Keep Charlotte Beautiful

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my name is Paris Harold Spate I

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currently work at Windsor Park

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Elementary School as the community

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liaison hello my name is Yolanda Ruiz

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I'm part of the cape Charlotte beautiful

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boar my name is Lance Nathaniel I am the

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Americorps member with keep Charlotte

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beautiful with the city of Charlotte

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[Music]

Paris Harrell on Windsor Park Elementary's collaboration with Keep Charlotte Beautiful

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so we really try to do multiple events

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right about once a month we try to get

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the community together and about once a

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year we try to do a big cleanup we've

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actually worked with keep Charlotte

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beautiful for the last couple years but

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this is the biggest cleanup that we've

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done at our school

Lance Nathaniel on the purpose of the pollinator garden

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here at Windsor Park Elementary what

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we're doing is a huge beautification

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project so the community garden that

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they have installed already is for the

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sole purpose of growing fruits and

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vegetables our purpose of adding the

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pollen in the garden is to just help the

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community garden flourish more with the

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pollinators now with the new pollinator

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Garden working in conjunction with the

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community garden it's you'll see a

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higher yield so a good uh feedback loop

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into the system just to help them out

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get as much as they can when it comes to

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uh refueling their inventory for the

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food pantry so you are in a food desert

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and you can't make it to a local grocery

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or one of those good farmers markets

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then come out here where they're growing

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fresh fruits and vegetables and grab

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some things

Paris Harrell on the purpose of the pollinator garden

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yeah so what's great too about a

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pollinator Garden that we have here is

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our second graders have been learning

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about pollination in their L curriculum

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within the district and so this Garden

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doesn't only contribute to our beauty of

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our school but it's also contributing to

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the academic success because our

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students are going to be able to use

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this Garden every single day to come out

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here to observe what's going on with

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these pollinators that are going to be

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using it so it's great that it's not

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just the physical aspect again it really

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is reaching the internal academics of

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these children and I think it's

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wonderful

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[Music]

Irlanda Ruiz on the mural designed by Keudis Sanchz

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when they tell us to be part of this

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great American cleanup they say that one

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of the things that they want to do was

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possibly uh paint the pavement so I

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because I'm part of another group that

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is called Opera Collective so I just

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tell them you know we have some artists

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that can participate and can help and we

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provide the information and we got a Mr

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Cody Sanchez he's a Venezuelan artist so

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uh he said yeah I'm going to help and

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here we are painting the pavement idea

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is to show the traditional toys that

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kids use in our countries

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and also why welcome in the different

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languages of the kids that are here so

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that's basically the idea and yeah to

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feel everybody welcome

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in their own language so that's it

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[Music]

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thank you

Looking for free materials for your cleanup? Keep Charlotte Beautiful lends out safety vests, reusable gloves, litter grabbers, and trash bags for FREE to all Charlotte residents. We simply ask that you fill out a cleanup report and return the materials within one week of your event. Use the links below to request supplies and report your cleanup. Please be sure your volunteers sign a liability waiver.

Join more than 400 active volunteer groups who clean up hundreds of miles of city streets. Neighborhoods, businesses, families, and individuals can make a difference in their community by adopting a City street through this FREE grassroots litter removal program. By adopting a street, volunteers commit to clean up along at least a mile of road three times or more each year. Volunteers also have the ability to remove illegal signs, report graffiti, and mark storm drains.

As an Adopt-a-Street volunteer, you will receive:

• Two "adoption" signs with your name installed along the adopted route
• Clean up supplies (litter pickers, gloves & safety vests loaned for the duration of volunteer service) on a lending basis

Clean-Your-Block Parties and educational efforts that promote litter removal & prevention

Eligible expenses:

Branded safety vests, t-shirts, temporary signage, gloves, tools/tool rental and marketing efforts.

Clean-up supplies including litter sticks, trash and recycling bags and safety vests are available upon request through Keep Charlotte Beautiful. 

Competitions and educational campaigns, decorative trash cans and recycling bins, pet waste stations, cigarette butt boxes and other methods to improve collection of waste and recycling

Eligible expenses:

Program supplies, signage, bins, design fees and installation. 

Beautification and placemaking enhancements, decorative elements including sculpture, painted pavement, murals, mosaics, decorative signal cabinet wraps, seating & benches.  Façade improvements may include help your neighbor campaigns to manage lawns, landscaping and minor exterior home repairs, painting and other enhancements.  

Eligible expenses:

Design fees, supplies and installation.

Community gardens, hydroponic gardens, street plantings, moveable planters or hanging baskets, trees, shrubs and other landscaping to promote bees, butterflies and other species, food production and clean air.

Eligible expenses:

Gardening tools/tool rental, design, signage, decorative elements including planter boxes and benches, potting soil and perennial plants*.

*Must include at least 50% native plant species.

CommunityWoods, a collaboration between the City of Charlotte and TreesCharlotte is a community tree planting initiative aimed at keeping the tree canopy healthy and beautiful while achieving Charlotte's goal of a 50 percent tree canopy coverage by 2050.

Neighborhoods interested in planting trees in their community can apply to participate in this program in the spring of each year. Selected neighborhoods receive trees and planting supplies and receive tree planting and care training. Neighborhood residents work together to plant trees in individual yards and common areas.

Want to learn more and start an application? Visit  TreesCharlotte (https://treescharlotte.org/get-trees/neighborhoods/ )  

Charlotte Mecklenburg Storm Water Services offers frequent volunteer events in Charlotte’s waterways and a longer-term Adopt a Stream program. To learn more visit Storm Water.

Charlotte is one of two major cities in North Carolina where the city maintains the majority of the streets. There are some outside of our jurisdiction that could still use the love! Visit NCDOT’s website to learn more about how you can clean up along state-maintained roads. https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/environmental/adoptahighway/Pages/default.aspx

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation partners often with Keep Charlotte Beautiful to offer park and street cleanups around Charlotte, but they also offer other beautification and cleanup events.

This Charlotte-based nonprofit focuses on innovating the waste reduction industry and building the circular economy. They offer frequent volunteer opportunities related to recycling sorting and reuse. https://envisioncharlotte.com/calendar/volunteer-events-and-tours/

On March 13, 2023, Charlotte City Council passed a resolution designating Charlotte as a Bee City USA affiliate, joining 23 other North Carolina towns and cities in the program committed to supporting pollinators. Charlotte will partner with local beekeepers to educate the community on bees, enhance habitats and reduce the use of pesticides.