By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

LONGTIME community advocate Steffon Evans is stepping down from the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) to lead a national volunteer movement aimed at empowering Bahamians to address challenges in their communities.

Mr Evans, who is transitioning out of his role as ORG’s deputy director, has relaunched FLO Bahamas—a community-focused initiative he founded in 2013 to mobilise volunteers across the country.

“The goal is to mobilize members of Bahamian communities around the country to give back in their communities, you know, identifying challenges and finding ways that as members of their communities, that they can contribute to solutions,” he told The Tribune Friday.

Since its inception,  FLO has supported initiatives related to child protection, healthcare, humanitarian aid, hurricane relief, and environmental conservation.

While the effort is national in scope, Mr Evans said the initial push is to recruit volunteers to serve as ambassadors in their communities and lead local efforts.

“Anytime organizations have had activities or events where they needed volunteers, we were just recruiting and deploying, but now we're trying to sort of take that to the next level and establish these chapters,” he said.

He stressed that the movement is not just about service, but also about personal growth.

“I think it's important for us to recognize that it can't be up to us to do everything to come in and save the day’ but we need to be empowering community members and helping them get resources to kind of help themselves as well and to empower themselves.”