|
Corporate Social Responsibility
News
11.28.2006 - 09:00am ET
|
CSR News from:
|
|
|
News Category:
|
|
Keep America Beautiful's Graffiti Prevention Competition Awards Cash and Prizes to Three Cities
(CSRwire) STAMFORD, CONN. - November 28, 2006 - Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
today announced three winners in the 2006 Graffiti Hurts® National Award
competition:
Keep Dallas Beautiful, Dallas, TX (Communities greater than 300,000
population);
Together Against Graffiti, El Mirage, AZ (Communities less than
300,000 population); and
Celebrate the Arts, Wilmington, NC (Paint brush mural).
Cities that took top honors were successful in bringing together community
partners and engaging citizen volunteers in the fight against graffiti.
"Wherever it occurs, graffiti vandalism sends an unspoken message that a
community is in decline," said G. Raymond Empson, president of Keep
America Beautiful. "By eradicating existing graffiti, and preventing new
attacks, communities can reduce crime, raise property values, and
significantly improve local quality-of-life. The Graffiti Hurts®
National Awards serve as a showcase of the best and most creative efforts
of people and organizations that are taking action to prevent blight."
Graffiti Hurts® was developed in 1997 through a partnership between Keep
America Beautiful, the nation's largest nonprofit education and community
improvement organization, and The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW),
maker of Krylon paint. Graffiti Hurts® provides community resources and
educational tools, and promotes best practices for graffiti prevention.
Winning programs receive a cash award of up to $1,000, a plaque, and
graffiti prevention prizes. Winners in the community "under 300,000" and
"over 300,000" populations each receive a FlashCAM-880 Wireless graffiti
deterrent system manufactured by Q-Star Technology ( www.qstartech.com) and valued at
nearly $6,000. The winner in the "paint brush mural" category receives a
Graffiti Removal Starter Pack from Urban Restoration Group (
www.graffitiremovers.biz) valued at $400.
Applicants represented the best of local governments, police departments,
schools, nonprofit volunteer organizations, and other groups dedicated to
eradicating graffiti vandalism. Award winners were selected by an
independent panel of judges, which included Rosemary DeMenno, the National
Crime Prevention Council; Faith Wiedler, National Council to Prevent
Delinquency; Sgt. Dwight Waldo, San Bernardino Police Department; Nancy
Melendez, Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful; and Michelle Neuhauser, The
Sherwin-Williams Company.
"Sherwin-Williams is committed to supporting innovative approaches to
community improvement, including putting a stop to the proliferation of
graffiti vandalism," said Christopher M. Connor, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of The Sherwin-Williams Company. "Graffiti Hurts® is
serving as a catalyst in communities seeking new solutions to this
national problem. We salute the 2007 National Award winners, and we are
proud to recognize their significant achievements."
About Keep America Beautiful, Inc. and Graffiti Hurts
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest
volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network
of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America
Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage
individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community
environments. For additional information, visit www.kab.org. For more information about
Graffiti Hurts® and its resources to help communities prevent graffiti,
visit www.graffitihurts.org or contact
graffitihurts@kab.org.
About the 2006 Graffiti Hurts® Award Winners
Keep Dallas Beautiful, Dallas, TX
Contact: Larry Lankford - 972 852-2789 - larry@ecophones.com
Cecile Carson - 940-230-6035 -
cecilecarson@netscape.net
From 2004 to 2005, Dallas received over 1,700 graffiti complaints and
spent more than $220,000 to clean up defaced property. And yet the City
had no comprehensive graffiti prevention program in place. A handful of
residents, city employees, and an elected official got the ball rolling.
From there, a coalition of neighborhood groups, city services, and Keep
Dallas Beautiful was organized.
The coalition set out to achieve three goals: create a new city program
targeting graffiti vandalism, seek $250,000 in funding to operate the
program, and organize a citywide paint out called Graffiti Wipe Out 2006.
They also designated a single contact in the city for graffiti, wrote a new
anti-graffiti ordinance, and established a database to track vandalized
sites and volunteers. Finally, better coordination between prosecutors,
the district attorney's office, and the City of Dallas was established.
The Graffiti Wipe Outs drew 1,500 volunteers to clean up over 200 graffiti
sites and cover over 50,000 square feet of graffiti. These events were
featured on the Dallas Morning news, ABC, NBC, Fox, and Telemundo.
Graffiti education also made its way into nine schools. And today, the
City Council is considering a $175,000 budget to operate the new program,
graffiti has been reduced, and volunteers are continuing to wipe out
graffiti.
Together Against Graffiti, El Mirage, AZ
Contact: Linda Kleiner - 623-933-9391; desert25841@cox.net
Together Against Graffiti began with one woman's effort to combat graffiti
that had overrun her city, and has now grown to include nearly every city
in Maricopa County, AZ. In the year since Together Against Graffiti has
been in operation there has been a 97% reduction in graffiti and 40
graffiti arrests.
The first step was organizing a team. Representatives from the police
department, code enforcement, city courts, public works, and public
officials joined forces with citizens, home owners associations, parents,
students, schools, and the media. At the center of it all was Together
Against Graffiti.
The team focused on an eight-step program, which included arrest and
prosecution of graffiti vandals, rapid removal, citizen and school
graffiti education, involving home owners associations, and organizing
volunteers to adopt-a-spot. "We are winning," says Linda Kleiner, founder
of Together Against Graffiti. "Fighting graffiti just takes a team
effort."
Celebrate the Arts, Wilmington, NC
Contact: Julie Cook - 910-262-7216;
designjc@ec.rr.com
A public wary of using parking decks littered with graffiti was the
impetus for a mural project spearheaded by the City of Wilmington and
Celebrate the Arts. The result is no new graffiti on the mural walls and
occupancy of the parking deck has increased by 10% and growing.
The mural, made from a mixed medium of paint, crushed tile mosaic, and
clay tiles, is called "Layers of Wilmington," with each deck representing
a different layer of Wilmington and what makes it a special place to live.
With a budget of just $1,500, the parking deck mural project has received
donations for paint and other supplies from businesses and residents.
To date, over 2,000 school children have created tiles and received
education on graffiti vandalism and community pride. Community members
have also gotten involved painting and creating their own tiles.
|
|
