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) At Palm Beach Atlantic, we have taken this commandment to heart in many of our community-focused activities.

By way of extending that vision, PBA has engaged in a community partnership called the Parker Avenue Consortium, which benefits the families living in the vicinity of the Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Athletic Campus in West Palm Beach. The Parker Avenue Consortium is a means to bring resources together to benefit kindergarten through university students and their families, and ultimately bringing a renewed vitality to the neighborhood.

Among our community partners are:

• E. Wayne Gent,  Superintendent of School District of Palm Beach County
• Oscar Otero, Principal of Conniston Middle School
• Diane Mahar, Principal of Belvedere Elementary
• Jeri Muoio, Mayor of West Palm Beach
• Kettle Comfort, a nonprofit organization with a mission to deliver chef-inspired food to thousands of hungry or nutrition-deprived people each day.

Through these and other relationships, Palm Beach Atlantic has a number of recent and ongoing initiatives taking place in the neighborhood, such as:

• AT & T Algebra Project with Conniston Middle School – This two-year pilot project with Conniston Community Middle School aims to help students learn algebra through new instructional methods and technology. Dr. Marsha Guntharp is the project director. Read more
• Book Boxes Project with Belvedere Elementary – A literacy development program for low-income youth and their parents funded by the Staples Foundation. Drs. Timothy Ladd and Chelly Templeton are the project directors.
• Palm Beach County Cultural Council Arts Integration – Sixth-graders at Conniston Community Middle School received arts instruction from faculty of the University's School of Music and Fine Arts Preparatory Department through a grant from the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. Read more 
• STEAM Project with Conniston Middle School – This initiative will develop laboratory modules to be used in teaching specific Palm Beach County BIG IDEA science concepts to sixth, seventh and eighth graders integrating the arts into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). This is funded by a PBA Quality Initiative Grant and Dr. Mireille Aleman is the project director.