The Neighborhood Volunteer's Credo

How do you make a community safe?
Block by block!
How do you make a community beautiful?
Lot by lot!
How do you make a community better for all the people?

HEART BY HEART!

Your Neighborhood: The Place to Begin Community Map

1. Getting Started: Find and Organize Volunteers

Get the Ball Rolling

Foster Partnerships

Work with the City and the Police

Enlist Many Groups

2. Clean Ups: Get Rid of What's There Now

Join In, Neighborhood by Neighborhood

Tow Away Abandoned Cars

Blow the Whistle on Illegal Dumps

Join the Lake Michigan Beach Sweep

Turn Tires into Cash

Rake It Away Anytime

3. Graffiti Removal: Erase It for Good

Blast Your Neighborhood Clean

Paint Over the Scrawlings

Light Up the Darkness

4. Safety Measures: Eliminate Home and Neighborhood Hazards

Send Rodents Packing

Get Used Motor Oil Off Your Hands

Dispose of Hazardous Wastes Safely

Keep Sewers Free of Debris

5. The Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Recycle at Home Every Day

Promote Recycling at High-rises

Support Those "Three R" Businesses

Make Recycling Part of Your Neighborhood Festival

6. Beautification: Plant for Your Future

Nurture the Trees in Our Urban Forest

Make Greening a Year-round Effort

Give Christmas in July a New Meaning

Plant a Community Garden

Compost Your Organic Matter for Rich Soil

Paint and Repair Homes for Seniors

7. Litter Prevention: Maintain Your Neighborhood

Educate Your Neighbors and Businesses

Adopt a Site

NEIGHBORHOOD: The Place to Begin The City of Chicago is made up of many distinct neighborhoods. Some 176 in all, located in 77 different communities. Each has its own name, rich history, and approach to community issues. Common to all, however, is the desire among residents and business owners to live and work in an attractive and safe place.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows where to begin. Neighborhood groups may want to stage a park cleanup, eliminate graffiti, or recycle cans and bottles during a community festival, but they just dont know the first step.

An advocate for the preservation of Chicagos natural beauty for nearly 10 years, Keep Chicago Beautiful has developed Neighborhoods: A Resource and Reference Handbook to give community groups a starting point. In this binder, youll learn how to prevent litter, recycle at home and at festivals, erase graffiti, clean up streets and parks, and plant trees and flowering plants. Perhaps most important of all, youll learn how to get your neighbors and local businesses to join you.

Your highly visible work not only will boost neighborhood pride, but help fight crime. Time and time again, in cities across our nation, neighborhood crime has dropped after cleanup and beautification efforts. A litter-free flower bed isnt just a pretty sight, its a sign of a community that cares.

Make this guide a living document. Each section features success stories, how-tos, and all youll need to write your own stories. Add hints, additional phone numbers, and anecdotes on the note pages provided. As you record your efforts for future volunteers, know that you are writing the history of a community that cares.

Keep Chicago Beautiful

GETTING STARTED: Find and Organize Volunteers

Working together, we can make a difference in our neighborhoods and our city. For democracy to work, all must take part in finding solutions...otherwise, we will be part of the problem, says Jeanne Bradner, former director of the Illinois Office of Voluntary Action, in her book, Passionate Volunteerism. The motto of Keep Chicago Beautiful adds a new twist to this sentiment: If youre not part of the solution, youre part of the pollution. Being part of the solution has many rewards. Just watch: volunteering will create the magic of community spirit in any neighborhood.

Get the Ball Rolling A young couple moved into a neighborhood from across town. Used to a very active block association, they were surprised to find it so quiet in their new community. After asking around, they were able to track down the last president of the community group, who was ill and had been unable to do any community organizing for years. Posting signs in local businesses and on the librarys community bulletin board, the couple organized a community meeting around a spring cleanup. A handful of people showed up. But there were enough to make people notice. The next meeting drew more attendees, and today the community group is thriving (and still doing spring cleanups).

Create Partnerships

Residents, financial institutions, insurance companies, corporations, and the city have joined hands to stimulate reinvestment in many Chicago neighborhoods under the umbrella of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. This independent nonprofit uses its resources to help redevelop problem properties and attract residents and businesses. A strong component is helping neighborhoods organize community networks.

Work with the City and the Police

One dormant community group got reinvigorated after a city-sponsored question-and-answer session. These are held twice a year by a City Hall representative in each of Chicagos 50 wards. After that meeting, which centered on community concerns about crime, some of the attendees published flyers about what they had learned. Lots of volunteersbusiness owners and residentscame forth to start a local CAPS (Community Alternative Police Strategy) program. Under this program, the beat cops have gotten to know community members. They, in turn, have formed a neighborhood watch group that has, among other things, made recommendations for improved lighting and published flyers on anti-crime tips.

Enlist Many Groups A neighborhood group planning a cleanup sought the involvement of the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and several environmentally oriented groups whose roots were outside the community. The result: a big crowd and a dramatic difference in the neighborhoods appearance. Think, too, about some of the newer groups pledged to community service:

• City Year, 312-464-9899, runs a community service corps of young people and stages a one-day festival of community service each year involving people of all ages.
• Chicago Cares, 312-715-4250, matches busy working people to short-term volunteer projects, such as cleaning parks and playlots.
• The Chicago Social Clubs Take Action! newsletter, 312-883-9596, provides a clearinghouse for neighborhood groups to recruit volunteers for cleanup and beautification projects from across the city.
• Friends of the Parks, 312-922-3307, was founded to help preserve and protect the citys 563 parks.
• Friends of the Chicago River, 312-939-0490, works to protect and enhance the Chicago River and its watershed.
• The Forest Preserve District of Cook County, 708-771-1057, runs the Youth Opportunity Corps, an
• education and career development program for disadvantaged youth. These 150 young people help with projects throughout the forest preserves.
• The Green Team, 312-747-2121, is a corps of volunteers assembled by the Chicago Park District to travel throughout Chicago neighborhoods urging the public to help preserve the parks.

CLEANUPS: Get Rid of Whats There Now

You've got to get it clean to keep it clean. Neighborhood cleanups once or twice a year attract large numbers of volunteers. Sweeping away the debris of winter or earning cash from collecting old tires is satisfying. You can translate this satisfaction into continuing neighborhood efforts.

Join In, Neighborhood by Neighborhood

Each year, the mayor declares Clean & Green spring cleanup days for Chicagos neighborhoods. Many blocks and communities have found this a way to spark community spirit while ridding the neighborhood of the debris of winter. Residents borrow rakes and brooms from the city and get free paint to cover graffiti to make an all-out effort.

Tow Abandoned Cars

A few weeks before a cleanup, one citizen called the city to ask for the towing of three junk cars that long had blighted the neighborhood. The cars quickly disappeared. Organizers were able to recruit lots of volunteers after they saw that their efforts could get fast results.

Blow the Whistle on Illegal Dumps One resident who lived near an illegal dump knocked on her neighbors doors for help. After getting the cooperation of the property owner, who was tired of having to pay for hauling away other peoples trash, the resident recruited people at home during the day to watch the property. These people managed to get the license numbers of several illegal dumpers, who tended to arrive in the early afternoons and late on Fridays. The police arrested them, and they were fined. With everyone working together, the neighborhood was able to get the site cleaned up and kept that way. Join the Lake Michigan Beach Sweep Chicagos 17 beaches are swept clean of trash and debris once a year by volunteers from all over Chicagoland. Since 1991, these volunteers have teamed up on the third Saturday of each September to clean the beaches and record what theyve found to help scientists searching for permanent solutions to beach and lake pollution. Some 250,000 people in 90 countries do their own beach sweeps on that same day. Turn Old Tires into Cash One group spent a Saturday morning in the fall collecting and turning in used tires for the citys Tire Bounty program. Some residents and a local business volunteered the use of their trucks and vans to haul the tires to a South Side dropoff site manned by the city. Six weeks later, the group got a check in the mail.

Rake It Away Citizens who live in high-rises dont usually have cleanup tools, such as the brooms and rakes needed to clear away autumn leaves. But an enterprising condo association president didnt let that deter him. He called the citys Clean & Green office to borrow all the equipment needed to rid the entire area of the trash and leaves before it snowed. Almost a quarter of his buildings residents turned out for the cleanup.

GRAFFITI REMOVAL: Erase It for Good

Graffiti doesnt have to be a fact of modern life. With its Graffiti Blasters and Give Graffiti the Brush programs, the City of Chicago first declared war on unsightly graffiti on both public and private property. In April 1995, the city began enforcing a ban on sales of spray paint within the city borders. Working with the city, neighborhood volunteers have been the heroes in this war.

Blast Your Neighborhood Clean Within hours of being spray painted with racially offensive graffiti, a brick and stone high school was blasted clean by city crews. It only took a phone call for graffiti blasters to move quickly to eliminate traces of hate-crime graffiti from public property.

Paint Over the Graffiti Armed with free gallons of paint, community groups all over the city have painted over graffiti on wood and painted surfaces. In five years, volunteers have brushed more than 40,000 gallons of city-donated paint on private property for special paint-out events.

Light Up the Darkness Residents on neighborhood watch patrols regularly call the city when street light bulbs are out. Well-lighted areas deter graffiti vandals and other criminals.

SAFETY MEASURES: Eliminate Home and Neighborhood Hazards

All of us value safety. Sometimes what seems annoying but harmlessa leaf-clogged sewer or someone dumping his cars used oil in the guttercan be downright dangerous. Neighbors can educate one another about these hazards.

Send Rodents Packing A local block club worked hard to eliminate rats. At the groups urging, the city replaced local garbage carts and set poison in underground burrows. On its own, the block club sent out flyers urging residents to keep garbage under wraps and clean up after pets. A spring cleanup further helped eliminate the rodents shelter among litter and junk.

Get Used Motor Oil Off Your Hands As part of a multi-faceted neighborhood spring cleanup, a service station on the North Side used flyers to promote its free collection of used motor oil. The station boosted its business that day. Boosting awareness of this year-round free service increased traffic for the service station over the long term and helped the neighborhood stop the dumping of a potentially dangerous substance into sewers and on the ground.

Dispose of Hazardous Wastes Safely Before moving to an apartment across town, an older couple rounded up all the old paint, drain cleaner, wood stripper, and antifreeze they had collected over many years of maintaining a home and car. They drove the items to the one of citys twice-a-year Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day sites so that they wouldnt have to move the chemicals or pay a private waste hauler to take them away.

Report Illegal Housing Conversions Many of the tragic fires we see on the evening news happen in former single-family homes. The wiring is overloaded by the demands of several families under one roof, and there are no fire exits or smoke detectors. The neighbors may have seen evidence of many familiesmultiple cars parked nearby, numerous mailboxes and doorbellsbut didnt think it was any of their business. Community groups are beginning to make it their business for safety reasons.

Keep Sewers Free of Debris A man left his car parked on the street over a sewer grate clogged with leaves and wrappers from a local fast-food place. During a torrential storm, the water could not drain for hours. Water was still puddled inside the mans car when he came out the next morning to go to work. He let his community group know of his mishap at the next meeting, and the citizen crime patrol group decided to check and clear sewer grates as the teams made their rounds.

THE THREE Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Todays schoolchildren learn a new kind of Three Rs along with the old reading, writing, and arithmetic. The City of Chicago in 1993 committed itself to a comprehensive plan to reduce, reuse, and recycle to conserve resources and manage better the more than 4 million tons of waste produced annually by the citys homes and businesses. The program was phased in, starting with homes served by the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation and moving to the businesses and multi-family dwellings whose trash hauling is handled by private contractors. The Department of Environment has brochures targeted at everyones needs. Call 312-744-SORT.

Recycle at Home Every Day Chicagos Blue Bag Recycling Program got a smooth start in many neighborhoods, thanks to block clubs and community groups working with the city to educate people. Some groups held special meetings to explain the program. Others encouraged landlords of homesfrom single-family dwellings up to four-flatsto include information about recycling when they welcomed new tenants to the neighborhood.

Promote Recycling at High-Rises One high-rise condo newly included in the recycling ordinance in 1995uses recycling as a selling point. Knowing that the buyers it sought were very supportive of recycling and environmentally friendly initiatives, the management company proudly included its comprehensive building recycling plan in its sales materials. A visible commitment by building managers to recycling and source reductionthrough signs and serviceshas helped give the entire building a strong community feeling.

Support Those Three R Businesses One office, like so many in Chicago, has recycling bins throughout the work areas for white office paper and mixed office paper. In the lunchroom are bins for newspapers and catalogs as well as for cans and bottles from nearby vending machines. Corrugated cardboard also is bundled for recycling. Youd think the recycling push came from managers interested in saving money, but it was an employee group that proposed the comprehensive plan and won points for initiative along the way.

Make Recycling Part of Your Neighborhood Festival Neighborhood festivals can be a case study in trash productionand proper solid waste handling. Many of the festivals across the city each summer have followed the recycling and trash handling guidelines suggested in Keep Chicago Beautifuls Guide to Recycling at Chicago Summer Festivals. Says Mayor Richard Daley in the Guide, Recycling is good for the environment, helps you control your disposal costs, and helps you keep your festival clean. It is also appreciated and expected by your guests.

BEAUTIFICATION: Plant for Your Future

Urbs in HortoCity in a Gardenhas been Chicagos motto for more than a century and a half. Volunteers always have been an important part of preserving and expanding the citys natural beauty. With many years of recognition as a Tree City USA, Chicago takes pride in its millions of trees on public and private lands.

Nurture the Trees in Our Urban Forest A neighborhood group worked with local merchants to plant new trees throughout shopping areas where traffic, road salt, and neglect had taken a toll on earlier plantings.

Make Greening a Year-Round Effort Many community groups have beautified their neighborhoods with the extensive help of the Community Greening Program, a joint effort of the city and the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service. Every year volunteers rejuvenate nearly a hundred gardens or landscape areas.

Other resources for neighborhood gardeners include: the Chicago Botanic Gardens Horticulture Department, which helps community groups with planting projects over a three-year period, 847-835-8254; the Urbs in Horto Fund, a special fund administered by the Chicago Community Trust that awards grants to block clubs and other groups for tree and plant projects, 312-372-3356; Treekeepers, a seven-week program to teach people about tree care, in which participants are expected to volunteer 36 hours to community tree care in Chicago, 312-427-4256; and the Chicago Park District conservatories in Lincoln and Garfield Parks, which offer free gardening classes, 312-638-1766.

Give Christmas in July a New Meaning The residents of one community did some on-the-spot recycling in mid-January. Bringing their Christmas treesminus the lights, tinsel, and ornaments, of courseto Lincoln Park, they watched their trees get chipped into mulch for the shrub and flower beds that they enjoy all spring and summer in their neighborhood.

Plant a Community Garden An enormous vegetable garden grew out of a former vacant lot, thanks to a community group that linked up with a neighborhood school. Individual families had plots, and the school created a hands-on learning farm for students. Volunteers from the neighborhood help schoolchildren with the farm, strengthening community ties all the way around. The students make a big harvest meal for volunteers in the fall.

Compost Your Organic Matter One block group maintained a compost pile in its garden, using the rich soil it produced to fertilize vegetables and herbs as well as the flowerbeds planted to beautify the neighborhood.

Paint and Repair Homes for Seniors The home of a lucky senior citizen got a facelift from neighbors using donated materials from the Department of Agings Light Up Chicago program. Volunteers repaired the wooden steps and gave the house a fresh coat of paint during a community spring cleanup day.

LITTER PREVENTION: Maintain Your Neighborhood

Research shows that people litter for three main reasons. First, they feel no sense of ownership for a property, even a public park. Second, they think someone else will clean up after them. Third, they see litter already accumulated and think a little more wont matter. What is the message for community groups? Clean up the neighborhood and then maintain a litter-free environment with individual and group efforts and continuing community education.

Educate Your Neighbors and Businesses A talk by a city official during the lunch break of a spring cleanup helped educate a small group about the sources of litter and ways to prevent it. Two people went on to print and distribute a flyer throughout their neighborhood that outlined what they had learned. Merchants were happy to post the flyer in store windows to show their support. A nearby car wash donated plastic litterbags that a local scout troop distributed to residents. At successive cleanup days, residents have had noticeably less litter to clean up.

Adopt a Site Many groups can adopt neighborhood sites to keep clean. In one area, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, a teachers union, and several businesses each agreed to watch a street for litter. The number of adopted streets grew over time. This process created the sense of ownership necessary to keep an area clean. When kids walked down the street, they were more likely to pick up trash and put it in the proper receptacles than they were to add to the litter problem.