On Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019, KYCC held the Fifth Annual Koreatown Community Cleanup, in conjunction with World Coastal Cleanup Day, to beautify the streets of Koreatown. Over 400 volunteers—community members, KYCC program participants and staff, and youth—assembled at LA First Church of the Nazarene in Koreatown. KYCC’s cleanup was one of thousands that were a part of World Cleanup Day across 179 countries and included 20 million volunteers taking action against global waste and trash.
Special thanks to the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works Office of Community Beautification (OCB) for providing all the beautification tools, such as shovels and brooms. Participants removed 150 bags and 1,500 pounds of trash from within a half-mile radius of the church.
“KYCC is incredibly grateful to our community for joining us—even in close to 90-degree heat—in making our community a safer and more beautiful place to live,” said Evelyn Balderas, KYCC Community Education Specialist, who helped to organize the event.
KYCC’s Prevention Education also used the event to gather surveys for their public health policy campaign in an effort to secure policy changes that reduce tobacco use, secondhand smoke, and restrict minors’ access to tobacco products. After breakfast, twenty groups dispersed into the streets—both main thoroughfares and side streets—to sweep debris and pick up trash.
Manos Unidas de Koreatown mothers received a special certificate of award for their service and the program reconvened at the LA First Church of the Nazarene where cleanup participants enjoyed lunch courtesy of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Los Angeles.
We encourage families in the neighborhood to take part in our annual beautification event, which was started five years ago. This year’s community partners include First Church of the Nazarene, Heal the Bay, Manos Unidas de Koreatown, Mujeres Transformando la Comunidad, Madres Que Luchan, KYCC Youth Drug Abuse Prevention Program (YDAPP) and KYCC BRIDGE Program.
This year alone, KYCC volunteers picked up 1,500 pounds of trash that would otherwise litter our rivers and oceans.
For more about our Cleanup in the Korean media:
