What is a community clean-up? 

A community clean-up is the act of repairing, fixing, building, rebuilding, and taking care of the public spaces and residences within a town.  An example might be cleaning up a local park by picking up trash, repairing broken playground equipment, planting flowers, and painting over graffiti on buildings or benches.  Community clean-up’s can also be done to help residents to improve their yard or exteriors of homes. 

Why is community clean-up important?  

By improving the public spaces and residences in a community, people who live there begin to grow a sense of pride about the place where they live.  Community clean-up’s are also a great way to get to know other people in that community who have a similar passion of making it better place to live. A visit to the local park or a walk down the block is much better when you are able to see things that make you smile instead of things that make you sad.  And if you see things that make you smile, you are more likely to take a walk to the park or down the block again!   

How can cleaning up a community help to fight crime?

Another benefit of a tidy community is that it is safer.  A clean and well-maintained community shows that people who live in the area care about it.  And research has shown that this is a deterrent to criminals. Additionally, when an area is well-lit and looks nice, residents are more likely to be using the area more frequently, which makes it harder for criminals to go unnoticed.