Smithville is a small, rural town in Central Texas with a population arguably at about 4,000 people. Keep Smithville Beautiful (KSB) is a committee of the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce. Despite its small budget, KSB enjoys the support of a large network of volunteers and partners that help make sure that Smithville is working towards the goal...

This month, 21 Texas municipalities earned official Scenic City certification through the Scenic City Certification Program , a project of Scenic Texas , Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB), and 16 statewide program partner organizations . These municipalities have demonstrated their commitment to enact high-quality scenic standards for public roadways and ...

On May 27th, the Texas Legislature's 86th session concluded. Out of the 8,753 bills filed for the  session, 1429 were passed, a few of these of interest to KTB affiliates. These include allocations  of funds to parks in the state budget and a bill concerning the recycling industry. One interesting bill passed this session was Senate Bill ...

We love working with and recognizing all of our outstanding youth and educators across the state. We're proud to show off our Keep Texas Beautiful Awards for this year's Youth and Educator recipients. This program honors extraordinary students, educators and volunteers working to improve and beautify their communities. Each application is judged on...

Here at KTB, we're pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Keep Texas Beautiful Awards for Individuals and Organizations. The award program identifies individuals, businesses, media outlets and government agencies who have made an impact in their community and helped further our vision to make Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nat...

In the world of environmentalism, many hear buzz-words like "zero-waste" and "trash-free," but aren't really sure what the impact of these causes or actions are. We'll be unpacking some of this terminology on our blog and helping every-day humans, just like you, learn how you can positively create change in your community and your own personal envi...

Working in Angelina County since 1984, Angelina Beautiful/Clean (AB/C) has a mission to educate and empower East Texans to take responsibility for enhancing their community environment and serves Angelina County and the surrounding area to help make it a cleaner, greener place to live, work and play. AB/C cultivates programs, services and education...

Here at Keep Austin Beautiful , we inspire and educate all Austinites to volunteer together, beautify green spaces, clean waterways and reduce waste every day. Austin is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the United States. At Keep Austin Beautiful, we are increasingly focused on addressing some of the key environmental issues raised by...

We hope to see everyone at our Annual Conference in Rockwall from June 18-20! If you haven't registered yet and would like to attend, the deadline to register is ​June 11. Learn more and register at ktb.org/conference .  During the conference, there will be several educational sessions where you can learn more about how to improve your or...

As part of your process of onboarding new employees, don't forget that you need to file a New Hire Reporting Form with the State of Texas Attorney General's Office. Federal and Texas state laws require that employers report all new hires and rehires within 20 days of when that employee starts earning wages. If you have employees that require W-2s, ...

We at Keep Aransas County Beautiful are humbled and honored to be chosen for as the Affiliate of the Month this May, as we know there are many great groups in Texas that have been around a long time that are certainly very well deserving.  As many may or may not know, Aransas County is now known as hurricane Harvey ground zero. When a communit...

​We are just over a month away from our Keep Texas Beautiful Annual Conference in Rockwall, Texas! The Conference is not only a time to educate yourself on our theme,  Navigating a Changing Texas , but also a time to have fun and build new relationships. We know some of you all have already started preparing your Conference itinerary, and we w...

In the United States, the average family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day, with indoor water use accounting for about 70 percent of this. As the second most populated state in the country, Texas has a large and continually growing demand for water. But, if all Texans work together, we can conserve billions of gallons of water each year. ...

Spring is in full bloom! April is upon us, which means it is Earth Month! Earth Month is an entire 30 days dedicated to environmental education, impact, and appreciation. It's a great opportunity to observe the wonder of the planet, and to take steps to help improve it. In honor of this month long holiday, we created a guide of vario...

Each month, KTB highlights a new affiliate organization on the blog and through an Instagram takeover. This campaign recognizes the diverse organizations working hard to keep Texas beautiful. Check out past highlighted affiliates here . Since its inception in 2002, Keep Grapevine Beautiful (KGVB) has been a benefit to the community by providing eng...

In 1985, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) launched an ad campaign to encourage citizens to take care of their state and stop littering. This slogan has been repeated countless times by presidents, athletes, super stars and ordinary Texans. We all know it well. "Don't mess with Texas!" In the 1990s, KTB joined the effort by encouraging...

I'm back and sharing my final blog on event planning! By now, you all are experts on knowing your audience, defining your budget and determining your needs from my Event Planning 101 blog , and you now know how to navigate RFP's and BEO's from my second blog post . But after all this planning, comes the day of the event!  In my third and final...

The image of a great community stems largely from the quality of its public places – its roadways, green spaces, parks, trails, waterfronts, plazas, etc. It's easy to look at great public places and see them as nothing more than well-designed physical locations. But beneath the surface, these places are so much more. They are locations where commun...

​ The Keep Texas Beautiful Annual Conference is only a months away and we are so excited! This year, it will be hosted in beautiful Rockwall, Texas at the Hilton Dallas/Rockwall Lakefront Hotel . Volunteers, city officials, affiliates and more look forward to this event every year, and we know that many use this as an opportunity to explo...

Have you heard? Early bird registration for our Annual Conference is officially open! Check out our website to learn about the many fun additions to this year's conference in Dallas/Rockwall, June 18-20. To celebrate, I'm sharing my second list of tips to help you plan any event.  A few week ago, I shared my Event Planning 101 blog , where I d...