Taking pride in the place where you live stems from each individual’s sense of personal responsibility and desire for constant improvement. Residents of the City of Santa Clarita have since its incorporation demonstrated their desire to live in a community that values ideal surroundings.
Santa Clarita is always on the forefront of creating a sense of community responsibility and pride. As a testament of this the city has developed and is implementing the 2008 Public Safety Month Campaign. The campaign focuses every month on an aspect of safety in the City to be improved upon.
The month of May has officially named Keep Santa Clarita Clean month. Throughout the month, Santa Clarita residents are encouraged to volunteer their time and efforts to help clean up and beautify the city. The main highlight of Keep Santa Clarita Clean month is the City’s Pride Week, which is a weeklong series of community improvement events that will be held Sunday, May 4, through Saturday, May 10.
Pride Week is an annual city event where hundreds of local residents are given the opportunity to take an active role in giving their neighborhoods a face-lift and in keeping them clean. The series of events that will be held during Pride Week are especially designed to nourish the sense of responsibility and pride that Santa Claritans feel for their community. City residents can volunteer throughout Pride Week to clean up and beautify not only individual neighborhoods, but the local streets, parks and schools around town as well.
The different projects that volunteers can take a part in throughout Pride Week include trash removal, flower planting, graffiti removal and weed pulling. Free T-Shirts and trash bags are provided to those who volunteer for the trash removal duties.
Pride Week is a great way for residents to show pride in their community. Participation in Pride Week is easy and people of all ages can come out to help clean up and maintain areas in the city that need a little attention. Those interested in volunteering their time during pride week need to simply register and select a project through the city’s volunteer coordinator. The city then provides the site for improvement as well as all of the necessary supplies.
The city of Santa Clarita is currently looking for additional clubs, organizations, youth groups, and individual volunteers to join the group of parents, teens, youth and Community Center Staff who have already signed on to participate in this city wide clean up. All members of the community are encouraged to join the city of Santa Clarita as it celebrates Keep Santa Clarita Clean in the month of May and Pride week, which will be held from Sunday, May 4 through Saturday, May 10.
Also held in conjunction with Pride Week is Graffiti Wipe Out Day, an event held to eradicate graffiti citywide. Graffiti Wipe Out Day is held on the last day of Pride Week, Saturday, May 10th and runs from 8 a.m. to noon. At this event, volunteers are grouped into teams to paint over graffiti. The city provides all of the removal materials for the volunteers and also coordinates and supervises the graffiti removal.
Following Graffiti Wipe Out Day, an additional event will be held where volunteers and community teens will focus on graffiti clean up. On May 17 Teens Against Graffiti (TAG), which is a group of teen volunteers between the ages of 13 to 18 who participate in monthly graffiti removal projects throughout the city, and the Community Court program teens, a group of teenage first time offenders that have been charged with things such as truancy and curfew violations, will be joining forces to participate in a City wide graffiti removal effort.
The TAG program involves school youth, church groups and other local teens. The program allows youth to take pride in their community and enables teens to make a positive difference in the quality of life in Santa Clarita as they wipe the city clean of graffiti.
Both TAG and Community Court teens will paint over graffiti in locations throughout the city that are targeted frequently by taggers. These areas include washes, alleyways, and neighborhoods.
Graffiti clean up and prevention is an ongoing campaign that the city is actively involved in. Those who wish to report graffiti can do so can call the city’s 24 hour Graffiti Hotline at 25-CLEAN (252-5326) or by visiting the city’s website at www.santa-clarita.com.
Those who share a passion to clean-up Santa Clarita are personally invited to volunteer during Pride Week. You can do your part as a volunteer in May and participate in Keep Santa Clarita Clean month by simply picking up some trash on your own time to demonstrate this passion and pride.
If you are interested in registering to volunteer for Pride Week, or if you would like to obtain further information on the 2008 Public Safety month campaign, please call the City’s Community Services Division at 661-255-4965.