Military and Affordable Housing, School Gardens, and Veterans Programs.
Sustainable Support Team (SST) is a Florida based 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We are results driven, and we work to efficiently support our various programs by bringing innovative solutions together with teams of skilled professionals.
Housing
Quality Replacement Housing for Service Members and Affordable Housing for CommunitiesMilitary Housing
Military Housing is SST's core program, and the first purpose its charter names. We are developing complete, repeatable programs designed to bring efficiency of cost, time, and process to housing replacement projects. This includes using modern technologies and a uniform approach, so the model can be scaled to optimize results.
We can help support the ongoing effort of replacing barracks with modern two story apartment style structures, as this aspect of military housing has been a challenge to privatize with traditional for profit developers.
There has been a movement toward modular construction, wherein the modules are fabricated in a factory, then set in place on site and stacked like building blocks. This shortens the schedule, cuts construction traffic into the installation, and improves quality control. Once the homes are complete, SST plans to provide management and maintenance services, employing military spouses hired locally.
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing continues to be in great demand, and SST sees a strong role for a nonprofit in addressing this. We are in a position to provide a range of services that starts with advice, and that can progress to seeing a full development or redevelopment through from start to finish, with licensed partners doing the design and construction.
One sector we are working with now is faith based organizations that have surplus, underutilized land as part of their congregation's site. Affordable housing can be a big boost to a congregation's mission, and to the community at large. The homes will be open to households who meet the income limits, including veterans, single people, and families.
SST can bring the team of professionals to the table, and the transparency of a nonprofit to help build trust in the process. We are also working to bring scale to this process, because the critical mass that comes with it can help magnify the results and minimize the cost and schedule.
Garden Programs
Sustainable Agriculture for Students and VeteransSustainable Gardens
We offer a hydroponic, vertical garden community service program for high schools, and the first pilots are planned to start in January 2027. Students learn to grow and operate a farm of vertical towers at their school, then harvest their fresh greens, lettuce, and herbs, and donate the harvest to help feed the hungry in their community.
This one semester program will allow several harvests, and the students will learn all aspects of the cycle, including germinating seeds, testing pH, troubleshooting, and optimum harvest times. The fresh produce will then be donated to a local food pantry, where the students will interact with the community as they proudly give away their healthy food.
Every harvest is weighed and logged in the program's app, so a school or food pantry can see the total quantity the students have grown and donated. Students can earn community service hours for their work, signed off by a supervising adult, with a certificate of completion and a compilation of their effort to include in their college applications.
Sustainable Veterans
We are developing a 12 week, online and in person Sustainable Agriculture and Healthy Lifestyle course for veterans. The program includes an introduction to soilless farming technologies that can use about 90% less water and land than conventional farming, for crops like lettuce; health and wellness, including the impact of diet and exercise on health and common chronic diseases; and mindfulness, including yoga, stretching, breathing, and meditation.
We view feeding the planet as a fundamental job sector that will always be in demand, and feeding the planet sustainably is vitally urgent with the growing scarcity of water and tillable land. For those who wish to pursue a career in sustainable farming, the course is step one of three planned steps that will include additional vocational training and an apprentice program designed to lead to a permanent, high quality job.
We also plan to work with those veterans who are not interested in becoming farmers but have an interest in other food related jobs, including packaging and transporting, equipment sales, and restaurants. We also have plans to develop a turnkey, plant based food truck concept, and we will help those interested in that growing field with training and with finding financing.
Our team's capabilities allow us to provide an array of services to each project, depending upon the support needed. These range from advisory services, to administrator and coordinator of the Sustainable Agriculture programs, to coordinator of all inclusive development or redevelopment for military and affordable housing, with licensed partners doing the design and construction. For military housing, SST can use 501(c)(3) tax exempt bond financing, which cannot be used by a for profit developer. Upon project completion, SST can provide management and maintenance services, hiring and training military spouses to do so.
- A Florida not for profit corporation with a three person Board of Directors.
- Recognized by the IRS as exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, as a public charity, effective August 6, 2026. EIN 42-3250480.
- All directors and officers serve without pay.
Find the line that fits you and start a conversation with Bill about it.
Let's talk about how we can help bring quality housing, as well as school and veterans programs, to your site.
Start a conversationTry our community service program, where we teach students to be sustainable farmers. They can earn community service hours for their work, including with a local food pantry to help feed the hungry in their community using the fresh, healthy produce that they grow.
Start a conversationWe can assist in evaluating options for underutilized surplus land, including new affordable housing and other projects that would help support their mission.
Start a conversationWe welcome the opportunity to add regional companies to our team as we pursue nonprofit led initiatives around the country.
Start a conversationSST plans to hire military spouses to help manage the military and affordable housing projects that we will be pursuing.
Start a conversationPlease ask about our planned Sustainable Agriculture vocational training program, which will include a healthy lifestyle and diet component.
Start a conversation
We formed SST to lessen the burdens of government by providing military housing; to promote the development of affordable housing, working with communities, faith based organizations, and partner developers; to promote sustainability for students through school garden programs; and to provide veterans with vocational training in sustainable agriculture.
Bill Cocose, President
- Bill Cocose
- President and Director
- Will Rowe
- Vice President and Director
- Rich Schneider
- Secretary, Treasurer, and Director
Bill is SST's President. He splits his time between Florida and Montana. Reach out to him at bill@sustainablesupport.org about our programs or any other need in your community.
Bill replies by email.