Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, has presented Keep Fort Smith Beautiful with its 2020 President’s Circle Award. The President’s Circle Award recognizes exemplary performance by certified affiliates of Keep America Beautiful in creating clean, green, and beautiful communities.
In qualifying for the President’s Circle Award, Keep Fort Smith Beautiful has met standards of merit of Keep America Beautiful by conducting an annual Community Appearance Index; calculating the affiliate’s cost/benefit ratio; and administering initiatives to end littering, improve recycling, and beautify Fort Smith’s community. Keep Fort Smith Beautiful is one of nearly 700 community-based affiliates in the Keep America Beautiful network whose programs, initiatives, and efforts, supported by millions of volunteers, help transform public spaces into beautiful places.
“Each year, our dynamic affiliate network carries out our shared mission at the state, county, and municipal levels across the country,” said Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Helen Lowman, PhD. “By engaging volunteers, building partnerships, and executing innovative programming, our affiliates demonstrate purpose and create collective impact through a national movement with local execution built around mutually reinforcing activities.”
“2020 was a difficult year for Keep Fort Smith Beautiful, with the sudden passing of our executive director, Andrea Beckman, and two months later, COVID19 hit. We had to cancel several of our programs and events. Luckily, Keep America Beautiful worked with us and we were able to complete all the tasks to receive the Presidents’ Circle Award for 2020!” said Megan Raynor, Keep Fort Smith Beautiful’s Board Member and Treasurer.
Community Appearance Index-Litter Index: The Keep America Beautiful Community Appearance Index-Litter Index is a tool used by its affiliates to visually assess overall appearance of communities through indicators such as litter, illegal signs, graffiti, abandoned or junk vehicles, and outside storage. A team of community, business and government representatives conduct the visual analysis using a scoring system ranging from 1-4, with “1” rated as “no litter” to “4” being “extremely littered.” Each year, affiliates grade their communities during a drive-by examination of the same areas at the same time of the year. This provides an indication of the success of each community’s anti-littering education and other anti-littering programs.
Cost/Benefit Analysis: This measurement tool enables Keep America Beautiful affiliates to demonstrate their ability to leverage community resources by determining the dollar value returned to the community for every dollar invested by government.
About Keep Fort Smith Beautiful
Keep Fort Smith Beautiful is a group of volunteer-driven citizens dedicated to enhancing the image and appearance of Fort Smith, Ark by creating a successful and aesthetically pleasing community. Our focus is on cleaning up, recycling, education, and conservation. We are an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Arkansas Beautiful. We are a non-profit organization. Follow us on Facebook!
About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America’s Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision. The organization is driven by the work and passion of nearly 700 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the collaborative support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.
