View from a Broad

Can you tell I've had an incredibly busy busy month? Well, I have. I miss posting, though. If this blog had been linked through the Newsstar, it'd been junked by now. Keep reading good people. More super BPW information forthcoming this week!

This press release was prepared just after the Saturday event--lots of great people who care about the place they live, work and worship. Arkansas Road Great American Cleanup 3/24 It’s amazing what a concerned group of citizens can do when they join together! • Over 350 bags, • 2720 pounds (1.36 tons) of trash, • Police Juror Paul Hargrove organized with KWMB coordinator Beth Betz • Mayor Dave Norris, and got soaked with pollen while assisting • Well over 100 participants from churches and civic organizations • WMHS Physics Club and National Honor Society students with • Teachers and parents of Drew and Claiborne Schools • State Representative Mike Walsworth with friends and neighbors • Support services from OPPJ Public works who retrieved the bags from the roadside and • code enforcement agent Randy Duke from the city of West Monroe providing support services to participants. Events like this last cleanup show what a determined group can accomplish in a short period of time. People wh...

This press release was sent out Friday 3/23 in the evening, after I'd had a chance to gather all the information. It was a wonderful effort supported by good people. HWY 80 Great American Cleanup 3/23 Probably the best cleanup we’ve ever done. • Over 500 bags, • 3560 pounds (1.78 tons) of trash, • Picked up from just over 8 miles of Highway 80, from Calhoun to Well Road • 120 football players, 6 coaches from West Monroe High School; • 3 community volunteers recruited by the West Monroe West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce, Altheia Owens, Kathy Middlebrooks and Jerry Sepulvado; • 3 Ouachita Parish School Board School Board representatives- Superintendent Bob Webber, Assistant Superintendent Frank Hoffmann, School Board member Scott Robinson; • Keep West Monroe Beautiful board members Rebecca Hall and Mary Ann Newton; • two affiliate coordinators OPSO Corporal Wayne Heckford and Beth Betz, • one OPSO Deputy Gary Senn • one code enforcement agent Randy Duke from the city of West Monroe ...

A simple, focused message that promotes change is fundamental to an effective public awareness campaign. Use public awareness to unite the community against litter, to increase recycling, or promote community cleanup. Don’t think litter is a problem? Get the facts Savannah, GA, spent $300,000 on a multimedia ad campaign to lessen litter. The Texas Department of Transportation’s 2002 campaign to fight litter totaled $1 million for television, radio and outdoor billboard advertising. Outlays for public awareness are dwarfed by the cost of litter cleanup. In Louisiana, state and local governments spent an estimated $15 million a year to clean up beer cans, cigarette butts and other litter. In 2001, Illinois spent more than $12 million picking up litter. More and more cities are finding public awareness campaigns a valuable tool to change behavior and cut the high cost of litter. COMMUNITY BENEFITS A public awareness campaign: - Draws attention to an issue - Improves enforcement of solid ...

Measurement tools are essential to identify and understand the extent of community problems. They are also effective for evaluating programs that have been implemented in response to specific community concerns. Solid facts and data are the best way to show results and quantify success. Take a look at Keep America Beautiful’s unique set of measurement tools for communities: COMMUNITY BENEFITS Measurement tools: - Identify and quantify community problems - Help prioritize and target resources - Assess current laws and ordinances - Measure progress over time THE LITTER INDEX Especially designed for Keep America Beautiful affiliates, this is the most statistically reliable tool for litter assessment in a community. The Litter Index evaluates through visual and written scoring the amount of litter in selected community areas. Conducting the Litter Index helps build consensus on priority problem areas. As a quantitative measure of progress over time, it is a useful tool for tracking improve...

Laws and ordinances that improve a community’s quality of life are ineffective unless they’re enforced. Enforcement is not only the role of the police department. It is most effective when police work in partnership with the community and its citizens, local public agencies, and the courts. Learn more about partnerships to improve enforcement: CITIZEN POLICING Empower citizens to help enforce local laws and ordinances. Communities across the U.S. are educating citizens and providing a system for them to report violations—and getting results. MULTI-AGENCY TASK FORCE Focus local resources on enforcing ordinance violations, including illegal dumping, abandoned vehicles, graffiti, vacant lots and other problem properties. Multi-agency task forces in large and small communities have resulted in cleaner neighborhoods, reduced crime, and improved quality of life. ENVIRONMENTAL COURTS Use a dedicated environmental court, operational in several states, to improve compliance with ordinances that...

The cornerstone for creating sustainable change is public education which positively affects the attitudes and behaviors that negatively impact our quality of life. One very important way to address this is enforcement of laws and ordinances. In some cities, ordinances are in place, but not vigorously enforced. In others, new ordinances are required to address pressing community concerns. COMMUNITY BENEFITS Local ordinances (a public injunction, regulation, or law) combat litter, illegal dumping, vacant lots, graffiti, and other conditions in a city that have the potential to create blight. Use ordinances to: - Raise public awareness - Ensure local laws support community objectives - Empower police, inspections department, and other enforcement agencies CITY FOCUS Trends and Results in U.S. Cities Ordinances that target quality of life issues, or even specific neighborhood issues, are growing in communities across the U.S.—and getting results: Anaheim,CA Cincinnati, OH Albany, GA Nashv...

1. Get the Facts Research the littering problem (or other community improvement issue) in your community, and gather information from the Litter Index and the Litter/Solid Waste Survey. Interview field professionals and leadership. Assemble all pertinent data in writing. 2. Involve the People Identify the people who have the most influence over this particular issue. Let them know what you would like to do. Find how it can match their own interests, and capitalize on their interest in developing the program. Let them involve people they know or with whom they work. The volunteer network will spread. Delegation is the key. 3. Plan Systematically Once the leadership and other key individuals are in agreement, develop a plan of action. Utilizing effective management techniques, the group commits to this plan of action with the aid of Keep America Beautiful programs and resource guides. 4. Focus on Results Your goal will be to achieve measurable results in litter reduction. All act...

Attitudinal and behavior change can be brought about most effectively and efficiently at these pressure points. Using the Pressure Points for Change, develop program objectives to meet the defined needs in accordance with your organizational goals. Use the five-step Attitude Change Process to develop your goals and objectives. THE FOUR PRESSURE POINTS FOR CHANGE: - Education - Technology - Ordinance - Enforcement EDUCATION Public attitudes and behavior about trash handling and perceptions about solid waste management are affected directly by education. Public education includes not only schools programs, but also training seminars, workshops, public relations programs, media campaigns and specific programs for containerizing litter at its sources. Civic clubs, Chambers of Commerce, businesses, government agencies all have programs or policies that impact on waste management and need continuous education. TECHNOLOGY The equipment available to manage waste and the opportunities to recy...

Dearhearts: This press release was emailed to local media on March 22, 2007. Cleanups and beautification projects are two of the three prong efforts. This was a combined press release to make sure every media outlet had the same information about the two active KAB affiliates in Ouachita parish. Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup Launched in Through Out Ouachita Parish WHAT: In partnership with Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup city and parish residents are joining over 2.3 million volunteers in over 15,000 communities across the country to make their neighborhoods cleaner and more beautiful places to live in. While national trends reflect a declining commitment to volunteerism, West Monroe, Sterlington, Richwood, and parish residents are shattering these statistics by making the commitment to beautify their neighborhoods. WHO: Good people doing great things from businesses and school groups, newly recruited members, city and paris...