How to Lead a Community Beautification Project
Whether you're hosting a semi-annual neighborhood clean-up or painting a giant mural, neighborhood beautification is a great way to strengthen your community.
Why this recipe matters
When we’re proud of our neighborhood, we experience a greater overall quality of life and an enhanced interest in engaging with other residents. If you’ve ever noticed overflowing trash cans or a dreary, vacant lot, perhaps you’ve wondered if there might be an opportunity to work with neighbors to create a more beautiful place to live.
Ingredients
- Volunteers
- Financial support (donations or fundraising activities)
- Supplies like cleaning tools and gardening equipment
- Permits and licenses
Recipe
1. Gather input.
- Sharing your idea with other residents, local business owners, and organizations can help you refine your project vision and prioritize what’s most important to your community. Consulting other community figures, such as local officials and law enforcement, can be helpful in this planning stage as well.
2. Organize a planning group.
- Try to involve as many residents as you can to capture a wide breadth of perspectives from a variety of backgrounds. Posting flyers, going door-to-door, and reaching out to existing service organizations will also help recruitment efforts.
3. Work together to develop goals.
- What does success look like for your team? How can you break this project into smaller milestones to ensure its success? Decide who is responsible for each aspect of your project such as purchasing supplies, obtaining permits, or perhaps publicizing the event.
4. Schedule a day.
- Once you have all the resources you need and a solid plan, figure out when everyone needs to show up. It might also be a good idea to spread the project out over multiple days or sessions, and to try to keep a rain date in mind as well!
5. Follow up.
- After your project begins, make sure you have next steps in mind to share with the group to cover aspects like review, celebration, as well as planning for future stages.
Nutritional Information
How this recipe has nurtured a community
“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.”
― Jean Vanier, Canadian Philosopher
Finishing Touch
Check out this documentary “Together We Grow: Building Communities That Thrive (2022)” for inspiration on how communities unite to improve their neighborhoods.