SGA green initiative benefits surrounding neighborhoods

Jonathan Nichols
Contributing Writer

Volunteers will descend on local neighborhoods this fall to help the community as part of VCU’s semi-annual Paint the Town Green Initiative.

The initiative, sponsored by VCU’s Student Government Association, is the  collaborative effort of volunteers from the student body, the VCU Community Programs Office, local businesses and Richmond residents to help clean up the neighborhoods around the campus in order to improve relationships within the community.

“[The initiative] tends to heal a lot of the strife [between the community and students],” VCU Division of Community Engagement Neighborhood Outreach Director Ron Brown said. The neighborhoods slated for cleanup include Carver, The Fan, Jackson Ward, Oregon Hill and Randolph.

The program’s organizors hope that working in these areas will help students understand what it means to be a part of their community, as well as giving the residents a face to go with the student housing often just a block or two away.

Students in the Management 319 course, Organizational Behavior, are handling the organization of the event as they did last spring. The class contains five different sections, with a total of 250 students involved in managing the initiative. Each section is assigned a neighborhood and eight committees have been created to handle things like fund-raising and risk management for each cleanup.

Project Manager Hilton Bennett is reaching out to Paul Manning, Chief Service Director of the City of Richmond, for additional assistance by utilizing the city’s 3×3 Initiative. The 3×3 Initiative is an effort by the City of Richmond to provide assistance to unification projects by sending out crews to help remove bulk trash, cut tree branches and repair streetlights.

While specifics have not been worked out, Manning says, “The city of Richmond and its neighbor-to-neighbor initiative is excited and eager to support in any way that we can.”

This will be the fifth time VCU has participated in this program. This year, Paint the Town Green is shifting its efforts toward making a more lasting impact on the community.

A partnership has been established with The Fan District Association, changing their annual park cleanup to coincide with this semester’s Paint the Town Green. In addition to the neighborhood trash pick up, students will help clean up the seven parks in The Fan.

Another important project is being undertaken this fall. The Alumni Association has agreed to work with Carver Elementary School on a beautification process for their grounds.

The Alumni Association has performed similar volunteer work in the past, with a revitalization effort for Richmond Community High School done with supplies from Lowe’s and funding from Xerox.

Since their Xerox contact left the company, the Alumni Association has been looking for another source of funding for the Carver project. But Diane Stout-Brown, the association’s executive director, said the group wouldn’t let that stop them from helping out.

“If nothing else we’ll have our people there, sprucing things up,” she said.

Additional funds for the beautification are coming from leftover money that was granted to the VCU Division of Community Engagement by the Dupont Foundation. This money had been provided for a previous cleanup of the Carver neighborhood.

Along with the Alumni Association’s work, VCU Physical Plant Services has been working to restore a dilapidated greenhouse located at Carver Elementary School. The restoration is aimed to be completed by Oct. 13 and will cost in excess of $1500.

Funding for the cleanup will also be donated by Greek organizations on campus.

Organizers often reach out to local businesses for aid sponsoring the event and provide supplies. In the past, Lowe’s and Walmart have been contributors. This year, local restaurants like Sweet Frog and Jimmy John’s have been contacted to help cater before and after the cleanup of each neighborhood.

Students who would like to be involved can show up on the day of, but the SGA and Office of Community Engagement urge individuals to RSVP ahead of time so as to make the division of labor an easier process.