Awards Received

 

2012 Keep America Beautiful Award Recipients

 

National Awards

 

1st Place – Bakersfield, California

Litter Prevention – Business/Professional Org.

The “Litter: It’s Beneath Us” slogan was created by Robert Price of the Bakersfield Californian, while staff of The Californian created the design of the logo in both English and Spanish. Keep Bakersfield Beautiful announced the slogan as part of the Keep America Beautiful/Great American Cleanup in Bakersfield in 2011 and the paper began utilizing the logo with a full two page ad on Saturday, May 21, 2011, displaying the “Litter: It’s Beneath Us” message with the added tagline, “Take Pride in Your Community.” Since then, this prominent newspaper has donated 2,632 published inches of free advertising for “Litter: It’s Beneath Us.” the Californian is also responsible for creating a four part radio series that supports and educates the meaning of the “Litter: It’s Beneath Us” campaign.

 

2nd Place – Keep Glendale Beautiful, California

Beautification – Nonprofit/Civic/Comm. Org.

Keep Glendale Beautiful used their $20,000 Lowe’s grant to transform a vacant lot into a 13-bed eco-garden in an urban neighborhood where 60% of residents live in dense, multi-family dwellings with no access to property, The restorative poser of the eco-garden include the ability to grow and enjoy fresh organic produce, revitalization of a formerly blighted area and an opportunity for active living for local residents. Garden participants can now supplement their food supply with fresh produce grown in their own garden plot. The garden is irrigated with recycled water, an initiative that only one other city in California has implemented.

 

Distinguished Service Citation –

The San Diego River Park Foundation, California

Beautification – Nonprofit/Civic/Comm. Org.

In response to the 2000 sewer spill (the largest in California’s history) that affected the San Diego River, The San Diego River Park Foundation was created with the goal to engage the community in making choices to protect the water resources and local ecosystems of the river. the Healthy River, Healthy communities program is designed to provide a variety of meaningful opportunities for the community to experience the river, including bi-annual volunteer river surveys paired with hands-on education about natural resources. The program is able to adapt to the needs identified in the surveys, and to schedule clean-ups around seasonal changes, big storms, new dumping areas, and the ever evolving needs of the River Park.

 

Affiliate Awards

 

1st Place – Keep Bakersfield Beautiful, California

First Recognition – 200,000 and above

Keep Bakersfield Beautiful made major strides in litter prevention and clean-ups thanks to strengthened relationships with anti-litter partners for new and ongoing programs. One of the most excited developments for KBB is its new role as the intermediary between Cal Trans (the State DOT) and the City of Bakersfield jurisdictional boundaries for local highway litter cleanup efforts. In this role, KBB convinced Cal Trans to train an unprecedented 30 volunteer safety leaders for Highway 99 cleanups. Bakersfield was also a proud recipient of a 2012 Lowe’s Community Improvement Grant for $5,000, which is being used to fund the Greenfield Walking Group Community Garden and create two new community gardens spanning over five vacant lots owned by the City that had been prone to illegal dumping. Finally, KBB did more in terms of recycling and waste reduction than in years past. Most notable, the affiliate helped convince local elementary and middle school administrators to compost cafeteria waste so that each primary school, including one high school, composts its cafeteria waste.

 

Distinguished Service Citation – Keep Glendale Beautiful, California

Previously Recognized – 50,001 to 200,000

Through its strong partnerships and dedicated volunteers, Keep Glendale Beautiful implemented and sustained numerous successful community beautification, neighborhood development, waste reduction and litter prevention programs. Some of these programs and projects in the 2012 reporting year include a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the Boy Scouts of America to build a community garden adjacent to a Habitat project site. KGB also partnered with the Church of Latter Day Saints Ward 7 to clear a neglected hiking trail at Brand Park this past spring. The City of Glendale is committed to implementing a policy to achieve zero waste at landfills and incinerators by 2040. As such, it provided both monetary and in-kind support for ongoing support of KB recycling/waste reduction initiatives. Since 2005, Glendale has achieved a 26.6% reduction in citywide per capita solid waste disposal.

 

Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Awards

 

1st Place – I Love A Clean San Diego, California

Expanded Implementation

I Love A Clean San Diego (ILASC) first implemented the CLPP in 2009 in areas along the coast and have since expanded their reach with three additional programs in 2012. The 2012 programs focused on inland communities to address littered cigarette butts upstream before they reach the ocean through the storm drain system. ILASC partnered with the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation in addition to other community groups, city agencies, and business improvement districts to ensure long term maintenance and sustainability of the CLPP.

 

Great American Cleanup Awards

 

Keep Bakersfield Beautiful, California

GAC Best Activation – 200,000 and above

Keep Bakersfield Beautiful (KBB) has made it a tradition for several thousand people to show their pride in Bakersfield by volunteering for the KAB Great American Cleanup. During Keep Bakersfield Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, from September 2011 through the end of June 2012, 11,071 GAC volunteers cleaned up 256,670 pounds of litter and illegal dumped items, painted over 63,000 square feet of graffiti, recycled or composted 139,844 pounds of various items, planted 170 trees and 1,600 bulbs, flowers and shrubs, and beautified seven sites.